United States v. Wilkinson County Findings of Fact and Recommendations

    IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS 
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

  

      

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS NOS. 28030 and 28042 

HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, ET AL{, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI DEFENDANTS 
FILED 

: JUL 14 1970 
ROBERT C. THOMAS, CLERK 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BY ma PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS CIVIL ACTION NO. 1160 (W) 

WILKINSON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, ET AL, %: DEFENDANTS 

FINDINGS OF FACT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
  

On November 7, 1969, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals 

in consolidated Causes Nos. 28030 and 28042 directed the immediate 

enforcement of permanent student and faculty assignment plans 

prepared by the office of Education, Department of Health, Education 

and Welfare in approximately 30 school systems in the Southern 

District of Mississippi in order to effectuate the conversion of   
these school systems to unitary systems. In said order the Appellate 

Court provided a procedure whereby a school board might seek to 

modify said plan through an evidentiary proceeding before this 

Court. On June 12, 1970, pursuant to said procedure, the Wilkinson 

County Board of Education, involved in Cause No. 1160(W) on the 

docket of this Court, filed its petition seeking periission to close 

the Woodville Attendance Center, presently housing grades 10-12 in 

the Woodville Area, and to transfer these students and faculty 

members remaining at said school to the Wilkinson County Training | 

School. The board has no plans to dispose of the Woodville facility 

or its equipment outside the system. 

After notice to all parties, a hearing was had on July 2, 

1970, at which plaintiff and the defendant school board were   
 



  
    

   

represented by counsel. The N.A.A.C.P. Legal and Educational 

Defense Fund, amicus curiae herein, made no appearance. ey 

Plaintiff's reponse offered no objection to defendants’ 

proposal ) close the Woodville Attendance Center and to assign 

students, formerly required to attend that school under the Gonet 

ordered student assignment plan, to the Wilkinson County Training 

School, provided the defendants are enjoined from selling or 

otherwise disposing of that facility, or the personal property 

used therein, or making any use of the facility or personal 

property therein for the purpose or with the effect of frustrating 

the intent of this Court's orders. 

At the hearing, the defendant school board supported 

its petition through the testimony of one witness, Mr. Bernard 

Waites, the present superintendent of the school district. 

Plaintiff, the United States of America, offered no evidence, 

relying instead on its cross-examination of defendants' witness. 

Prior to the implementation of the HEW lin, this school 

district had four schools: Wilkinson County Training School, 

housing 2196 students in grades 1-12; Finch Attendance Center, 

housing 508 students in grades 1-9, both formerly black; and 

Woodville Attendance Center, housing 493 students in grades 1-12, 

and William Winans Attendance Center, housing 339 students in 

grades 1-12, formerly predominantly white. 

The HEW plan called for pairing Wilkinson County Training 

School, assigning to it all students in the Woodville ares in 

grades 1-9, with Woodville Attendance Center housing all 10-12 

grade students in the Woodville area. 

In the Centerville area, Finch Attendance Center, grades 

1-6, was paired with William Winans Attendance Center, grades 7-12. 

The total enrollment, county-wide, as projected by HEW, was 3536 

students, 779 white and 2757 black. Following the implementation 

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of the HEW plan, and as reflected by an enrollment report dated 

April 20, 1970, on file with the Appellate Court, all whites have 

withdrawn from the public schools of Wilkinson County, including 

the withdrawal of all 454 whites from the Woodville Center alone, 

and black attendance has dropped to 2670. The number of faculty 

members consisted of 43 white teachers, 2 Orientals, and 118 blacks) 

for a total of 163; there is now a teaching staff of 126, all 

white teachers except 6 having withdrawn with the implementation 

of the HEW plan. 

In view of the non-white student attendance, the issue 

presented by the petition is limited to the econonie feasibility 

of closing the Woodville Attendance Center, with no racial 

motivation involved. 

According to building information appearing in the HEW 

plan, Woodville Attendance Center has a capacity for 845 students 

with 26 teaching stations and is located on a 19.98 acre site 

The Wilkinson County Training Center was constructed as a 1-12 

grade school with a capacity for 2310 students and 71 teaching 

stations and is located on a 52.10 acre site. According to 

current enrollment, the Woodville Center has a present attendance 

of 406 students, all black. It is the only school in which any 

white teachers, six, remained after the implementation of the HEW 

plan. The current attendance at Wilkinson County Training School 

is 1555 students, all black, with 71 teachers, all black. On the 

basis of these statistics, the Court finds that the Wilkinson 

County Training School has ample room and facilities for the 

absorption of the students now assigned to Woodville Attendance 

Center. 

