Order Per Curiam for Marion School District; Findings of Fact and Recommendations

    Inited States Qouet of Appeals 
FIFTH CIRCUIT 

EDWARD W. WADSWORTH OFFICE OF THE CLERK ROOM 408 - 400 ROYAL ST. 
CLERK NEW ORLEANS, LA. 70130 

August 31, 1970 

Clerk 

U. S. District Court 

P. O, Box 769 

Jackson, Miss. 

County, et al 
  

Dear Sir: 

Enclosed is a certified copy of a corrected order entered 

by the Court on August 27, in the Marion Central School 

case, 

Very truly yours, 

EDWARD W, WADSWORTH, Clerk 

pe 
y 4 \ smer? r ~ 
Fgh Lo ~~ l/ (i ; 

By JI dldd [AC 
Deputy Clerk 
  

/fcw 

Enc. 

cc and enc. to: 

Hon. Dan M. Russell, Jr. 

Mr. Jack Greenberg 

Mr, David L.Norman 

Mr. Richard D. Foxworth  



» 
§] , : 

  

  

  

  

  

| J CORRECTED | 

: ANG 27 19; 
i IN THE UiITED STATES COURT CF APES 
| FOR THE FIFI CIRCUIT ~  LIDWARD Ww. vw. 
I 

‘ .4 Ld 

| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTTE; 
| x :  vIrsus NOS. 28030 and 28043 

i 
. H#iDS COUNTY SCHOCL BOARD, ET AL, DRFLD.ITS 

! UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, FSI 

| VERSUS Civil Action No. 2178(H) 

| MARIO COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, DEFENDANTS 

|     

  

Before BELL, THORNBERRY AND MORGAN, Circuit Judges, 

PER CURIAM: \ 

Ine rindings Oxi ract and recommendations ¢ Hone 

orable Dan lM. Russell, Jr., United States District Judge, 

dated July'24, 1970 and appended heretq are approved 

except as follows: The Bunker Hill and Improve Schools 

shall serve grades 1-8 only with all children in grades 

9-12 who reside in Zones II,III and IV to attend darion 

Centxal: School. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

 



  

    

    

  

    

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APYZALS™ 

FOR TIE FIFTH CIRCUIT ° 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, PLAINTIFS 

VERSUS NOS. 28030 and 28047 

'HJiDS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD, ET AL, DEFERDANTS 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, : PLAINTIFF 

VERSUS Civil Action No. 2178(H) 

MARION COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, DEFENDANTS 

FINDINCS OF FACT AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
  

In the above styled school desegregation case, consolidatd 

ed with other school cases, Nos. 28030 and 28047, on the docket 

of the Court of Spats for the Fifth Circult, t! » Marion Lcunty 

School District wan 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 XEcucolion 

of Health, Education and Welfare. On November 19, 1969, the 

Court of Appeals entered an order 0d tes th provisions of the 

plan previously ordered into effect by that Court. After operate 

ing its school system for appronimately four months under the 

modified plen, the defendant school board, on May 1, 1970, in 

accoxd:. 2e with the procedure ouilined in the Appellice Cour 's 

order of November 7, 1969, filed a motion to modify the plan as 

implemented. On June 1, 1970, the United States of Amorica, as 

plaintiff, responded to the board's motion contending that the 

board's proposal would re-establish a neavly all-black school at 

Marion Central. : As ghowm hereinafter the school board, by 

successive amendments, has offered a proposal in an effort to aff 

  

  
 



  

  

  

    

    

set the government's objection. 

The geographical conCipuration of Marion County is rand ti - 

cided, roughly a rectangle 30 miles long north to south end 24 

miles wide eant to west. The IN-rl River splits the county iu 

half, meandering southeasterly from the nortlwest pevim: tox 

throuch the county scat, Columbia, located in the center of the 

county, do to the southeast border. In the entire cou.ly there 

is only onc bridge which crosses the river at Celumbla. The town 

of Columbia has its own mmicipal school district, consisting 

of a corridor extending from the mmicipal limits northwesterly 

Jo 

to the county line, the Pearl River being its west bowmdavy. The 

defendant school district includes the vemalndir of thie coumty 

cast, south and west ox the mwmicipal district, 

Pricr to the BEW plan, the school distwict, for many 

iar 
years, operated five schools, all grades 1-12, two bel (4: J 

. 

schools with capacities for 1330, students each. Cane, Wooo 

Marion, formo<ly a white school, is the only school located wast 
© pe
ne

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of Pearl River. The other, Maricn Central, a formerly blz 

school is located on the east side of the river fmmedieiely south 

oi the munfciy:l district in a heavily populated negre eoiaunity. 

