Findings of Fact and Recommendations for Canton School District

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| UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS ROBERT C. THOMAS, CLERIC || 

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT | (4. J/@C{ ocrury || 
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF | 

VERSUS NOS. 28030 and 28042 | 

HINDS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, ET AL, DEFENDANTS | 
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| JOAN ANDERSON, ET AL., PLAINTIFFS | 
| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFF -INTERVENOR | 

VERSUS NO. 3700(J)-District Court 

| CANTON MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL 
DISTRICT, ET AL, DEFENDANTS   

FINDINGS OF FACT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
  

In the above styled consolidated cases, Nos. 28030 and     28042, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, by order dated November | 

| 7, 1969, directed the Canton Municipal Separate School District, | 

| Canton, Mississippi in Cause No. 3700 (J) on the docket of site ol 

Court, to adopt the school integration plan offered by the Office 

| of Education of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.   
The HEW plan was based on a projected attendance in the 

entire school district of 1326 white students and 3672 black 

  | students for a total of 4998. Follwing the school board's 

| implementation of the HEW plan in the spring semester of 1970, 

white attendance dropped to 36 students reflected in enrollment | 

| reports of May 1970. 

The Appellate Court order also set forth procedures by 

which the HEW plan could be modified. On August 18,:1970, the 

school board filed its motion for modification with this Court, 

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alleging that the HEW plan had resulted in a total attendance 

comprised of more than 99% negroes; and that in the light of 

 



  

  
  

      
  

  

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Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U. S. 430, 
  

the HEW plan was not working, nor was it administratively or 

economically feasible. 

In response to the school board's proposals, the 

United States of America, plaintiff-intervenor, filed its written 

objection to that part of the board's proposals which would permit   students in grades 1-9 in the proposed North and West Zones to 
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transfer to schools in the East Zone on the grounds that such 

proposal would tend to reestablish a dual school system. Plaintiff 

filed no written objections. | 

On September 2, 1970, all parties met in chambers 

for the purpose of seeking a mutually acceptable plan. The 

school board agreed to waive its free transfer proposal, following 

which the government expressed no objection to the remaining 

proposals. Upon plaintiffs' refusal to accept the remaining 

proposals as agreed to by the government, a hearing was held on 

September 28, 1970. 

The school board, having continued to implement | 

the HEW student assignment plan, submitted supplemental data 

showing actual attendance since the beginning of the current sohioo] 

term, as follows: 
  

  

    

  

PERCENTAGE 

SCHOOL GRADES WHITE NEGRO TOTAL WHITE NEGRO 

Canton Elementary 1-3 20 541 561 3.56 96.44 | 

McNeal Elementary 1-3 9 533 542 1.66 98.34 | 

Nichols Elementary &4-6 22 1175 1197 1.85 93.15. | 

Canton Junior Hi 7 6 253 259 2.32 97.68 | 
Canton Hi 8-12 19 1311. 1330 1443 98.57 i+. 

*76 3813 3889 1.93 08.07 | 

*An increase from the previous attendance report of 36 white 

students. * 

It should be noted that this district embraces more 

than 200 square miles, an area considerably larger than the 

municipal limits of Canton, located roughly in the center of the 

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| district. Students living outside the municipal limits but within 

a mile of their school are not furnished transportation. 

Under the HEW plan grades 8-12 in the district are   assigned to Canton High School, formerly Rogers High; grade 7, 

district wide, is assigned to Canton Junior High, formerly Canton 

High School; grades 4-6, district wide, are assigned to Nichols 

Elementary, and grades 1-3 are assigned to Canton Elementary and 

McNeal Elementary, Canton Elementary drawing students from the   
southeast and southwest quadrants of the city and district and 

from the northeast quadrant of the district, and McNeal Elementary 

drawing from the northeast and northwest quadrants of the city 

and from the northwest quadrant of the district. | 

The school board proposes to assign grades 10-12, 

district wide, to Canton High school, formerly Rogers High school, 

and, prior to HEW, an all negro school, and as to grades 1-7, 

establish three zones with student assignments to four schools as 

follows: | 

(1) North Zone: All walking students (those not | 
  

eligible for bus transportation) in grades 1-7 residing in the 

North Zone to McNeal Elementary. All transported students in } 

grades 1-7 residing in the North Zone to Rogers Elementary. 

  

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(2) East Zone: All students, grades 1-7, residing | 

in the East Zone to Canton Elementary.     
| (3) West Zone: All students, grades 1-7, residing 

  

| in the West Zone to Nichols Elementary. 

| As to grades 8-9, all students residing in the North 

| and West Zones would be assigned to Rogers Junior High, and all 

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| students residing in the East Zone to Canton Junior High school, 

formerly Canton High. 

 



  

  

      
  

  

    

These assignments, based on current attendance, are 

summarized as follows: 

PERCENTAGE | 
SCHOOL GRADES WHITE NEGRO TOTAL WHITE NEGRO | 

Canton Elementary: 1-7 52 403 455 11.43 88.57 
McNeal Elementary 1-7 1 596 597 0.17 99.83 
Nichols Elementary 1-7 3 1111 1114 0,27 99.73 
Rogers Elementary 1-7 1 467 468 0.22 99.73 
Canton Junior Hi 8-9 7 289 296 2.37 97.63 

| Rogers Junior Hi 8-9 3 307 310 0.97 99.03 
Canton High 10-12 9 640 649 1.39 98.61 

76 3813 3889 1.93 98.07   
The school board submitted with its proposals a map 

showing the aforesaid zone lines and location of schools, a copy 

of which is attached to these recommendations. A second map is   
attached for the purpose of showing a recent annexation to the clty. 

