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Brief Collection, LDF Court Filings. Wheeler v. Durham City Board of Education Brief for Appellants, 1975. 984eb1f8-c89a-ee11-be36-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/1fab66d0-734c-4d56-9564-bf8bc708743e/wheeler-v-durham-city-board-of-education-brief-for-appellants. Accessed August 19, 2025.
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT Nos. 74~2237 and 74-2.133 WARREN H. WHEELER, ot. al<iK.d C.. C. SPAULDING, et 8.1., Piainti Ofs-Appellants, THE DURHAM CITY'BOARD OF EDUCATION, O L- 3.1 * , D e f enda nts-Appe j. 1ee s, and CLARENCE THOMPSON, et al., Plaintiffs-Appe11ant s, v . THE DURHAM COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et ai., De fondants-Appe11ees. Appeal From The United States District court For The M o r * r i '» ^ n-lcfv'ir'-l- H & Y ' r y l o r i =» P i ' i r i q i o n BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS WILLIAM A. MARSH, JR. 203 1/2 East. Chapel Kill Street Durham,. North Carolina 27701 J. LeVONNE CHAMBERS ADAM STEIN 951 S. Independence Blvd Charlotte, North Cardin 28202 J. H . WHEELER 118 West Parish Street - Durham, North Carolina 27701 JACK GREENBERG JAMES M. NA.BRIT, III NORMAN J. CHACHKIN 1C Columbus Circle New York, New York 10019 Attorneys for Appellants TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Authorities . . ii Issues Presented for Review.......... ........... la Statement of the Case ........................... 2 Statement of Facts 1. Durham City Schools ..................... 8 2. Durham County Schools and Public Housing and Relocation .................. 12 3. Plaintiffs' Proposed Plans of Desegregation ........................... 16 4. The 1974-75 Plans Submitted By The Boards .............................. 17 ARGUMENT — I The District Court Should Have Ordered Complete Desegregation Of The Durham City School System .................... 21 II The Durham County Board's 1974-75 Pupil Assignment Plan Unconstitutionally Places A Disproportionate Burden Upon Black Students ........................ 27 III The District Court Should Have Granted Injunctive Relief To Halt Practices Of City Agencies Which Thwarted Effectu ation Of Desegregation In Durham...... 30 Conclusion ...................................... 34 Certificate of Service .......................... 36 Page Table of Authorities Cases: Adams v. Rankin County Bd. of Educ., 485 F.2d 324 (5th Cir. 1973) ........................ 26 Adams v. School Dist. No. 5, Orangeburg, 444 F.2d 99 (4th Cir. 1971), cert, denied sub. nom. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Bd. of Educ. v. Scott, 404 U.S. 912 (1971) ..... . 23n, 26, 27 Alexander v. Holmes County Bd. of Educ., 396 U.S. 19 (1969) ................ ............. 12 Arvizu v. Waco Independent School Dist., 495 F . 2d 499 (5th Cir. 1974) ................... 28 Boyd v. Pointe Coupee Parish School Bd., No. 71- 3305 (5th Cir., Dec. 10, 1974), rev1g 332 F. Supp. 994 (E.D. La. 1971). ............... 24 Boykins v. Fairfield Bd. of Educ., 457 F.2d I0yl (5th Cir. 1972) ..................... ....... 24, 25 Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond, 51 F.R.D. 139 (E.D. Va. 1970) 34 Brewer v. School Bd. of Norfolk, 397 F.2d 37 (4th Cir. 1968) 31 Brice v. Landis, 314 F. Supp. 974 (N..D. Cal. 1969) 28 City of Kenosha v. Bruno, 412 U.S. 507 (1973) .... 5n Clark v. Board of Educ. of Little Rock, 449 F.2d 493 (8th Cir. 1971), cert, denied, 405 U.S. 936 (1972) .................................. 28 Crow v. Brown, 332 F. Supp. 283 (N.D. Ga. 1971), aff'd 457 F.2d 788 (5th Cir. 1972) ....... . 31 Dowell v. Board of Educ. of Oklahoma City, 465 F.2d 1012 (10th Cir.), cert, denied, 409 U.S. 1041 (1972) 24 Page xi Table of Authorities (continued) Page Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction, 465 F.2d 878 (5th Cir. 1972) .....................••** 24 Flax v. Potts, 464 F.2d 865 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1007 (1972)................. 24 Goss v. Board of Educ. of Knoxville, 444 F.2d 632 (6th Cir. 1971) ................ -....... 23n Green v. County School Bd. of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968) ........................ 3' 9' 23 Green v. School Bd. of Roanoke, 316 F. Supp. 6 (W.D. Va. 1970), aff'd sub nom. Adams v. School Dist. No. 5, Orangeburg, 444 F.2d 99 (4th Cir. 1971), cert, denied sub nom. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Bd. of Educ. v. Scott, 404 U.S. 912 (1971) .................. 28 Harrington v. Colquitt County Bd. or Educ., 4-t>u F.2d 193 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, 409 U.S. 915 (1972) .................. . ......... 21' 28 Hart v. County School Bd. of Arlington County, 459 F.2d 981 (4th Cir. 1972) ............... 27-28 Hobsen v. Hansen, 269 F. Supp. 401,(D.D.C. 196/), aff'd sub nom. Smuck v. Hobson, 405 F.2d 175 (D.C. Cir. 1969) ...................... ..... 33 Hereford v. Huntsville Bd. of Educ., 504 F«2d 857 (5th Cir. 1974) ........................ 24 Kelley v. Metropolitan County Bd. of Educ., 463 F.2d 732 (6th Cir.), cert, denied, 409 U.S. 1001 (1972) ................. ;.............* 24 Kelly v. Guinn, 456 F.2d 100 (9th Cir. 1972), cert, denied, 413 U.S..919 (1973) .......... 25n Keyes v. School Dist. No. 1, Denver, 413 U.S. 189 (1973) ................................. 23n iii Table of Authorities (continued) Page Lee v. Macon County Bd. of Educ., 448 F.2d 746 (5th Cir. 1971) ........................ 28 Lemon v. Bossier Parish School Bd., 446 F.2d 911, 444 F.2d 1400 (5th Cir. 1971) ......... 23 McFerren v. County Bd. of Educ., 497 F.2d 924 (6th Cir. 1974) 28 Medley v. School Bd. of Danville, 482 F.2d 1061 (4th Cir. 1973), cert, denied, 414 U.S. 1172 (1974) ....... ......................... 22, 25, 27 Milliken v. Bradley, 41 L.Ed.2d 1069 (1974) .... . 23n Monroe v. Board of Comirt'rs of Jackson, 391 U.S. 450 (1968) ..................... ............ .9 Monroe v. County Bd. of Educ., 505 F.2d 109 (6 Lh Cxi . j ) ............... ................ x--xr Nesbit v. Statesville City Bd. of Educ., 418 F. 2d 1040 (4th Cir. 1969) ..... ............. 12 Northcross v. Board of Educ. of Memphis, 466 F.2d 890 (6th Cir. 1972), cert, denied, 410 U.S. 926 (1973), vacated and remanded on other grounds, 412 U.S. 42 7 (1973) ......... 2 5 Pate v. Dade County School Bd., 434 F.2d 1151 (5th Cir. 1970) ............................. 27 Raney v. Board of Educ. of Gould, 391 U.S. 443 (1968) ...................................... 9 Robinson v. Shelby County Bd. of Educ., 467 F.2d 1187 (6th Cir. 1972) 28 Sloan v. Tenth School Dist. of Wilson County, 433 F.2d 587 (6th Cir. 1970) ............... 31 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 402 U.S. 1 (1971) .......................... 