Fund Challenges State Tuition Payments to Students in "Private" Miss. Schools

    | SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF N Si N1SSISSIPP] | FILED 
JUL 22 1970 

ROBERT Cc. 
BY Pq &s/ 

Ll    
UNITED STATES COURT OF APP / 

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT s 

  

DEPUTY 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS NOS. 28030 and 28042 

HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, ET AL, DEFENDANTS 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS NO. 1120 (W) 

NATCHEZ SPECIAL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL 

DISTRICT, ET AL, DEFENDANTS   FINDINGS OF FACT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
  

In the above styled school desegregation case, consolidats 

ed with other school cases, Nos. 28030 and 28042, on the docket | 

of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the Natchez Special | 

Municipal Separate School District was ordered by the Appellate | 

Court on November 7, 1969, to implement not later than December 

31, 1969, a desegregation plan prepared and filed by the Office   
of Education of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. 

On December 10, 1969, the Court of Appeals entered an order modify) 

ing the provisions of the plan previously ordered into effect 

by that Court. After operating its school district for approximate= 

ly four months under the modified plan it became apparent to the 

school board that further modifications were necessary, and on 

April 29, 1970, in accordance with the procedure outlined in the   
| 

Appellate Court's order of November 7, 1969, the defendant school 

board filed its motion for such modifications to correct these 

deficiencies: 

(A) insufficient capacity to house all resident 

students in one zone. 

 



  

(B) excessive annual shifting of students among 

attendance centers to complete their elemen- 

tary education. 

(C) excessive bussing of students with resulting 

high transportation costs. 

On June 10, 1970, the United States of America, 

plaintiff, filed its response to the school district's proposed 

modifications, making no objection to the proposals affecting   student assignments on the elementary and junior high level, but 

objecting to the defendants' proposed plan for the assignment of 

students in high school grades 10-12. On July 2, 1970, a hearing 

was held on the proposed modifications and on the issue pertaining, 

to the high school grades. 

Both parties were represented by counsel. The N.A.A.C.P. |   Legal Defense and Educational Fund, amicus curiae, made no : | 

appearance. 

At the elementary level, the current plan provides for 

eleven schools in four zones in the entire district, including 

schools inside and outside the municipal limits. No changes are 

contemplated in grade assignments in the Montibello Zone, where 

there is one school housing grades 1-6, and the Morgantown, Central | 
    

and Washington Zone, where each school offers two consecutive years 

of instruction. As to the remaining seven elementary schools, | 

  
located in two zones, the board proposes changes in some grade 

assignments as well as zone changes. Because of insufficient   capacity to house all students in grades 1-6 in the Northside, 

| Carpenter I and Prince Street Elementary School Zone, which house 

grades 1-5, the current plan assigns the 6th grade to Braden 

Elementary in another zone, approximately two miles from the 

Northside School, affecting more than 250 sixth grade students. 

 



  

    

In both the Northside and Braden zones, students residing in 

those zones are required to attend a total of 4 different schools 

in order to complete six years of elementary instruction. The 

school board contends that this fragmentary grade structure 

interferes with the effectiveness of the non-graded type of 

instruction which this school system has employed for several 

years, requires excessive busing of 405 students at the elementary 

level, and is otherwise educationally unsound. The school board 

proposes four zones, where there are now two, the Prince Street 

School, serving grades 1-2, to be paired with Northside school,       serving grades 3-6, in the Northside and Prince Street Zone; 

Carpenter I school, serving grades 1-2, to be paired with Brum- 

field, grades 3-6, in the Brumfield and Carpenter I Zone; 

Carpenter II school, serving grades 1-2 to be paired with Braden, 

grades 3-6, in the Braden and Carpenter II Zone; and the West 

school, serving grades 1-6, in the West Zone. This would insure   
that elementary students would attend no more than two schools 

during their elementary attendance, and will place 405 additional 

children within walking distance to their schools. 