The testimony was to the effect that this annexation took in no 

| racially segregated neighborhoods, but that the racial composition 
|   | is mixed. 

In listing its objections to the HEW plan, the school | | 
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| board, through the testimony of Dr. John Lamar Fortenberry, district 

| superintendant, compared the alleged inadequacies of the HEW plan | 

with the remedies offered by the board's proposal. | 

1. He stated that the board's plan would better utilize | 

the existing facilities in assigning students in the grades for 

which the buildings were constructed and equipped, whereas the HEW 

plan largely ignores this feature. For example, he pointed out |   | that HEW assigns all 7th grade students to Canton Junior High, 
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| formerly Canton High School, which was constructed as a high school, | 

| replete with science laboratories, auditorium, library, gymnasium, 

| a home economics department and a vocational shop, all appurtenances 
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more suitable for grades 8-9 as the board proposes than for grade 

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2. On paper, the HEW plan may be unitary, but as imple- 
  

 



  

mented, it has resulted in a 99% black attendance with no promise   
of increased white attendance. The board hopes to regain some 

white attendance with its plan.   
3. In the manner in which HEW zones grades 1-3, normal- | 

ly 6-8 year old students, many are required to walk the width of     the city, passing by a nearer school. As to each school, walking 

distances are increased, whereas the board plan minimizes walking   
in all schools except the high school which would be limited to the | 

three grades having the oldest children. 

4. In addition to increased walking distances for the | 

youngest students, the HEW plan ignores the hazards of two heavily 

trafficked city and county thoroughfares bisecting the city which 

these children must cross, whereas these streets mark the boundaries 

of the zones proposed by the board, requiring no cross-overs. 

5. Under the HEW plan, students, in completing 12 | 

grades, are required to attend four different schools. This 

fragmentation of grade structure, particularly in elementary 

schools is not educationally sound. Further it is a hardship on | 

teachers in trying to coordinate 3rd grade levels of instruction |   
with 4th grade instruction in another school. This is not true 

of the board plan in which all elementary grades would be served 

in the same school. | 
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  | 6. Under HEW some buses are required to offload and load |   | at as many as four schools on crowded playgrounds, adding approxi- | 

mately an hour's time to tight schedules and increasing safety 

hazards. Under the board plan, transportation to one school is 

completely eliminated, and otherwise limited to loading and off- 

| loading at no more than two schools. 

| ; /. The HEW plan is more costly, particularly in the 

field of transportation. 

 



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8. With students assigned to fragmented grades in 

non-neighborhood areas, as in the HEW plan, it is difficult to 

secure parent involvement. Under the board plan each school ‘would 

be the center of ihe community. 

9. Bad weather would be conducive to absenteeism of     those children, who, under the HEW plan, are required to walk 

as much as two to three miles.   
10.:1 Teachers cannot adequately coordinate classes on 

a vertical basis under the HEW plan. 

11. Under the HEW plan, it is more difficult to 

concentrate equipment where it may best be utilized. For example, 

equipment at Canton Junior High, formerly a high school, is used 

  by 7th grades for only a few minutes a day. 

12. Particularly as to the 7th grade, these children 

are denied the opportunity of sharing educational experiences’ | 

with either younger or older students. Under HEW, the 7th grade 

is isolated. 

13. The HEW plan disregards entirely the traditional 

neighborhood concept which the board plan, for the most part, 

would retain. 

14. The HEW plan, as currently implemented, does not 

encourage individualization of instruction nor a closer relation- 

ship between faculty and students, with elementary grades broken   up into three levels, all at different schools. 

| In determining the location of zone lines, the witness     
said he personally started out with a ruler and compass to locate 

| the geometric center of the three elementary school areas, taking 

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| into consideration the capacity of the schools, and the two most 

| heavily trafficked streets bisecting the city. The lines were | 

| drawn as straight as possible to avoid any appearance nf gerry- | 

 



  

    

mandering. 

The witness further stated that a bi-racial committee, 

whose members were not selected by the school board, but by 

leaders of both races, was consulted and in fact suggested the 

plan. The negro members approved, provisionally, until the plan 

could be presented to a mass meeting of blacks who refused to 

endorse it. 

Plaintiffs, through two witnesses, one a former 

teacher and principal in the Canton schools, now on the faculty   
of Tougaloo College, and the other a member of the bi-racial 

committee, offered nothing to refute the contentions of the 

school board. The former admitted the zone lines are logically 

placed, and the latter admitted the negro members of the bi-racial 

  committee partially approved the board plan, but were committed 

by the black community to support the HEW plan. | 

In view of the minimal white attendance in this | 

school system, there is a complete absence of any constitutional | 

objection to the board plan. In this absence, the Court recognizes 

the prerogative and ability of the school board to propose a plan | 

administratively, educationally and economically acceptable to it, | 

a position which the government has here endorsed and, under this 

standard, recommends the adoption of the plan as proposed by the 

school board. It is laudable if the plan at the same time 

accomplishes the return of white attendance, which is conjectural   now. Should white attendance materially increase to the extent 

of causing a constitutionally objectionable racial imbalance in 

any school, the problem may then be dealt with. There is no such 

imbalance now. 

Recommended and signed in duplicate, the Clerk of 

this Court being directed to file one signed duplicate in his 

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office and forward the other signed duplicate, together with zone 

map, to the Clerk of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth 

Circuit, and mail one copy to each party of record. 

0 5/ ps. ? a, Q 

UNITED STATES DISTRICTZIUDGE | 

DATED: Lr fl é, /9 20 
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