United States v. Covington County Motion for Amendment

    JOHN K. KEYES 
TOMMY B. ROGERS 

ATTORNEY AT LAW 

COLLINS, MISSISSIPPI 

ASSOCIATES 

A. AUBREY CALHOUN 
TELEPHONE 765-8235 

December 5, 1969 

Honorable Griffin B. Bell, 
United States Circuit Judge, 
FPF. O. Box 845, 
Atlanta, Georgia 

Re: 

Dear Judge Bell: 

United States of America, et al, 

Flaintiffs- Appellants, 

Vv. 
Covington County School District, 
et al, Defendants-Appellees, 
No. 28030 and 28042 

. Attached is a copy of the motion being forwarded to the 
Clerk of the Court this date for filing in which the Covington County 
School Board seeks a modification of the HEW Plan of Desegregation. 
Also enclosed is a propcszad order granting subject motion, 

By copy of this letter we are also forwarding a copy of 
referenced motion and order to Judges Thornberry and Morgan at 
their proper addresses, 

With kindest personal regards, 

Respectfully, 

{> LY: ry nz 
L { { L { Un ¢ ie Sg 

~ de 
mn, 

A. 2A. Calhoun 

AAC:mb 

Enclosures 

eC! Honorable Homer Thornberry, 
United States Circuit Judge, 
200 West 8th Street 

Austin, Texas 

v' Honorable Lewis R. Morgan, 

United States Circuit Judge, 
P. GO. Box 758, 
Newnan, Georgia 

 



  

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

Nos. 28030 and 28042 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND 

EDUCATIONAL PUND, INC. AMICUS CURIAE 

VS. 

COVINGTON COUNTY SCHOOL 

DISTRICT, ET Al, DEFENDANT-APPELLEES 

CIVIL ACTION NO. 2143 (fH) 

MOTION 
  

Comes the defendants in the above styled and numbered cause 

and file this their motion for an amendment of the HEW plan of desegre- 

gation ordered implemented in the defendant school district on December 31, 

1969 (said plan being appendix 10 of the Court's Order of November 7, 1969), 

in the following particulars: 

Defendants respectfully move the Court that so much of 

said plan (appendix 10, page 3) as reads: 

MOUNT OLIVE AREA: 
  

4. That Mount Olive School be grades 7-12, Negro and 

white students in grades 7-12, residing in the Mount 

Olive area should be assigned to this school. 

5. That Lincoln Elementary School be grades 1-6. Negro 

and white students in grades 1-6, residing in the Mount 

Olive area should be assigned to this school. 

be amended to read: 

"Mount Olive Area: 
  

4. That Mount Olive School be grades 1-12. Negro and 

white students in grades 1-12, residing in the Mount 

Olive area should be assigned to this school. 

 



  

5. That Lincoln Elementary School shall be closed 

and cease to be operated as a public school 

facility effective December 31, 1969, except 

that the defendant school board may, in its 

discretion, utilize such facility for vocational 

and Junior High School athletic activities on a 
non-racial, non-discriminatory basis, in con- 

junction with such programs conducted at Mount 
Olive School." 

Defendants attach hereto as Exhibits "A", "B", ''C', and 

'"D", respectively the affidavits of Quinton S. Napier, Superintendent 

of Education, Covington County, Mississippi, B. H. Barron, Principal, 

Lincoln Elementary School, Charles Thornton, Principal, Mt. Olive High 

School, and members of the Lincoln-Mount Olive School Bi-Racial Advisory 

Committee in support of this motion, Defendants also attach hereto as 

Exhibit "E", a Statistical Data Sheet relative to school facilities, student 

composition, teacher composition, eic., under the present HEW plan of 

desegregation and similar information concerning the Mount Olive School 

that would result, should the Court grant this motion. Defendants also 

attach as Exhibit "F''', a map of Covington County, Mississippi reflecting 

the location of the two schools affected by this motion. 

Based on the facts and circumstances set forth in the attached 

affidavits, Exhibits "A' through ''D", Defendants represent and would show 

unto the Court that this motion is submitted in the best interest of the public 

school system of Covington County, Mississippi, and for the preservation 

thereo!. 

WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, defendants ask that 

this their motion be received and filed and that upon a hearing hereon, 

this Honorable Court will grant the relief sought herein, 

Respectfully submitted, 

COVINGTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET Al, 

BY Ly 0. Cnitife i 
  

OF COUNSEL 

 



  

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 
  

I, A. A. Calhoun, certify that I have this date forwarded by 

United States Mail, postage prepaid, a true and correct copy of the 

foregoing motion, including exhibits thereto, to the following counsels 

of record for the parties to this cause: 

(a) Honorable Melvyn R. Leventhal, 538; North Farish 
Street, Jackson, Mississippi 39205, 

and 

Honorable Jack Greenberg, 10 Columbus Circle, 

New York, New Yprk 10019, 

of Mississippi and New York Counsel for NAACP 

Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 

(b) Honorable Ben Krage, Civil Rights Division, 

Department of Justice, 260 Milner Building, 

Jackson, Mississippi 39205, 

and 

Honorable Brian L.andsburg, Civil Rights 

Division, U. S. Department of Justice, Washington, 

D..C. 20013, 

of counsel for the United States. 

~ 
WITNESS MY SIGNATURE on this the $= day of December, 

trrat— 

1989, 

COG. 
R A CATOOUN, 
OF COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS- 
APPELLEES 

  

JOHN K. KEYES 

P. O. Box 546 

Collins, Mississippi 394238 

AJA. CALHOUN 

P. O. Box 548 

Collins, Mississippi 394238 

Counsel for Defendants- Appellees 

 



  

APERIDAVIT 
  

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, 

COUNTY OF COVINGTON. 

I, Quinton S, Napier, am the Superintendent of Education 

of Covington County, Mississippi. Immediately after the United States 

Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, New Orleans, Louisiana, ordered the 

HEW plan of desegregation implemented in the Covington County School 

System, the School Board and I immediately directed our efforts to the 

task of implementing said plan within the Covington County School 

System. Immediately thereafter the members of the School Board and 

Riyals were informed by white patrons residing in the Mount Olive 

School area that they would not under any circumstances send their 

children in grades one to six to the former all negro Lincoln Elementary 

School, These individuals informed the school board that they would not 

object to sending their children to school with negro children so long as 

they were all housed in the Mount Olive High School facility. 

In order to ascertain the true feeling of the patrons of the 

Mount Olive area schools, a meeting was called at the Lincoln Elementary 

School, Mount Olive, Mississippi on Saturday, November 29, 1969. 

This meeting was attended by some forty to fifty negro parents of children 

attending the Lincoln Elementary School. After discussing with these 

parents the problems faced in the Mount Olive School area and the resistance 

that had been made known to the School Board, the negro patrons of the 

Lincoln Elementary School voted unanimously to request that the Covington 

County School Board seek a modification of the HEW plan of integration and 

place all children of all races and all grades in the Mount Olive High School 

facility. Only one individual at this meeting voiced open objection to such 

Exh'bit “A 
 



  

plan, however, he stated that he would acceed to the majority and 

therefore support such a move. There were some ten individuals 

who abstained from voting either way. Also at said meeting the 

patrons of the Lincoln Mount Olive School nominated and elected 

unanimously four negro patrons of the Lincoln Flementary School 

to serve on a bi-racial advisory committee for the Mount Olive- 

Lincoln Schools to the Covington County School Board. These indi- 

viduals nominated and elected were: P.M. Reeves, Reverend Virgil 

M. Magee, Marvin Gray, and Warren R. Eubanks. On December 2, 

1969 a similar meeting was held at the Mount Olive High School 

attended by approximately fifty to sixty white patrons of the Mount 

Olive High School. Following a discussion of the problems facing 

the School Board and the public school systems in the Mount Olive 

area, this assembly voted unanimously to request and support the 

school board in an effort to obtain a modification of the HEW plan 

whereby all children of all races and all grades in the Mount Olive 

School area would attend school at the Mount Olive High School. Also 

at this meeting these patrons nominated and elected by unanimous vote 

the following named individuals to serve on a bi-racial advisory 

committee composed of members from the Lincoln Elementary School 

and Mount Olive High School to recommend and to confer and advise the 

County School Board in effecting the transition to a unitary school system; 

W. FE, Blain, B. D. Jolmson, Carl Leonard, and Homer H. Powell. On 

December 2, a meeting was held at the Mount Olive High School attended 

by all members of the Lincoln- Mount Olive Bi-Racial Advisory Committee. 

