Memorandum from Lani Guinier to Laughlin McDonald

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ROBERT ©. THOMAS, CLERK 
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| DEPUTY 
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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR 

THE FIFTH CIRCUIT 

  

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS NOS. 28030 & 28042 

HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, ET AL, DEFENDANTS 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, "© PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS CIVIL ACTION NO. 1302(E) 

THE ENTERPRISE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL 

DISTRICT AND QUITMAN CONSOLIDATED 
SCHOOL DISTRICT, 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, Educa- 

tion and Welfare in approximately 30 school systems in the | 

Southern District of Mississippi in order to effectuate ihe 

conversion of these school systems to unitary systems. This Order | 

likewise provided a procedure by which a school board may seek 

a modification of said plan through an evidentiary proceeding 

before this Court. On May 11, 1970, and in conformance with said 

rocedure, the board of trustees of the Quitman Consolidated School 

District, involved in Cause No. 1302 (E) on the docket of this 

Court filed a petition to modify the HEW plan with respect to the 

grades assigned to the Shirley-Owens Elementary School. 

‘Clarke County, Mississippi, is divided into two school 

districts, the Enterprise Consolidated School District and the 

 



  

| 

| 

| Quitman Consolidated School District, the latter only being involv- 

  
| ed herein. Rior to the HEW plan, the Quitman school district 

  

      

  
    

included seven schools with grade assignments and attendance as | 

follows: 

CAPACITY STUDENTS 

SCHOOL PERM. W. PORTS, GRADES W N T 

| Zack Huggins Hi 700 g=17 494 2 C406 | 
Shirley-Owens Hi 700 820 7-12 0 646 646 

~ Shirley-Owens Jr H 570 660 1-6 0 530 530 | 

| Quitman Upper 

| Elementary 570 5-8 538 25 563 | 

| Quitman Lower 
Elementary 540 570 1-4 468 31 499 | 

Shubuta Elem. 270 1-6 0 256 256 | 

| Stonewall Elem. 210 1-6 156 0 156 
| Totals 3560 1656 1490 3146 | 

| The first five listed schools are located in and around 

the City of Quitman, the Shubuta and Stonewall schools being in 

the environs. The HEW plan directed the closing of both Shubuta 

| and Stonewall as sub-standard schools, assigning these students 

| to the schools in Quitman, and projected the district assignmenes 

as follows: 

CAPACITY STUDENTS 
  

  

  

    

SCHOOL PERM. W. PORTS. GRADES W N T | 
‘ 

| Zack Huggins Hi 700 700 10-12 333 302 635 

| Shirley-Owens Hi 700 820 7-9 453 355 808 

| Shirley Owens Elem.570 660 5-6 203. 259 - 552 

Quitman Upper | 

| Elem. 570 570 3-4 200 278 © 568 =| 
Quitman Lower Leia | 

Elem. 540 570 1-2 287 296 583 

| 3080 3320 1656 1490 3146   
I After notice to all parties, a hearing was had on the 

board's petition on June 28, 1970, at which plaintiffs, the school | 

board, and the United States of America, as amicus curiae, were | 

represented by counsel. 

"The school board's petition, as orally amended at the 

hearing, seeks to eliminate the assignment of the sixth grade to 

 



  

    

  

Shirley-Owens Elementary School, by assigning this grade to 

Shirley-Owens High School, now serving grades 7-9; by assigning 

the 5th grade and only six sections of the 3rd grade to the 

  Quitman Upper Elementary School now serving grades 3-4; and by 

adding two sections of grade 3 to the Quitman Lower Elementary 

School, now serving grades 1-2. The board proposes to use the 

Shirley-Owens Elementary School as a reading clinic for all 

students in grades 1-6 who are in need of specialized remedial 

  
reading. The school board contends that the proposed modifications | 

are not racially motivated, but are sought to alleviate the 

impractical and unfeasible assignment of the 5th and 6th grade 

students to a school totally unsuitable to serve these grades. 

The entire proposal, showing changes in the names of some schools, 

is as follows: | 

1. Quitman Consolidated District High School, formerly 

zack Huggins High School, to house all students in grades 10-12. 

2. Quitman Consolidated District Junior High School, 

formerly the Shirley-Owens High School, to house all students in 

grades 6-9. 

3. Quitman Upper Elementary School to house all students; 

in grades 4-5 and six sections of grade 3. 

4. Quitman Lower Elementary School to house all students] 

in grades 1-2 and two sections of grade 3. | 

5. Quitman Consolidated School District Reading Clinic, 

formerly known as Shirley-Owens Elementary School, to house all 

students in grades 1-6 who are in need of specialized remedial 

reading. 