Bunker Hill, Improve and mb, all formerly white schools =. 

housing from 390 to 510 students each, fan out east of the wiver, 

located respectively in the northeastemm, east central smd south 

eastern parts of th2 cowmiy, 

The HEW plan dvastically charged the grade struc oo or 

these 1-12 schoole, assigning grades 1-4 to Bunker HILL, Im rove, 

: | 

and lub, for the 1-4 grade students residing in thoce Tesnactive 

communities, grades 5-8, county-wide, to Marion Cental, a 

grades 9-12, county-wide, to West Marion. The transpoxtatlon 

“De 

  
  

 



  

  

prchlems were obvious in the requirement that all students In 

grades 1-8, west of the river, be funnelled to one crocsing 

peiat for distribution to the thres 1-4 grade schools and the 

5-8 grade scheooi, a dlstance for some of as far as 25 uiles cach 

way. Conversely, all 9-12 grade students cast of the river: had 

to converse at the one crossing point to go to West Marica. 

Likewlsa, these schools, furni hed to houvse studerniz frou grades 

1-12, would have hed to be we-fittcd to verve st :dents of the 

lowest clementary grades. The Appellate Court, acting promptly, J
 

and, though referred to as a modification, in effect substituted 

a new plan on Noveaber 19, 1969, by assigning all high sclsol 

students, grades 9-12, county-wide, to Marion Central, and ausign- 

ing grades 1-8 to each of the other four schoels, all 1.8 grade 

students west of the river being assigned to West Ma eicn, and Hub, 
. \ 

. 

Improve ond Bunker Gill designated to serve oirudonts in Cs a An 
i Tet 

1-8 in their respective comrmalties. The projected attendance 

under this modification and the locs of students following a 

four mont period of implementatic , are shown balow: 

  

  Nanas « vin anata ER eR a 

Projec: =a Attrrdanca oo Actual Attonicace 

School grades. . | 17 T 13 N ir 
  

  

Marion Central ¢-12 G02 551 1153 312 Lugi-9y 
Vez Marion 1-8 746 450 1196 578 323 07% 
Surkor Hill 1-8 170 102 2712 O08 148 244 
Improve 1-3 255 205 460 62 207 2589 
Hub 1-8 2200 146 366 Zn ann ron 

Ivo hhh 34, RY RTE 

The school board ativibutes the drop in attendance of $20 

students, of which 68% are white and the rexainder negro, ooraanie 

mately one-fourth of the total, to the haxdships imposed by forced 

attendance at schools outalde thelr hatgiboriaoas, particularly 

for those who cross the river, and tho Inadequaey of facilities 

Wh 1     ot the centralized high school to care for all high school siulent: 

2 

  
 



  

  

  

  

  

    

county-wide. 

Tho board's flrst propossd modification, filed on Hay 

1, 1970, was to retui.. 2ll schools to a 1-12 grade status, ench 

school being zoned as reflected on a map attached to the propossl, 

which would have anticipated an attendance at Morlon Ceatral of 

421 students, only 23 of whom would be white. Plaintiff did aot 

object to the zonlong of Vee” Marion, Bunker Hill, and Imprcve 

and the assignment of grades 1-12 to esch of these schools, bu cr
 

as stated above, did object to separately zoning the karien 

Central and Hub schecols on the grounds that under such an assign- 

meat, Marion Central would regain its ideatity as a negyre school. 

Prior to a hearing before this Court on June 22, 1970, the school 

board ancnded its motion to combine Marion Central avd Hub into 

one zone, designated Zone IV, with grade 9.12 to be escign.d to 

Marion Central, and grodss 1-9 10 be housed at Merion Co.owosl and 

Hub cach in their soshentive subezenag., The attendance, ac 

anticipated by the school board, would be 117 whites and 383 

blacks at Marion Central in grades 1-12, and 137 whites ond 160 

blacks at Hub in grades 1-8. oY 

In a pre-trial conlorentd, the government again objected 

to the board's proposal for the schools in Zene IV, as, under 

this propocal only 20 whites would attend Marien Ccutral at the 

elementary level. Plaintiff pronoced as an accenteble alter la 

that Hud and Marion Central be palred, by assigning grades 1-4 

to Hub and grades 5-12 to laricon Ceatral., Trea this impasse, 

thie case went to trial, plaintiff, for puxrposcs of trlal, endorse 

ing tho currently implemented plen, | : 

At a poct-heaving conference on July 14, 1970, the school 

board filed a second amended proposal, acceeding to the govera- 

ments position taken prior to txlal, and agreclup to pair ud and 

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Marion Central. The governwent expresced no objecticn to the 

£11ling of this amcadmont. Under t! 2 amendm: cnt; the gchaol boord's 

anticlpated envollmeut at Ih in grades 1-4 weld be 162 whites 

and 173 negro students, and at Marion Central 211 whitos, corrected 

fro: 145, ond 370 negroes. 

