Findings of Fact and Recommendations for South Pike School District

    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

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NOS. 28030 & 28042 

  

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellant 
Ve 

HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, ET AL., 
Defendants=Appellees 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
Plaintiff-Appellant 

Ve 

SOUTH PIKE COUNTY CONSOLIDATED 
SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL., 

Defendants-Appellees 

(CIVIL ACTION NO. 3984) 

FINDINGS OF FACT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
  

This case involves the desegregation of the South Pike County Consolidated 

School District. Its disposition is directly controlled by Alexander ve. Holmes 
  

County Board of Education, 396 U.S, 19 (1969), and the Order of the Fifth 
  

Circuit Court of Appeals of November 7, 1969. In that order, the Court of 

Appeals directed implementation of the Office of Education plan for South Pike 

School District except as to pupil assignment, The Court concluded that the 

pupil assignment and attendance pattern then in effect would suffice until the 

further order of the Court, 

On July 13, 1970, pursuant to the procedures outlined in the November 7, 

1969 order, the United States filed a motion for supplemental relief seeking 

implementation of the plan of student assignment prepared and submitted by 

the Office of Education of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare 

unless the defendants submitted an alternative plan which would effectively 

establish a unitary system. 

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A hearing was held on this motion on August 3, 1970. The evidence 

presented at that hearing showed that the grade structures, student attendance 

patterns and teacher assignments for the schools in the South Pike district 

were as follows during the 1969-70 school year: 

School Grades Students Teachers 

White Negro White Negro 
    

Osylia i 13 39 7 2 
Progress 1-8 110 22 7 2 
Fernwood 50 116 14 5 2 
Magnolia Ll 226 75 9 3 
Eva Gordon 1-12 150 = 1917 15 67 
South Pike Twl2 429 436 27 5 

However, the evidence Showed that the 150 white students listed as 

attending the Eva Gordon school were transported there for only a few classes 

and were actually based at the South Pike School. Except for the approximately 

17 Negro students who attended the South Pike School under freedom of choice 

and continued to attend that school during the past school year, the other Negro 

students listed as attending South Pike School were transported there for only 

a few classes and were actually based at the Eva Gordon School. Such an arranges 

ment of part time course exchange programs cannot be said to establish a unitary 

school system, United States ve. Board of Education of Webster County, Georgia,   
  

(Fifth Cir., July 7, 1970, No. 29769). 

Furthermore, although the school board plan was allegedly based on neigh= 

borhood attendance zones, no zone lines had been established, and the evidence 

showed that Negro students were transported from all parts of the district to 

the Eva Gordon School, while white students from the same areas were not. 

The defendants allege that the Magnolia, Fernwood, South Pike and Eva 

Gordon schools are no longer operated as separate schools but are now one 

school, denominated the South Pike Educational Complex, They point out that 

the athletic program, band and chorus of the Eva Gordon and South Pike Schools 

has been combined. Nevertheless, it appears clear from the evidence presented 

that the schools in this complex have duplicate grade structures and course 

offerings and that assignments to school sites are made, for the most part, on 

 



  

the basis of freedom of choice, The result has been that the schools making 

up the complex are racially identifiable, with the Fernwood, Magnolia, and 

South Pike Schools being white schools and the Eva Gordon School being Negro. 

Subsequent to the August 3rd hearing, the United States has proposed an 

alternative plan which would establish zone lines for the elementary schools 

in accordance with the map attached as Appendix A to these findings and recom=- 

mendations, The projected student attendance pattern for the elementary schools 

under this zoning arrangement is as follows: 

  

School Grades Students 

White Negro 

Osyka 1-8 110 120 
Progress 1-8 101 106 
Magnolia 1=8 325 330 
Eva Gordon -1=8 93 552 
Fernwood 1-8 150° 115 

Some students assigned to the Magnolia School would attend classes at the South 

Pike School site, due to the limited capacity at the Magnolia site. 

On the high school level courses would continue to be offered at both 

South Pike and Eva Gordon sites but there could no longer be any duplication 

of course offerings at the two sites, Such a plan would insure that the two 

sites are actually operated as one school. 

Since the August 3, 1970 hearing in this case, it appears that the school 

officials have made attempts to achieve more integration in the South Pike 

schools by providing for more course transfers between the schools and by a 

somewhat stricter enforcement of neighborhood attendance patterns. Although 

it cannot be said that these efforts have as yet resulted in a unitary school 

system, this Court is of the opinion that the South Pike School officials are 

to be commended for diligence and good will in this matter. 

This Court finds that the plan of desegregation now in effect in the South 

Pike school district has not resulted in the establishment of a unitary school 

system and, therefore, recommends that the student assignment plan recommended 

| by the United States as described above be ordered into effect, 

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It is further recommended that all other provisions of the November 7, 

1969 Order of the Court of Appeals be continued in full force and effect. 

Recommended and signed in duplicate, the Clerk of this Court being 

directed to file one signed duplicate in his office and forward the other 

signed duplicate to the Clerk of the United States Court of Appeals for the 

Fifth Circuit, and mail a copy to each party of record. 

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