22, 24, 25, 31 IV Table of Authorities (continued) Pa^e Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 431 F.2d 138 (4th Cir. 1970), rev'd in part, 402 U.S. 1 (1971) .................... 22 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., Civ. No. 1974 (W.D.N.C., August 7, 1970), aff'd 402 U.S. 1 (1971) ............ ........ 29-30 Weaver v. Board of Public Instruction, 467 F.2d 473 (5th Cir. 1972), cert, denied, 410 U.S. 982 (1973) ...................... ........... 25 Wheeler v. Durham City Bd. of Educ., 363 F.2d 738 (4th Cir. 1966) ...................... ...... 3n Wheeler v. Durham City Bd. of Educ., 196 F. Supp. 71 (M.D.N.C. 1961) .......... ............... 3n Statutes: 20 U.S.C.A. §1653 (1974) 31 42 U.S.C.A. §2000d (1974) 31 Rules F.R.C.P. 19 ............................... 34 F.R.C.P. 21 ...................................... 34 v IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT Nos. 74-2137, - 2138 WARREN H. WHEELER, et al., and C. C. SPAULDING, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants v. DURHAM CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants-Appellees, and CLARENCE THOMPSON, et al.. Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. DURHAM COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Defendants-Appellees. Appeals From The United States District Court For The Middle District Of North Carolina, Durham Division BRIEF FOR APPELLANTS Issues Presented For Review 1. Should the District Court have ordered further desegregation of the Durham City schools rather than holding that implementation of the 1970 plan made the system unitary? 2. Should the District Court have rejected the Durham County Board’s 1974-75 proposal for the elementary schools on the ground that the conversion of Bragtown and Lakeview to single-grade centers unfairly and dispro portionately burdens black students? 3. Should the District Court have granted injunctive relief against the City of Durham, and/or against city agencies which could have been added as parties necessary for relief, to prevent the future location of massive public housing projects, relocation activities, or other official action which would impede and undermine the success of its desegregation orders? la Statement of the Case These are appeals from orders entered by the district court in these consolidated school desegregation cases following a 1974 trial on plaintiffs' Motion for Further Relief and Supplemental Complaint seeking consolidation, cross-boundary assignments, or other form of interdistrict relief between the Durham City and County school systems. The District Court denied any form of interdistrict relief (the instant appeals do not challenge that action) and also denied plaintiffs' requests for alternative relief. Plaintiffs p p u r r Vi -f- a ( "1 \ •Pivr+-V>rN v* — » 4— ! /-x -C 4-V « - r - \ ^ n J J— T' ' .. * • - ------w—• schools — many of which had remained racially identifiable and segregated despite the 15 years of litigation in the Wheeler and Spaulding cases; (2) adoption of a fairer and more equitable 1974-75 desegregation plan for the Durham County elementary schools to replace the clustering plan pro posed by the school authorities, which reduced two elementary schools with predominantly black enrollments to single-grade centers; and (3) injunctive relief against city agencies whose practices, including the location of multi-family public housing projects, had contributed significantly to the con centration of black students in particular Durham City and County schools, and which threatened in the future to destroy 2 the effectiveness of any desegregation decrees entered by the district court against the school authorities. The District Court granted no injunctive relief and accepted separate city and county plans despite these claims of insufficiency and unfairness. The Durham City school desegregation cases (Wheeler and 1/Spaulding) were filed in I960, and were last before this 2/ Court in 1966, at which time the freedom-of-choice method of pupil desegregation was endorsed. Thereafter, and following the Supreme Court's decision in Green v. County School Board of New Kent County. 391 U.S. 430 (1968), plaintiffs filed a Motion for Further Relief which resulted, ultimately, in the issuance of an Order on July 31, 1970 approving (as modified) a new plan of pupil assignment, based upon geographic zoning and the contiguous pairing of three sets of elementary schools 3/(A. 99,488). That plan projected school facility racial 1/ See Wheeler v. Durham City Board of Education, 196 F. Supp. 71 (M.D.N.C. 1961). 2/ Wheeler v. Durham City Board of Education, 363 F.2d 738 (4th Cir. 1966) . 3/ Citations are to the Appendix reproduced in connection with this appeal, pursuant to agreement of counsel, a Supplemental Appendix containing additional portions of the record will be filed hereafter. 3 compositions ranging from 21% to 90 black, in the city system which was then 60% black (A. 486$ . When implementation of the plan failed to produce even these results, the Durham City Board studied alternative means of achieving greater desegregation, and discussed possible plans with both plaintiffs' counsel and members of the public (A. 65-66,209). However, the Board having failed to act, plaintiffs on July 25, 1972 filed another Motion for Further Relief in the city case, alleging that the 1970 decree had not worked to create a unitary public school system in Durham, that reaching this goal was made more difficult by the fact that the city school district did not include the entire geographic area of the city's political jurisdiction, and requesting that the Court require the submission of a new plan to include that entire area (A. 17-25- Because such relief would affect the Durham County district, which currently administers five schools located in 4/ the "city-out" area, plaintiffs on October 16, 1972, filed a motion seeking leave, subsequently granted by the district 4/ The geographic area within the corporate limits of the City of Durham, but outside the boundaries of the city school system. "City-in" refers to the portion of Durham City within the city school district. 4 court, to add the Durham County Board of Education and Superintendent, as well as various State educational and municipal officials, as parties defendant. At the Court's direction, plaintiffs filed a Supplemental Complaint against the original and added defendants on December 18, 1972; and the Wheeler-Spaulding and Thompson cases were then consolidated for purposes of trial on the issues raised by the Supplemental 5/ Complaint. Pre-trial motions to dismiss were denied, or carried with the case, and discovery proceeded. Plaintiffs' motion for interim injunctive relief against the Durham City district defendants was denied by the district court on December 6, 1973 on the ground that mid-year implementation of a new desegregation plan for the city schools would create a disruptive and uncertain atmosphere at a time when comprehensive and drastic changes are being prayed for in a supplemental complaint filed in these consolidated actions on December 15, 1972. 