As to the four junior high school zones, each containing 

one school, housing grades 7-9, each school would retain its | 

present grade structure of grades 7-9, the only change being to | 

the zone line between the Thompson and Montebello Zones to include ih 

the Montebello Zone a triangular area presently in the Thompson | 

Zone, being that area formed by Liberty Road, D'Evereaux Drive | 

and the eastern limits of the municipality. This area is more than 

a mile from Thompson, most of it less than a mile from Montebello, 

and effects 70 students in that area who would for the most part 

be within walking distance of Montebello, whereas they are now 

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bused to Thompson. 

As stated above, the plaintiff offered no objections to 

the above proposed modifications, and at the hearing admitted 

they are educationally and administratively sound, satisfy 

constitutional requirements, and do not affect significantly the 

racial composition of any of the schools involved. 

Under the HEW plan the assignment of high school students 

in grades 10-12 contemplated a division of the entire district into 

north and south attendance areas, the Thompson school serving the 

| northern area and the Natchez-Adams High School serving the 

southern area. The Appellate Court's modification of December   
10, 1969, having assigned grades 7-9 to the Thompson school, 

established a three-building complex, exclusive of Thompson school, | 

for high school students. The 10th grade was assigned to the | 

Anchorage School, being larger than Thompson, with a projected 

enrollment of 402 whites and 444 blacks for a total of 846; grades 

11 and 12 were assigned to the Natchez-Adams High School with a   
projected attendance of 685 whites and 712 blacks for a total of 

1397. The Vocational-Technical School was designated to serve 

the entire district. As a result of the implementation of ‘this | 

plan, April 10, 1970, enrollment records show a loss of 522 | 

white students in grades 10-12. The school board's proposal is 

a frank attempt to recapture these whites, and proposes that the   
district be divided into two attendance areas for grades 10-12, |     
the Natchez High School, North Campus Zone, formerly Anchorage, 

serving grades 10-12 and Natchez High School, South Campus, former- | 

  
ly Natchez-Adams High, serving grades 10-12. The Vocational- 

| Technical School would remain serving the entire district. 

The school board's objections to the current assignment 

of students in these grades are based on administrative and 

lp ae 

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educational grounds, as well as on the loss of white students. 

Under the fragmented grade structure, tenth grade students from 

the southern part of the district travel to the Natchez~Adams 

High School and from there transfer to a bus to Anchorage. A 

similar situation in reverse exists for llth and 12th grade 

students from the northern part of the district to get to Natchez- 

Adams High. At the end of each school day, the procedure is 

reversed. The proposed modification would eliminate the need 

of transferring approximately 600 students from one campus to the 

other each day. In the consolidation in 1957 of the Natchez   municipal school district with the county district into one 

gpecial district, legislative authority was given to permit busing.. 

Intra-city busing has been assumed at local cost for a student 

who lives more than one mile from his assigned school and who is 

not entitled to state supported transportation. The school board 

contends that the current high school assignment requires excessive, 

busing, and that the proposed modifications would eliminate | 

transportation for 405 elementary students, 35 junior high and 

600 senior high students or a total of 1,075 students each day, 

the expense of which is borne by the district. The savings would 
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be calculated on the basis of the average cost of $3.39 per student | 

per month for an annual savings of $32,800.00, and the elimination 

of twelve additional buses at an initial cost of $36,000.00. Under 

the present assignment there is a traffic hazard of 53 buses   crossing U. S. Highway 61 at approximately the same time which 

would be avoided under the board's proposal. The school board 

contends, under the present assignment of transporting students 

away from their nearest school they are riding buses against their 

will, and that most disciplinary problems have arisen on the buses. 

The time involved in busing has detracted from instructional time 

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and added extra burdens and time to members of the faculty involved 

in supervising staging areas. The board points out that under 

the present plan the curricula at neither school has been 

sufficient, and that if the board plan is approved, there will be 

two complete senior high schools with comparable courses offered 

and participation by two schools in athletic programs. 