At the hearing thin board undortock through the school 

superintendent and one board masber to justify administratively 

¢.:d cdusacloaally its prefercace for four hig   
| of cua ccatralized high school. It was noted that the high schoo! 

or 

portion of the Marion Central facility is not suitable nor 

sufficiently cquipped to cbsoxb ell county-wide students at the 

high school level; for example, there is insuvfficiont sr: ~e for 

an adequale ssience laberatory. On the other bh: I, all tho 

hools were comztructc:! and equipped for high school students 

and courses. The bosvd bas had ceaplaints from paventis as to the |e 

length of and time required in transportation veguired to accomble 
“ow 

all high school students at one facility. The re-cstablislhiiont 

  
of high schools at West Marion, Bunker Hill and Improve would 

reduoa these items, as well as costs. Although conceding the 

high schools would be proportionately small, tha board contends 

that each, from en educational stan népolnt, 1s cquipped with a 

science lab and vocational shop. These are primarily vura 

schools, each formerly having an agricultural progran. end its own 

faculty member. Thic program, lost undes the present plan, 

would be re~inectataed at thie separate high so sols. Yhe be 24 

contends that particlpation in athletics proxates integration, 

ti
s 

r
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 and thai under the board's proposal thore would be four sche 

” dS wlth athletic programs and greater student participation thot ut 
- 

bh one high school. The witi2ases for the board concaded that tlre 

ara corresponding educiiional advantages in a consolidalicn of 

the high schools with as many rencons for a ceatrald=xed sci.osl as     
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there ara opposed, but that the overriding Fanzone cone dered 

by the boawd are that community hiph schools W111 coestore 

cc. munlty pride and support for the schools, will reduce forced 

transpo.taticn, will insure adequate high school feeilitics for 

hich scheol studints, will of. x the most offective ule of 

athletic, agricultural end academic facilities, end will 2id in 

the reclamatlon of - Cudents who refuse to attcad 1 dor the zresent 

plan. The board concedes that the ratio of whites to blak will 

reflect the county ratio in all the gchools pt litricn Contral 

and Hub vhere negrees will be in a majority, bu woint cut that 

these schcols are lozated in an area whera blacks are pieces inant. 

The board has had the benefit of numerous suggestions fron the 

black community, one of these suggestions being the paivin, of 

Marien Lential and Ith as now propoced. 

The projosicd stceadsice wnler tha school be rds iat 

proposal is: 
wii OTT Dy 

Ay a Siri d ed SCHOO Sp W R T Sr NSRP 
Aiea asada 

roe « wen po 

Zong I - st MHovion 1.12 gos 501 14535 
Zone Ets ror Hili 1-12 207 103 310 

7 Zone ILI-Iucrove 1-12 2/4 Ss LZ 
Zong IV 1-4 103 173 28 
lizrion Contral 5-12 211 376 so 

The obvious biggeat factor in any plan fer this sob ol 

dictrict is the degrees of transportation x: 

pale any schools cep: vated by the river with only one pois of 

CTOsn. ape Tnore 1s no constlitutioanl objection to the anticir ie 

ed attend ace at West Marion under the boord's proposal. Any 

arcenge oa. as to ascignuents to tha Sow cehocls cunt ¢ ha 
. 

river depends necessordly on the ec pacity of these schools, 

Vader the boavd's proposal the decree of racial mistur: iu onan 

11 and III, compare favorably with the overall covnly ratio. 

Deasplte the govermoent's objectica that both Morten Cental nid 

“(dw 

  

 



      

lub will bo majority negro whereas the county-wide ratio ic 

majority white, the anticipated oittendance at these schools will 

reflcet the racial xatlc of that area. This Court is not aware 

of any declsion tlt requires the degree of raclal wmisture be 

uniform throughout the district. 

Although the Court feels that this school oo fe maw 

eventually concider the wisdom of centxi.lizicy Its high cchoclas, 

once constitutional requirements ave met, this decision becomes 

an acnlnictrative one best veecolved bir the gol ool board ia the 

the circumstances pertaining to its particular situaticen. 

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irk o 

This Court docs recommend approval of the school Lroied's 

proposal with assignments as reflected oo: page 6 horeol, the 

zoneg to be as outlined in the gcheol besrd's 1a:t emended 

proposal . \ 

0 3 ELLE «BSE. ang, - Pe Sa SY Recon: nded and ee LT AUDA, Tho Clan of nls . - 

Court being directed to file orn signed duplicate in L's office 

and forward the other signed duplicate to the Clerk of the U.S. 

Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circ: At, and mall a copy to each 

party of record. , 

   
  

UNITED OL Ts Yor CRAY EY A = Ry 

  

ft 3 DATED : 0 1h UE Dn 
4 p)