5/ On June 11, 1974, plaintiffs filed a post-trial motion for leave to amend their original and Supplemental Complaints to eliminate potential jurisdictional problems which arose following the Supreme Court's decision in City of Kenosha v. Bruno, 412 U.S. 507 (1973), by broadening the jurisdictional claims and adding individual members of the various boards as defendants. This motion was granted by Order of July 30, 1974 at the same time as the merits of the main case were determined by the district court (A. 470-78). 5 The busing remedy, as well as other measures, approved in Swann, supra, has been utilized to a significant extent in the Durham City Administrative School Unit, and court-ordered procedures to further desegregate the school system, if to take effect during this school year, would seriously impinge upon the educational process without corresponding benefits toward the establishment or per petuation of a unitary school system. [Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, issued December 6, 1973, pp. 14, 16] The matter was tried before the Court in May, .1974 and decided July 30, 1974. Although the primary relief sought in the Supplemental Complaint was inter-district assignment, of students between the Durham city and county school systems, plaintiffs alter natively prayed that plans of desegregation for both units be developed and implemented which will provide for the assignment of students by the two units in order to eliminate the racial segregation and racial identity of the schools and school units of Durham County and Durham City. and for "such other, alternate or additional relief as the Court may deem the plaintiffs entitled [to]." (A. 36 ). Furthermore, in light of the substantial evidence developed during discovery and presented at the trial concerning the activities of city agencies (the Durham Housing Authority, 6 Redevelopment Commissdon, etc.) which impacted negatively upon the creation and maintenance of unitary school systems in both the city and county, plaintiffs' Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law submitted after the trial requested an injunction requiring that the City of Durham shall immediately take such steps as may be necessary to insure that none of the city agencies, whether under the direct or indirect control of the city, institute or implement any policies or practices which have the affect [she] of perpetuating or resegregating the public schools of Durham city and Durham county. (Plaintiffs' Proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order, filed June 14, 1974, at p. 35). The Court's Order of July 30, 1974, denied "[p]laintiffs' request for relief contained in plaintiffs' supplemental complaint . . .," gave plaintiffs ten days within which to object to a Durham County Board of Education motion to alter its desegregation plan by converting Lakeview and Bragtown Elementary Schools, which had become majority-black schools, into single-grade attendance centers, and directed the Durham City Board of Education to submit its pupil assignment plan for the 1974-75 school year (A.5 33-34). August 26, 1974, plaintiffs noticed their appeal from the July 30 Order (A. 546) . 7 Plaintiffs subsequently objected to both the Durham County and Durham City school board plans for 1974-75 (A. 542 ), but their objections were overruled by the district court in an Order entered August 29, 1974 (A. 551 ). Neither Order of the District Court granted any relief against the City of Durham or city agencies. Plaintiffs noticed their appeal from the second district court decree on September 3, 1974 (A. 553 ). Statement of Pacts 1. Durham City Schools The Durham City School Administrative Unit.’, as it is referred to under North Carolina law, is located within but is not fully coextensive with, the City of Durham. During the 1973-74 school year, the city school system operated 24 facilities: two high schools, six junior high schools, and sixteen elementary schools, enrolling some 10,034 students in grades 1-12 (A. 490); the city district extends approximately five miles from North to South and four from East to West (A. 199). As noted above, the present litigation to desegregate the §/Durham city schools was commenced fifteen years ago. Prior 6/ Reported decisions in the Wheeler case are as follows: 196 F. Supp. 71 (M.D.N.C. 1961); 210 F. Supp. 839 (M.D.N.C.), rev'd 309 F.2d 630 (4th Cir. 1962); 326 F.2d 759 (4th Cir. 1964); 346 F . 2d 768 (4th Cir. 1965); 249 F. Supp. 145 (M.D.N.C.), rev1d in part, 363 F.2d 738 (4th Cir. 1966); 379 F. Supp. 1352 (M.D.N.C. 1974). - 8 - to the entry of the Orders from which these appeals are taken, the case followed the usual pattern of school desegregation actions: approval of pupil placement schemes, then freedom of choice. After the Supreme Court's Green, Monroe and Raney Vdecisions in 1968, proceedings initiated by the filing of another Motion for Further Relief resulted in the approval and implementation of a new plan embodying the mandatory assign ment of pupils, which remained in effect from 1970-7], until 1974-75. The 1970 plan employed the techniques of contiguous geographic zoning and contiguous pairing only (A. 91, 99-100, 120). It did not utilize either satellite znni.nrr o-r non contiguous pairing because of the added pupil transportation which 8/would have been required by these devices (A. 104-05, 110, 119) and it did not have as a starting-point or goal, the approximation of the system-wide racial, composition in the city schools (A. 102, 120). Indeed, projections under the 1970 plan as approved showed schools anticipated to have student populations of widely divergent racial makeup (A. 108-09, 488). Significantly, the schools which were expected to be virtually all-black (more than 7/ Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, supra; Monroe v. Board of Commissioners of Jackson, 391 U.S. 450 (1968); Raney v. Board of Education of Gould, 391 U.S. 443 (1968). 8/ The Durham City Board did not operate its own transportation system; students utilized public transit buses operated by the Duke Power Company (A. 99-100). 