Implementation of the current assignment of a majority 

of blacks to both campuses has resulted in a loss of 522 white | 

students from the three high school grades as reflected by April 

10, 1970, enrollment reports, giving a current percentage of 78% 

black and 227% white attendance at the North Campus and 58%. black   
and 42% white attendance at the South Campus, Should this assign- 

ment continue, the enrollment for the coming term, as projected by 

the school board would increase the disparity to 847 black and 

167 white attendance at the North Campus, and 24% black and 76% | 

white at the South Campus, indicating a strong trend toward re- 

segregation of these schools. In substantiating its projected oy 

attendance the school board points to five private and parochial 

schools in the area, serving grades 1-12 each, with two more   
aapss the river in Louisiana. Additionally, the school board, 

through its staff andiwing pupil locator maps, undertook to 

determine future attendance by conducting pre-school interviews, | 

  as a result of which the board determined that 121 white 12th 

grade students are eligible to attend during the coming session, of! 

which only 50 are expected to attend, and that of 190 white 10th 

grade students eligible to attend, only 103 are expected, a number | 

of these taking special courses at summer school in order to 

finish. 

At the hearing, plaintiff suggested, in view of the 

above outlined objections to the current high school plan, that, 

as an alternative, the school board should adopt the original   
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high school plan offered by HEW as it offers a greater racial 

mixture than the proposal of the board. Under it the projected 

attendance would have assigned 399 whites and 592 blacks to what 

is now referred to as the North Campus in grades 10-12, and 695 

whites and 544 blacks in grades 10-12 at the South Campus. There 

would be negligible administrative differences between the two 

plans. . The sole geographical difference between the two plans lies 

in the dividing line between the North and South Campus. Defendants 

proposed zone line would coincide with that proposed for Thompson 

Junior High and elementary zones, and would include in the North   Campus all the area north of Franklin Street and D'Evereaux Drive 

in the city limits, This campus would serve a large part of the i 

black residential area in the city,’ The South Campus would include | 

the area south of Franklin Street and D'Evereaux Drive, and ‘include 

major white residential areas. For the rural area, the zone {ine 

would follow the boundary between county supervisors' districts 

4 and 5. Under the HEW plan a small area within the city would | 

be included in the North Campus area, with a larger rural area | 

outside the city limits. Under the HEW plan the projected enroll- 

ment, stated above, would unquestionably offer a greater racial 

mixture than is anticipated under the board's proposal. However, | 

as the school board points out, the HEW projections on the basis | 

of pupil locator maps assumed that all these students would 

attend which has not been the case. The current enrollment reports | 

show an attendance of 581 blacks and 161 whites in the 10th grade 

at the North Campus, and an attendance of 402 whites and 563 

blacks in the 11th and 12th grades at the South Campus for a loss | 

of 522 white students from che three high school grades since the 

implementation of the currently modified plan. Under either the 

HEW or the board plan, the North Campus will remain predominantly 

black, the difference in the racial percentages being significant- 

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ly small. The board contends that under the HEW boundary line, 

the South Campus will also remain black, whereby under the board 

proposal of enlarging the South Campus area within the city, 

more whites will return, increasing white attendance and improving 

the racial mixture on this campus. As shown above, current 

attendance supports the board's view. This district, being in a 

section of the state where nearby public schools are rapidly 

becoming all black with loss of a proportional part of community 

support, has shown that educational principles underlie the board's 

proposals, and that they promise to improve the degree of integra- 

tion on the South Campus, with little hope under either proposal 

to improve the degree of integration on the North Coupuss 

This Court finds that the proposals of the Natchez 

Special Municipal Separate School Districét appearing in the 

board's motion, together with the projected enrollment chdres ad 

maps showing proposed boundary changes attached thereto, are 

educationally motivated and, on the basis of current and projected 

enrollment figures, offer an over all higher degree of racial 

mixture than exists under the present plan, and promises to 

produce more mixture than under the original HEW high school 

assignment as applied to current attendance. 

Accordingly, this Court recommends the approval and 

adoption of the school board's proposed modifications to the plan 

now in 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 U. S. 

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

party of record. 
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