At this meeting W. E. Blain, Mount Olive High School patron, was 

unanimously elected president of the bi-racial group. Similarly Reverend 

 



  

Virgil M. Magee, a patron of the Lincoln Elementary School was 

unanimously elected Vice President of the bi-racial group and Warren 

R. Eubanks, a patron of the Lincoln Elementary School was unanimously 

elected Secretary of this bi-racial committee. After a full discussion 

of the problem confronting the School Board with reference to the 

announced refusal of the white parents to send their children to the 

former all negro Lincoln School, the bi-racial committee members 

unanimously voted to recommend to the Covington County School Board 

that a motion be filed in the appropriate Federal Court seeking a 

modification of the HEW plan of desegregation, whereby all children 

would attend the Mount Olive High School. 

Following this series of meetings, Mr. B. H. Barron, 

Principal of Lincoln Elementary School, Mr. Charles Thornton, 

Principal of Mount Olive High School, and I conducted a survey of the facilities 

at the Mount Olive High School to ascertain whether or not this facility 

could comfortably accomodate the number of students that would result 

with the closure of the Lincoln Elementary School and transfer of all 

students in grades one through six to the Mount Olive High School 

facility. In addition tothe twenty-two teaching stations presently being 

utilized in the Mount Olive School we found four teaching stations or 

classrooms that had not previously been considered or utilized. These 

stations are located as follows: Two (2) rooms in the gymnasium portion 

of the school and two (2) rooms in an existing portable unit which were 

not being utilized. In addition we found that the Mount Olive School 

auditorium was especially adaptable and suitable for utilization for four (4) 

 



  

classes of students for remedial reading and special purpose type of 

instructions. With these additional classroom facilities being available 

plus a portable unit containing two (2) classrooms which can be moved 

from the Lincoln School to the Mount Olive School, we concluded that 

the Mount Olive High School facility could, within state accreditation 

rules, accomodate comfortably 1, 024 students. It is pertinent fo note 

that at the time the Mount Olive School was constructed there was in 

attendance at said school = approximately 800 students in grades one 

through twelve. 

As a result of our survey, referred to above, Mr. Thornton, 

Mr. Barron, and I, concluded that there would be thirty two teaching 

stations available in the Mount Olive High School for the thirty five 

teachers that would be assigned there in the event the students from 

Lincoln Elementary School were brought over to the Mount Olive 

High School. Also we noted that these thirty two teaching stations would 

adequately accomodate 1, 024 students based on the ratio of thirty two 

students per classroom. We also noted that the combined student bodies 

of Lincoln Elementary School and Mount Olive High School at the present 

time totals only 779 students. Realizing that inevitably there will ne an 

undetermined number of students who will be pulled out of the schools 

following their resumption after January 1, 1970, we unanimously 

concluded that the facilities of the Mount Olive High School were re than 

adequate to accomodate, comfortably, all of the students rom Lincoln : 

Elementary School and Mount Olive High School thereat. 

I, therefore, wholeheartedly recommend and urge to the 

court that the motion submitted by the Covington County School Board 

to the court seeking a modification of the HEW plan of desegregation 

be approved. 

 



L 2 

v 2 

  

I would like to emphasize that the school board has no intention 

of permanently abandoning the Lincoln Elementary School plant. The 

proposed closing of this school is, and should be considered as a temporary 

move made in the best interest of the schools at the present time. 1 feel 

sure that once we get our schools operating under the HEW plan that in the 

not too distant future we will be able to re-open the Lincoln School plant. 