9 80%) were previously operated as segregated all-black institutions under the dual system (see A. 216-17). In short, the plan did not, as conceived, seek to maximize desegregation of the Durham city public schools (A. 107). Nor did the 1970 plan, as executed, achieve this result. The projected levels of desegregation — limited as they were — did not materialize (A. 52-53, 57, 65, 188, 409). Many traditionally black schools had less then 10% white students when the geographic zoning plan was first implemented (A. 489). The Board's disappointment with these results, and complaints from parents about one-race schools, led to study of alternative means of assignment which would bring about greater desegrega tion of the city's school system (A. 50-51, 58-59, 65-67, 209). This investigation, of ways to improve the desegregation plan continued until the filing of plaintiffs' Motion for Further Relief in 1972 — but without any action by the Board to modify its plan despite steadily worsening results under its 1970 pupil assignment scheme. Although the Board was presented 9/ with several effective and fully feasible alternatives, all 9/ For example, the markedly different racial composition of Durham and Hillside High Schools (55% and 78% black, respectively, in 1973-74) could be eliminated by rezoning (A. 212). Plaintiffs proposed a Durham city system plan doing just that (A. 466). Contrast the Board's ineffective high school rezoning for 1974-75 (A. 541) . 10 of which required additional transportation of students (A. 39, 51, 197-99), it never made any changes in the 1970 plan until after plaintiffs' Motion for Further Relief had been decided. Instead, the decision was made to "study further" (A. 37, 69-70, 214-15). Once the Motion was filed, it became the excuse for inaction (A. 42, 47, 62, 71). By 1973-74, therefore, the Durham City school board was still assigning students pursuant to a desegregation plan drafted in 1970, utilizing no noncontiguous assignment techniques and very little pupil transportation, and v/hich was markedly ineffective in eliminating substantially disproportionate pupil racial compositions among its schools, as illustrated by these examples (A. 490): School Grades 1973-74 % Black Durham High 10-12 55% Hillside High 10-12 78% Brogden Jr. High 7-9 20% Rogers-Herr Jr. High 7-9 81% Shepard Jr. High 7-9 96% Powe Elementary 1-6 28% Watts Elementary 1-6 45% Spaulding Elementary 1-6 97% Pearson Elementary 1-6 98% Burton Elementary 1-6 93% These results were held by the district court to represent "full compliance" with the Fourteenth Amendment; the Court 11 found the system was "'unitary' in the sense required in the later decisions in Green . . Alexander . . . and Swann . . (A. 526-27). Accordingly, the Court held that "further court-ordered pairing or grouping of attendance zones is not constitutionally mandated at this time" (A. 526). 2. Durham County Schools and Public Housing and Relocation The Thompson case was brought.to end racial discrimination within the Durham County School Administrative Unit in 1963, 10/and it, too, followed the classic pattern of such suits. After this Court's 1969 reversal of a delay in eliminating freedom of choice, which had been granted by the district court 11/prior to the decision in Alexander (Nesbit v. Statesville City Bd. of Educ., 418 F .2d 1040 [4th Cir. 1969]), a geographic zoning plan for county schools was submitted to, and approved by, the district court. Enrollments under the plan remained relatively stable until 1972, when the larger two of three public housing projects constructed by the Durham Housing Authority in the "city-out" area opened (A. 229). As a result of this construction, in the area served by the Lakeview 10/ A more thorough history of the case is given in the district court's opinion, A. 482-86. 11/ Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education. 396 U.S. 19 (1969) . 12 and Bragtown Elementary Schools, there was an immediate and 12/ radical shift in the racial composition of these schools: 1969-70 % Black 1971-72 1972-73 1973-74 Bragtown 37% 45% 63% 73% Lakeview 36% 33% 57% 67% When the 1970 plan was drafted, however.- the Durham County board had no knowledge that this might occur, since there had been no notification or communication from the Housing Authority about the projects (A. 76, 77-78, 246, 267, 324, Am More than half of Durham County's 1970-1974 gain in black student population is attributable to public housing, according to the Superintendent (A. 236-37); he and other witnesses agreed that the location of such a large concentration of units in the Bragtown-Lakeview area was responsible for the sudden 13/resegregation of the two schools (A. 75, 164, 227-28, 260)- 12/ In Durham, as in many localities, public housing is occupied predominantly by blacks (A. 150, 153, 276-88; see A. 124) . 13/ Similarly, the county system had no knowledge of the public housing when it planned the new Chewning Junior High School in the Northern part of the system; the contemplated assignment zones were modified in 1974-75 utilizing non-contiguous zoning for Carrington Junior High to avoid a disproportionate concentration of black students at Chewning (A. 254-57). 13 The Executive Director of the Housing Authority recognized that public housing 'practices had caused or magnified the concentration of black students in particular schools within M / both the city and county systems — largely because units had been grouped together in massive projects rather than being dispersed on 11 scattered sites" (A. 294) . He admitted that the conscious location of public housing could assist 15/rather than retard desegregation of the schools, and that the continued building of large multi-unit projects would lead to further resegregation of schools (A. 296) . Yet the Authority's position when the Bragtown-Lakeview units were being considered was to ignore any impact upon the schools and "leave it to the developer" of the Turnkey projects (A. 324-25). Similarly, the Mayor and members of the City Council expressed their total lack of concern with the consequences for individual school populations of various city agency actions, 14/ The City Superintendent agreed that this had been the result within the city (A. 269, 271), where both public housing and relocation services had largely been limited to the predominantly black southeastern section of Durham; the U.S. Department of H.U.D. had for this reason imposed a temporary prohibition on further location of public housing in southeast Durham (A. 124, 143, 171, 306, 346-48). 15/ The benefits of joint planning with school officials were also recognized by the Durham Planning Director (A. 400) and the Mayor (A. 125-26). However, the district court did not order it. 14 including, in particular, public housing, urban renewal, and 16/ relocation programs — stating either that the Council never thought about possible effect on the schools or that these activities were completely beyond the control of the city's governing body, being committed to other governmental entities 17/ (A. 122-23, 132, 136-37, 143, 158-59, 163, 178, 185). But not only does the Council appoint the membership of these "independent governmental agencies" (the city district school board, Housing Authority, Redevelopment Commission, etc.) as well as receive periodic reports about housing and renewal activities (A. 174, 184, 290); it may replace members, merge or abolish the agencies, and influence or even’stop particular projects if it so desires (A. 127, 344-45). In fact, the Council has discussed the location of specific public housing units (A. 175, 177-78) and it has contributed funds to the Housing Authority for specific uses it favors (A. 345). The governmental prerogatives have simply not been exercised for the purpose of preventing the resegregation of schools as occurred at Bragtown and Lakeview. 