Judgement

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December 16, 1997

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  • Press Releases, Volume 6. Chance v. Board of Examiners, 1971. 4b88bfa0-ba92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/61056535-8ae1-4748-9e5d-9a17e2d143fe/chance-v-board-of-examiners. Accessed August 27, 2025.

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    PressRelease B Sime ae Se 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

JULY 14, 1971 

CHANCE v. BOARD OF EXAMINERS 

NEW YORK, N. Y. --- On July 14 the Federal District Court, 

Southern District, New York issued a preliminary injunction 

prohibiting the Board of Examiners from conducting any further 

examinations for supervisory positions in the New York City 

School System. The judge also prohibited the Board from issuing 

licenses on the basis of such supervisory examinations. 

This injunction resulted from a lawsuit brought by the NAACP 

Legal Defense Fund on behalf of black and Puerto Rican applicants 

for supervisory positions. 

The Legal Defense Fund claimed: (1) that the Board's exams 

discriminated against blacks and Puerto Ricans and (2) that the 

exams were not "job-related" -- that is, that they failed to 

select the best applicants for the positions tested for. 

In a 56-page opinion, Judge Mansfield upheld the Legal 

Defense Fund's claims. He found specifically that: 

(1) The exams conducted by the Board of Examiners 
over the past 7 years have had a significant 
discriminatory effect upon black and Puerto 
Rican applicants. 

(23 The Board of Examiners has the burden of 
showing that their exams are justified as 
necessary to select supervisors, and it 
has failed to sustain this burden. Indeed 
the Court found that the Board has not 
succeeded in developing job-related exams. 

= This decision constitutes a significant breakthrough in the 

struggle to improve the quality of education in the City of 

(More) 

ACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc. | 10 Columbus Circle | New York, N.Y. 10019 | (212) 586-8397 

ilNliam T. Coleman, Jr. - President Sos bake: Jack Greenberg - Director-Counsel 



CHANCE v. BOARD OF EXAMINERS PAGE TWO 

New York,not only for blacks and Puerto Ricans, but for all 

students. It has long been recognized that the exam system 

administered by the Board of Examiners has acted to perpetuate 

a sterile, bureaucratic system and to keep out many of the most 

qualified and imaginative applicants, both black and white, 

from positions in the New York City School System.

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