The board's petition sets out the estimated savings, 

money-wise, involved in closing the Woodville Attendance Center, 

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listing separately, salaries, operation and maintenance of building 

and grounds, . transportation and library expense, for a total of 

$112,543.66. Superintendent Waites supported these figures in 

detail in his testimony, and added the sum of approximately 

$33,000.00 as the cost of operating the cafeteria, which would be 

saved if the facility is closed, for a grand total of savings in 

the approximate sum of $145,000.00. He stated that, of 148 public 

school districts in Mississippi, ranked economically, the 

Wilkinson County school system is one of the lowest being ranked 

142nd. This district is to open a new vocational-technical school 

in September 1970. Its costs of operation have been set at 

$150,000.00 per annum, of which $107,000.00 will be a local 

obligation. Turning to the two schools involved herein, Waites 

stated that two portions of the Woodville facility are partially 

empty and the cafeteria is not in use. As a part of the HEW 

plan implementation, typewriters and high school desks were moved 

from the Wilkinson school to the Woodville Center. These would 

be returned for use at Wilkinson. The kitchen and cafeteria at 

Wilkinson are in the process of being re-equipped, and when this 

is completed, the Wilkinson facility will be fully equipped and 

furnished, including all teachers' supplies, typewriters, 

laboratory materials, and band instruments now located at 

Wilkinson. Some athletic equipment, unadaptable for use at 

Wilkinson because of a difference in school colors, and other 

equipment and desks not needed at Wilkinson remain in storage 

at the Woodville school. The new vocational-technical school will 

be newly furnished, requiring nothing in the way of furnishings 

or supplies from the other schools. This school is being construct 

ed to house 240 students of the 10-12 pad level. county-wide, 

which will further reduce attendance previously assigned to other 

ly 

  

  
 



  
      
  

high schools. 

The board alleged in its petition that the Woodville 

Center, if closed, will not be used directly or indirectly by 

any private school. Waites testified that the board had no 

plans for the use or disposition of the facility, or its contents, 

which will remain stored there except for the items mentioned 

above to be returned to the Wilkinson Training School. The 

government completely failed to show any impending use or threat 

of use of any of this property for the purpose of or with the 

effect of frustrating the intent of previous court orders, evi- 

dence which would normally be required to justify injunctive 

relief. 

Waites conceded that the defendant board has no plans 

by which it hopes to Ye-capiure the white students who have fled 

the system. He did say that some few white students have 

expressed an interest in attending the new vocational center. 

As to the faculty members who will be displaced if the 

Woodville facility is closed, Waites stated the board plans to 

assign them to the Wilkinson school. Since the implementation of 

the HEW plan, the district has lost between 40 to 50 teachers. 

Of the 6 white teachers who remained at the Woodville Center for 

the remainder of the 1969-70 year, only 3 plan to return. 

On the basis of the foregoing uncontradicted proof offer- 

ed by the defendant school board establishing the feasibility of 

closing the Woodville Attendance Center, this Court recommends 

that the school board be permitted to do so. Upon the further 

showing that the Wilkinson County Training school has the 

capacity and is suitably equipped to serve the students  rosontly 

assigned to the Woodville Attendance Center, this Court 

recommends that grades 10-12 in the Woodville Area be assigned 

  

 



      
  

to the Wilkinson school. The Court further recommends assigning 

all teachers from the Woodville Attendance Center, including the 

remaining white members of the faculty, to the Wilkinson school, 

despite the fact that the projected student enrollment will be 

100% black. This Court has faced with shock and regret the 

realization that this school board, in its compliance with HEW 

and court requirements, has lost from its public school system 

the entire white enrollment representing a portion of ehl dommrtity 

who contribute to the district's support. It is hoped that the 

retention of some white teachers will attract the return of some 

of these students. 

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 U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and mail a copy to 

each party of record. 

  

  

$ /1 20 
/ 

DATED: ™~
 

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