16/ Since 1962, Durham has provided relocation assistance to more than a thousand families and individuals (A. 362-71), most of whom were blacl̂ (ibid.) . Historically, most of these persons were relocated in southeast Durham; and 65% of those relocated have moved to public housing projects (A. 374-75). 17/ Council members knew, however, of the tendency of the public housing program as it has been operated in Durham to increase the 15 3. Plaintiffs' Proposed Plans of Desegregation At the trial on the merits in May 1974, plaintiffs presented alternative plans of desegregation for consolidated and separately operated school districts in Durham City and County (A. 454-69), through the testimony of educational and computer expert witnesses who had prepared the plans (A. 411-39). The plans included separate assignment proposals for students in the existing Durham City and County systems in a manner which would maximize desegregation (A. 429-30). The plans were based upon geographic zoning, utilizing a computer model to draw separate zones for black and white students at each grade level which would achieve desegregation of the schools while minimizing pupil transportation (A. 416-17). As the district court found, under plaintiffs' plans the projected racial composition of city schools would range from 63% to 74% black, and that in county schools between 17% and 31% black (A. 50 9) . 17/ (Continued) residential concentration of blacks (A. 122-23, 154-55). They can hardly have been completely ignorant of public school affairs in the city they governed. 16 Mrs. Stein, one of the drafters, testified that the computer drawn zones provided a good basis upon which the school authorities could make actual pupil assignments in order to achieve full desegregation of the city and county schools, although the computer zones would have to be modified to conform to natural boundaries, etc.; there was no reason to expect that such modifications (some of which had been made in the process of devising the plans) would result in a substantial change in projected racial compositions (A. 423- 26) . The District Court found that "the various plans of th<̂ plaintiffs demonstrate that the schools can be more effectively desegregated" (A. 509). 4. The 1974-75 Plans Submitted By the Boards In the Fall of 1973, the Durham County Board determined to modify its elementary school pupil assignment plan in order to eliminate the resegregation which had developed as a result of the public housing in the Bragtown-Lakeview area (A. 441-42). A variety of options, involving rezoning, pairing or clustering was available to alter the majority black enrollments at these two schools (A. 81-82). Through the Title IV Center in Raleigh, the Board brought in a consultant with experience 17 in desegregation from Ohio State University (A. 444), who recommended that Bragtown and Lakeview each be included with two nearby schools in separate three-school clusters (A. 247-48). Instead of adopting this recommendation, however, the Superintendent proposed and the Board ultimately adopted and submitted to the district court a plan whereby Bragtown and Lakeview would operate as Sixth Grade and Kindergarten centers, respectively, for a larger cluster involving a total of six elementary schools: Bragtown, Lakeview, Hillandale, Holt, Glenn and Merrick-Moore (A. 240-41, 18/ 445) . Plaintiffs objected to the county plan because the black students who now predominate in the Bragtown and Lakeview areas will be assigned away from their homes for a dis proportionate number of years (5 of 6) while white students in the clustered schools will remain in their pre-1974 assign ment patterns for 5 of 6 years. Plaintiffs noted that their 18/ The plan also involves minor changes in zone lines among county elementary schools, moving approximately 100 students each from Little River to Mangum, Holt to Little River, and Hillandale to Holt (A. 241). 18 desegregation proposal presented at trial would achieve results equal to those under the county plan without disproportionately burdening the black community in this manner (A. 543). The District Court overruled plaintiffs' objections and approved the county plan on August 29, 1974 (A. 552). In accordance with the July 30 Order of the District Court (A. 534), the City Board of Education also submitted a 1974-75 plan (A. 536-41). This proposal involved a-minor, shift in the zone line between the two city high schools, and the pairing of two additional elementary schools. However, it did not seek nor was it anticipated to eliminate all of the substantial disproportions in the racial composition of city schools (A. 541). For example, Brogden Junior High School was projected 20% black, and Powe Elementary School was projected 31% black, while Shepard and Whitted Junior High Schools, as well as Fayetteville Street, Pearson, and Spaulding Elementary Schools were each expected to be more than 90% black. Plaintiffs objected to the constitutional sufficiency of this plan (A. 542-43), but their objections were overruled by the District Court (A. 552), apparently in accordance with 19 the Court's earlier holding that a unitary system within the city had been established. Nevertheless, the District Court directed the City Board to submit further revisions of its desegregation plan for the 1975-76 school year, and to place special emphasis on "schools which currently have a white pupil enrollment of 20 percent or less" (A. 552). 20 ARGUMENT I The District Court Should Have Ordered Complete Desegregation Of The Durham City School System Repeatedly in its Opinion, the District Court makes the assertion (both as a Finding of Fact and also as a Conclusion of Law) that "[w]ith the implementation of . . . [the 1970] desegregation plan . . - the Durham City school system is now 'unitary' . . . " (A. 492-93, 504, 526-27). Whatever the proper characterization of the statement, it is flatly wrong under' governing rulxiiys of the United Grates Supreme Court- ana decisions of this and other Circuits. Even a quick perusal of the results expected under the plan, and the actual experience thereunder (A. 488-90) indicates the continuing substantial disproportionality of racial composition among the various schools in the Durham city system. As this Court has said in similar circumstances, In the light of the history of state- enforced segregation in the [Durham] schools, the marked residual disparity in the racial balance of the schools under the plan of the District Court strongly suggests that the plan is ineffective to attain an acceptable degree of realistic desegregation. 