It could be converted into an excellent Junior High School at the appropriate 

tire, 

Respectfully submitted, 

™ vil i ” ; ? 2 

CiesiZn : Ml Geaecer 

QUINTON S. NAPIER, SUPERINTENDENT OF 
EDUCATION 

  

SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED BEFORE ME on this the «7% 

day of December, 1969. 

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I, Charles Thornton, am the Principal 

  

       viount Olive, 

forth in the affidavit of Mr. Quinton 8. Napier, Superintendent of 

  

which were converted to units 

  

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the modifica at 

intere 

  

od lh ian Flmisenber atmmy Thema swormit lad smorate 
ovington County School Board would operate 

  

he public schools in the Mount Olive area and would be of material 

  

aggistance in the preservation thereof. 1 ca: 

  

the Mount Clive High Bchocl are 

all students currently enrolled at the Lincoln Elementary School and 

  

Mount Olive High School in the one facility at J 

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: 3 ca = go ~~ py e 3 ae Tu 4 En $ # of 

I, therefore, recommend that the court approve the modification of 

the HEW plan egation being sought by the motion submitted 
td 

  

bess $30 ge PDA, JO an TDR RES GP rp THAD ed wid ond 
by the Covington County School District. 

  

ols 

  

a, PRA ma i OE 
December, 1969. 

  
  

 



  

AFFIDAVIT 
  

STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, 

COUNTY OF COVINGTON. 

| Personally appeared before me the undersigned authority in and 

for said County and State, W. E. Blain, Reverand Virgil M. Magee, 

Warren R. Eubanks, R. D. Johnson, Carl Leonard, Marvin Gray, 

Homer Powell, and P. M. Reeves, who each after being duly sworn 

by me state upon their oath as follows: 

We are the duly nominated and elected members of the Mount 

Olive~Lincoln School Bi-Racial Advisory Committee to the Covington 

County School Board. We are fully aware of the attitude of the patrons 

of the Mount Olive area regarding their schools, We are also aware, 

and can state with agsurance to the Court, that white parents of 

children in grades one through six will not at the present time permit 

or send their children to school at the Lincoln Elementary School, a 

| former all negro school. Irrespective of the validity of their reasons 

therefor, this ie an established and indisputable fact, 

| We, therefore, wholeheartedly and without reservation res- 

pectfully urge that the Court grant the motion being submitted by the 

Covington County School Board whereby all children of all grades and 

races will be in attendance at the Mount Olive High School. We are 

convinced thet the Mount Olive High School facility is adequate to 

comfortably accommodate the number of children who can be expected 

| to be in attendance thereat and that such a move will be in the best 

interest of the school children involved and also in the best interest 

of the Mount Olive schools. We realize that this recommendation, if 

approved by the Court, will result in the present clogging of the Lincoln 

 



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BUILDING NUMBER OF WHITE NEGRO TEACHING NUMBER OF 

SCHOOL GRADES CAPACITY: PUPILS Se UDENTS: STUDENTS STATIONS TEACHERS 

FACILITIES, STUDENT COMPOSITION, AND FACULTY COMPOSITION 

WHIT E NEGRO 

TEACHERS TEACHERS 
  

    

UNDER HEW PLAN 
  

Lincoln Elementary 

School 1-6 385% Es 413 242 170 1t 

Mt. Olive Attendance 

Center 7=12 7045 B72 123 179 22 

  

Mt. Olive Attendance 

Center 

sles PAS 

NASR 

1-12 10243k%k 779 : 435 349 323k 

Based on 35 students per classroom. 

Based on 32 students per classroom. 

HEW plan reflects 22 teaching stations. There were 4 teaching stations not included. 

These are 2 rooms in the gymnasium and 2 rooms in an existing portable unit. A 

portable unit with 2 rooms may be moved from: Lincoln to Mount Olive School, In 

addition, the Mount Olive School Auditorium is especially adaptable and suitable 

for 4 classes of students for remedial reading and special purpose type of 

instruction. This will give a total of 32 teaching stations. 

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  Enlargements - 
1/4 

for Scale 

    

in Miles