The board's oral amendment of assigning part of the 

third grade to Quitman Upper Elementary and part to the Quitman 

i 

 



  

    

  

Lower Elementary instead of the fifth grade, as proposed in the y g > PTOp 

  
petition, eliminates one of plaintiff's objections to the board's 

proposal - that is, the assignment of a part of the 5th grade to 

a school housing grades 1-2. Plaintiff's other objections include: 

(1) the use of Shirley-Owens Elementary School as a special reading   
clinic would under-utilize that facility and will assure that the | 

overwhelming majority of these students will be negro; (2) if 

Shirley-Owens Elementary School is closed, then the four Femaining 

schools will be over-taxed; and (3) defendants propose to close 

Shirley-Owens Elementary primarily because it was formerly a negro 

school. 

The school board offered one witness, T.E. Cotten, the i) 

district superintendent, in support of its proposal. Plaintiff 

offered no evidence, relying on cross-~examination of Mr. Cotten. 

With reference to the Shirley-Owens Elementary School, 

the building information reflected in the HEW plan shows 16 

teaching stations with a permanent capacity for 570 students and, 

with portables, a maximum capacity for 660 students. The assign=- 

ment of grades 5-6 contemplated an enrollment of 552 students, 

which would be within the stated capacity. However, Mr. Cotten 

denied the accuracy of the building information. He stated that | 

this building actually has 14 teaching stations with a student 

capacity of 420, and, with the one portable classroom in location, 

a maximum capacity for 450 students, or a shortage of space for | 

over 100 students under the HEW assignment. Only 361 students, | 

all black, currently attend. Although this fact in itself may 

indicate racial significance, and, aside from the conflict in 

evidence as to whether or not the building is adequate to house 

the HEW assignment of 552 students, Cotten testified, uncontradict-| 

edly, to areas, other than housing, wherein this facility is 

lyme 

 



  

| neither suitable nor adequate for the 5th and 6th grades. The 

  | facility is located on a 5% acre site, part of which, as reflected 

by photographs on file herein, consists of an eroded hill side, 

unimproved and undersized as a playground. Although the school 

has an auditorium, it has no gymnasium nor cafeteria. In lieu     | of a cafeteria, transportation would be required for over 500 

| students to the nearest school having a cafeteria, for which   | neither transportation facilities nor time is available. On the 

| other hand, as to the schools to which these students would be 

| assigned under the board proposal, there are adequate facilities. 

Shirley-Owens High School, to which the 6th grade would be 

assigned, has both a gymnasium and a cafeteria, and is located on 

a 23 acre site. Both Quitman Upper Elementary, to which the 5th y 

grade and a part of the 3rd grade wauld be assigned, and Quitman | 

Lower Elementary, to which the remainder of the 3rd grade would 
. 

| be assigned, have cafeteria facilities and 15 acres, each, of play-   
ground. Contrary to plaintiff's contention, there is adequate 

space in the remaining schools for these proposed assignments. 

| The current enrollment shows a drop in total attendance from 3146 

| to 2929 students. From this latter figure, approximately 400 will 

| be assigned to Shirley-Owens for remedial classes. Exclusive 

| of Stonewall, Shubuta, and Shirley-Owens Elementary schools, the 

capacity of the remaining schools is for 2660 students. An 

| analysis of the board's proposed assignments shows sufficient 

space at each school to house the non-remedial students. 

I The Court finds that the school board has established 

sound educational and administratively feasible grounds for | 

| transferring the 5th and 6th grades from the Shirley-Owens 

Elementary School in that its capacity and facilities are wholly 

inadequate for these grades. From a racial standpoint, each of 

 



  

the four graded schools will retain approximately the same racial 

mixture, and, as hereafter shown, Shirley-Owens Elementary School, 

as a reading clinic, will be integrated, whereas now it 1s not. 

In transferring the 5th and 6th grades from Shirley-Owens 

  Elementary School, the only grades currently assigned thereto, the 

board proposes to use this facility as a remedial reading school. 

  | For the past three years the school system has offered special 

| reading classes for students in grades 1-4. Under the present 

proposal, this assistance will be extended to include grades 1-6. 

| A recent 'meeds' study conducted by school officials, on file 

herein as an exhibit, reveals 181 blacks and 198 whites in grades 

1-6 who need special assistance. The grades range from the 

a 22 ; ER EN 
largest group, 59 blacks and 66 whites in the 4th grade to 1V 

blacks and 28 whites in the 6th grade. There will be 9 black 

. 

| and 7 white teachers working with four to five students in a | 
| 

class at a time, requiring near maximum use of the building. The 

classes are and will be integrated. The school board intends to 

| use any excess space at this school for adminis trative offices. 
| 

| On the basis of the above testimony, this Court finds 

| 
| that the school board's proposals are based on sound educational 
| y » in 

| and administratively feasible grounds. 

Both plaintiffs and the school board agree, with 

respect to the oral amendment, on the soundness of assigning the 

5th grade to the same school housing grades 3-4 rather than a 

portion of the 5th grade being assigned to the school housing 

crades 1-2, with which this Court agrees. 

(¥
 Accordingly, this Court recommends that th 

tions requested by the Quitman Consolidated School, as set forth 

 



  
 
 
 
 

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