21 Medley v. School Bd. of Danville, 482 F.2d 1061, 1063 (4th Cir. 1973), cert, denied, 414 U.S. 1172 (1974). Furthermore, the cause of the ineffectiveness is not hard to discern on this record. The 1970 plan was drafted and approved by the district court before even this Court's decision in Swann v. Charlotte- Mecklenburq Bd. of Educ., 431 F .2d 138 (4th Cir. 1970), rev1d in part on other grounds, 402 U.S. 1 (1971), which endorsed the use of non-contiguous assignment techniques and pupil transportation at the secondary level in order to achieve effective school desegregation. As described above, it employed only geographic 19/rezoning and contiguous pairing, with minimal transportation of 20/ pupils. It was nor aevxsea xn antxcxpatxon ot tne governxng standard enunciated by the Supreme Court in Swann, supra: that 19/ The district court's description of the plan as involving the "pairing of schools at opposite ends of the City" (A. 526) is somewhat misleading. Contiguous sets of elementary schools in northeastern and southern Durham were paired but there was no combination of identifiable schools of opposite racial concentra tions at either extremity of the district. 20/ Although defendant Durham City Board of Education included in its Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law the following finding: The bussing remedy, approved in Swann, supra, has been fully utilized in the Durham City Administrative School Unit, and further Court-ordered pairing or grouping of attendance zones could result in significant impingement of the educa tional process. the district court limited its holding as follows, declining to employ the term "fully": 22 desegregation be maximized. In short, proving ineffective, and having been designed without regard to the strictures of Swann, the 1970 plan must be replaced with one holding greater promise 21/ 22/ of effectuating system-wide desegregation "root and branch" The obligation of the Durham City School Board to achieve the actual desegregation of all of its schools is not mitigated, as the district court apparently thought, by the fact that demographic changes may have contributed to the failure of the 1970 decree (see A. 493-94, 504-05). The 1970 plan could not be said to create a unitary system instanter, even accepting arguendo the sufficiency of its projections, but only when it lictCl jprOVfciCc _i_ u S vii j. .L. j_Ii L u a r u x C o C v C i . Ca-iuO • G i. 0011 V • u O U n l. y School Bd. of New Kent County, supra; Lemon v. Bossier Parish School Bd., 444 F .2d 1400, 446 F.2d 911 (5th Cir. 1971). Nor is 20/ (Continued) The busing remedy, approved in Swann, supra, has been utilized in the Durham City Administrative School Unit, . . . . (A. 526) 21/ Green v. County School Bd. of New Kent County, supra, 391 U.S. at 437-38; see Keyes v. School Dist. No. 1, Denver, 413 U.S. 189, 214 (1973); Milliken v. Bradley, 41 L.Ed.2d 1069, 1096 (1974). 22/ Cf. Goss v. Board of Educ. of Knoxville, 444 F.2d 632, 634 (6th Cir. 1971)("We believe, however, that Knoxville must now conform the direction of its schools to whatever new action is enjo ed upon it by the relevant 1971 decisions of the United States Supreme Court") Adams v. School Dist. No. 5, Orangeburg, 444 F.2d 99 (4th Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Bd. of Educ. v. Scott, 404 U.S. 912 (1971). 23 defendants' obligation lessened because, during the time that this ineffective plan was being tried, some formerly white schools became majority-black. Flax v. Potts, 464 F.2d 865 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, 409 U.S. 1007 (1972); Kelley v. Metropolitan County Bd. of Educ., 463 F.2d 732 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1001 (1972). As the Fifth Circuit recently put it: We view this case as presenting no more than a motion in the district court for further relief in a typical school desegregation case where modification is indicated because of lack of success. Hereford v. Huntsville Bd. of Educ., 504 F .2d 857, 858 (5th Cir. 1974) (emphasis supplied). Accord, Ellis v. Board f Public Instruction of Orange County, 465 F.2d 878 (5th Cir. 1972); Boykins v. Fairfield Bd. of Educ., 457 F.2d 1091 (5th Cir. 1972) Dowell v. Board of Educ. of Oklahoma City, 465 F .2d 1012 (10th Cir.), cert, denied, 409 U.S. 1041 (1972); Monroe v. County Bd. of Educ., 505 F.2d 109 (6th Cir. 1974); Boyd v. Pointe Coupee Parish School Bd., No. 71-3305 (5th Cir., Dec. 10, 1974), rev1 g 332 F. Supp. 994 (E.D. La. 1971). Certainly the 1970 plan cannot be justified as resulting in only a "small number of one-race schools," Swann, supra, 402 U.S., at 26. See A. 525-26. The Supreme Court did not intend by this language to validate continued substantial school 24 segregation, as is found in Durham. See Northcross v. Board of Educ. of Memphis, 466 F.2d 890, 893 (6th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 410 U.S. 926 (1973), vacated in part and remanded on other grounds, 412 U.S. 427 (1973); Medley v. School Bd. of 23/ Danville, supra. Even one or two virtually all-black schools may be constitutionally unacceptable if feasible alternatives for their desegregation exist. E.g., Weaver v. Board of Public Instruction, 467 F .2d 473 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. denied. 410 U.S. 982 (1973); Boykins v. Fairfield Bd. of Educ., supra. Swann directed school boards and district courts "to make every effort to achieve the greatest possible degree of actual desegregation. . . .11 40 2 U.S. , at 26. It specifically approved the use of pupil transportation, together with other techniques such as pairing, grouping, and grade restructuring of schools, as permissible tools to bring about the constitutionally required result of actual school desegregation. And it suggested, if it did not explicitly state, that valid grounds for objecting to desegregation plans using pupil busing exist only when "the time 23/ At least one Court of Appeals has suggested that the language relied upon by the district court reflects upon the proof necessary to establish a violation, while the following sentence in the Supreme Court's opinion articulates the remedial standard ("achieve the greatest possible degree of actual desegre gation"). See Kelly v. Guinn, 456 F .2d 100, 109-10 (9th Cir. 1972), cert. denied, 413 U.S. 919 (1973). 25 or distance of travel is so great as to either risk the health of the children or significantly impinge on the educational process." 402 U.S., at 30-31. Detailed factual findings about the impracticality of alternative assignment plans which promise greater desegregation are required to sustain district court decisions rejecting such plans. Adams v. School Dist. No. 5, Orangeburg, supra, 444 F.2d, at 101; Adams v. Rankin County Bd. of Educ., 485 F.2d 324, 326 (5th Cir. 1973). There are no such findings on this record. Indeed, the district court found explicitly that plaintiffs' Durham City-only desegregation plan as well as the plans considered by the School Board in 1972-73, each of which would utilize pupil transportation, were fully feasible (A. 505-07, 509). Compared to Charlotte- Mecklenburg, or Norfolk, the Durham system is exceedingly compact (A. 199); during the freedom-of-choice era, students travelled as far as would be required in order to effectively desegregate the system today (A. 101). The District Court praised the city school board for its continual restudy of its desegregation plan (A. 505, 523-24, 531). The Durham City Board has been notorious for study, but it has not translated that study into action. Both in 1970 and 1972, the board abruptly ceased consideration of proposals for further desegregation when motions for further relief were filed by the 26 plaintiffs (A. 42, 47, 62, 71, 93). The district court should have required more than continued study. We respectfully submit that this Court's decision in Medley, supra, is controlling; it, as well as the other authorities cited above, requires reversal of the judgment below with instructions to the district court to require submission of a new plan of desegregation for the Durham City schools, to be based upon the alternatives previously considered by the board, or those developed by the plaintiffs, and to achieve the levels of desegregation projected under these plans. Adams v. School Dist. No. 5, Orangeburg, supra; Pate v. Dade County School Bd., 434 F . 2d 1151 (5th Cir. 1970). II The Durham County Board's 1974-75 Pupil Assignment Plan Unconstitutionally Places A Disproportionate Burden Upon Black Students It is now an accepted principle of school desegregation law that black students should not bear the sole, or a disproportionate share of, the burdens of achieving desegregation. See, e.g., Harrington v. Colquitt County Bd. of Educ., 460 F.2d 193, 196 n.3 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 915 (1972); Hart v. County School Bd. of Arlington County, 459 F.2d 981, 982 (4th Cir. 1972) (school officials may not, in dismantling dual system, "create 27 another form of invidious discrimination"); Arvizu v. Waco Independent School Dist., 495 F.2d 499 (5th Cir. 1974); Robinson v. Shelby County Bd. of Educ., 467 F.2d 1187 (6th Cir. 1972). The requirement of fairness has most often been applied in situations where school boards have attempted to close down black schools completely rather than desegregate them. E.g., Lee v. Macon County Bd. of Educ., 448 F .2d 746 (5th Cir. 1971); Green v. School Bd. of Roanoke. 316 F. Supp. 6 (W.D. Va. 1970), aff1d sub nom. Adams v. School Dist. No. 5, Orangeburg, supra; Brice v. Landis, 314 F. Supp. 974 (N.D. Cal. 1969); McFerren v. County Bd. of Educ., 497 F .2d 924 (6th Cir. 1974). However, it is equally applicable to plans which place the major burden of busing for desegregation upon black students. Harrington v. Colquitt County Bd. of Educ., supra; Clark v. Board of Educ, of Little Rock, 449 F.2d 493 (8th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 936 (1972). In these cases, too, courts have required nonracial justification for the plans. Particularly relevant to this inquiry is the existence of alternative methods of assignment which are equally effective but which distribute the burdens of desegregation more evenly. In the instant case, the effect of the County Board's 1974-75 plan making Bragtown and Lakeview schools single-grade centers is strikingly clear: because a majority of black students now reside 28 in the original attendance areas for these schools, they must be bused to other schools for five of seven school years (counting kindergarten), while white students who formerly attended surrounding facilities will "stay at home" five of seven years. This gross difference in the distribution of the burdens of achieving desegregation of Brag town and I.akeview is unnecessary; and the District Court failed to make any findings of a neutral, nonracial justification for the Board's proposal. Two different alternatives are available to carry out the board's intentions without exacting this penalty from the black community. Dr. Glatt, called in as a consultant by the Board, suggested two three-school clusters (A. 247-48, 444), which would have somewhat reduced the busing differential for black and white students. And plaintiffs' Durham County plan utilized gerrymandered attendance zones while retaining the same grade structure for all elementary schools in order to desegregate them. Either of these proposals would have been preferable to the six-school cluster implemented by the board. It is noteworthy that while the sixth-grade center technique (converting black schools to sixth grade centers) formed the basis of the initial plan approved in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklen burg Bd. of Educ., Civ. No. 1974 (W.D.N.C., August 7, 1970), aff'd 29 402 U.S. 1. (1971), that plan was recently abandoned in favor of one which treated all segments of the community on an equitable basis. The district court should have required the same in this case, by rejecting the County Board's submission. * III The District Court Should Have Granted Injunctive Relief to Halt Practices Of City Agencies Which Thwarted Effectuation Of Desegregation In Durham The record in this case reveals a callous disregard by governmental agencies in Durham County of both moral obligation and also national policy, which the district court should have corrected by injunctive relief in order to preserve the effectiveness of its decrees. Yet although the Bragtown-Lakeview example was fresh evidence of the need, the court failed to act. The testimony of City Councilmen, the City Planner, the Directors of Redevelopment and of the Housing Authority, and that of the two School Superintendents showed that the non-school governmental agencies had never made any attempt to consider what impact their activities might have upon the success of the respective school systems' desegregation efforts. These officials simply refused to face up to their general obligation as governmental officers to enforce all the laws, and their actions frustrated the national policy favoring both desegregation 30 and the minimization of pupil transportation. See 42 U.S.C.A. § 2000d; 20 U.S.C.A. §1652 (1974). As the history of the Bragtown-Lakeview housing projects demonstrates, the Housing Authority's failure to consider these matters in locating and determining the size of these projects has made necessary greater and longer pupil transportation in the county school sys tern. Furthermore, housing officials and school superintendents agreed that if the housing and renewal programs continued to operate as they had, further resegregation of city or county schools was likely. But the district court granted no relief and made no findings on this subject. The relationship between residential segregation and school segregation has long been recognized. E.g., Brewer v. School Bd. of Norfolk, 397 F .2d 37 (4th Cir. 1968); Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., supra, 402 U.S., at 21; Sloan v. Tenth School Dist. of Wilson County, 433 F.2d 587 (6th Cir. 1970). Courts have also noted the consequences for school operations of racially impacting practices with respect to the location of public housing. E.g., Crow v. Brown, 332 F. Supp. 382, 391 (N.D. Ga. 1971), aff1d 457 F.2d 788 (5th Cir. 1972). There is ample basis for judicial action to curb dis criminatory practices. 31 In the instant case the court is presented with a panorama of governmental activities which is nothing short of remarkable. If the testimony is to be credited, each city agency and official managed to perform their official duties without assessing their impact upon any other agencies. The City Council appoints members of housing and school agencies, receives official reports and citizen complaints, but strictly respects the division of governmental powers by permitting total latitude to these other agencies in running their own programs. The Housing Authority and Redevelopment Commission undertake absolutely no coordination with the school boards — although everyone seems to recognize JL 1~ — ~ 1- ^ -v-v^3 -? VN — , +- A •» 1 ^ "Vs ̂ n — T -f-Vs r s TXr-\n i‘ >-v AVL t i U L O *— V y w W w. »— * — - » — -*--- — »-----_J Authority has further passed the buck to the developers of its turnkey projects, although these individuals are not governmental officials and although the Authority does not spell out any requirement that developers take impact on school desegregation into account in planning or locating housing. Surely this picture of governmental horses wearing huge sets of side-vision blinders, or of governmental ostriches with their heads in the sand, represents autonomy rampantly carried to the point of thoughtlessness and irresponsibility. As Judge Wright has said, "the arbitrary quality of thoughtlessness can be as disastrous and unfair to private rights and the public interest 32 as the perversity of a wilful scheme." Hobsen v. Hansen, 269 F. Supp. 401, 497 (D.D.C. 1967), aff1d 408 F.2d 175 (D.C. Cir. 1969) . It should have been clear to the District Court, as a result of the testimony, that unless the City was directed to require that its agencies consider impact upon desegregation before taking action, there would be no coordination, and Bragtown-Lakeview problems were likely to be repeated in the future — seriously impeding the effectiveness of the court's desegregation decrees (A. 125-26, 139-40, 356-57, 392-93). The court defaulted in its obligation to protect the integrity of its orders by not requiring that the City at least consider the school systems' needs before building additional multi-unit public housing, undertaking urban renewal, etc.; the injunction requested by the plaintiffs (see p. 7 above) is but a modest step which promised to avoid the need for additional busing, or more serious measures in the future. The District Court made no findings with respect to these issues, nor explained its reluctance to grant relief. However, if the court was of the view that the Housing Authority, Redevelop ment Commission or other agencies should themselves be subject to any decree (despite plaintiffs' contention, which we submit is amply supported on this record, that the City Council retains 33 sufficient control over these agencies to make any decree effective), the Court had full power under F.R.C.P. 19 and 21 to require the joinder of additional parties. See Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond, 51 F.R.D. 139 (E.D. Va. 1970). Since this case must be remanded for further proceedings to complete the desegregation of the city schools, the court will have ample opportunity to add such parties should it conclude that a decree should run against them as well as the City. CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, plaintiffs-appellants respectfully nrsv -t-Viat fho -indrrme'nt.s below be reversed, and the cause remanded with directions to: (1) require the submission for the approval of the district court, and implementation, of a new plan of desegregation which eliminates racially identifiable schools from the Durham City School Administrative Unit; (2) require the submission for the approval of the district court, and implementation, of a new plan of elementary school pupil assign ment for the Durham County School Administrative Unit which does not place a disproportionate share of required pupil transporta tion upon black students; and (3) enter an appropriate injunction, joining such additional parties for this purpose as the court may deem necessary, against City authorities and agencies requiring that they avoid taking actions which will result in recreating or resegregating racially identifiable schools, because of 34 foreseeable racial residential consequences of those actions, in either the Durham City or County school systems. Plaintiffs-appellants further pray that this Court award them their costs and reasonable attorneys' fees in connection with these appeals. Respectfully submitted, 951 S. Independence Blvd. Charlotte, North Carolina 28202 W ILLIAM A MAP PM ,TP_ 203 1/2 East Chapel Hill Street Durham, North Carolina 27701 J. II. WHEELER 118 West Parish Street Durham, North Carolina 27701 JACK GREENBERG JAMES M. NABRIT, III NORMAN J. CHACIIKIN 10 Columbus Circle New York, New York 10019 Attorneys for Plaintiffs-Appellants 35 CERTIFICATE OF SEPVICE I hereby certify that on this 9th day of January, 1975, I served two copies of the foregoing Brief for Appellants upon counsel for the defendants-appellees herein, by depositing same in the United States mail, first class postage prepaid, addressed as follows: Jerry L. Jarvis, Esq. James L. Newsom, Esq. First Union Nat'l Bank Bldg. P. 0. Box 2088 Durham, North Carolina 27701 Durham, North Carolina 27702 Robert Holleman, Esq. First Federal Building W. I. thornton, Jr., Esq. 1006 Central Carolina Bank Bldg, Durham, North Carolina 27701 Durham, North Carolina 27702 Hon. Andrew Vanore, Esq. P. O. Box 629 Raleigh, North Carolina 27602 -36-