Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-azd-4_74-cv-00090/USCOURTS-azd-4_74-cv-00090-45/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 440
Nature of Suit: Other Civil Rights
Cause of Action: 28:1331 Federal Question: Other Civil Rights

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

Roy and Josie Fisher, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

v.

United States of America,

Plaintiff-Intervenor,

v.

Anita Lohr, et al.,

Defendants,

and

Sidney L. Sutton, et al.,

Defendants-Intervenors,

CV 74-90 TUC DCB

(Lead Case)

Maria Mendoza, et al.,

Plaintiffs,

United States of America,

Plaintiff-Intervenor,

v.

Tucson Unified School District No. One, et al.,

Defendants.

CV 74-204 TUC DCB

(Consolidated Case)

Case 4:74-cv-00090-DCB Document 1974 Filed 11/15/16 Page 1 of 4
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-2-

SPECIAL MASTER’S RECOMMENDATION REGARDING 

WITHDRAWAL OF MAGNET STATUS (WITH REVISED ATTACHMENT)1

In January 2015, the Court established a set of criteria for determining whether magnet 

schools should retain their magnet status and said that all magnet schools should be both 

integrated by the 2016-17 school year and should meet specific academic criteria (Doc. 1753). 

In the Unitary Status Plan, the plaintiffs and the District agreed that criteria for 

determining whether a school was integrated would include the provision that no school could 

have more than 70 percent of students of a single race/ethnicity. The Court recognized that it 

would be very difficult to integrate an entire school that was not integrated – i.e. that was 

“racially concentrated” – so it required that the criteria that magnet schools needed to meet would 

only apply to the entry grade in that school (i.e., K, 6 and 9) and that that goal should be sustained 

as the student cohort moved through the school.

The Court’s January 2015 Order tasked the Special Master with making recommendations 

to the Court as to whether individual magnet schools and programs should lose their magnet 

status if they failed to meet their goals. The Special Master deferred in making recommendations 

in the fall of 2015 thus providing an opportunity for schools that did not meet the integration 

criteria established by the Court to do so the following year.

The Special Master examined magnet school enrollment data in 2015-16 and 2016-17 to 

determine whether the racially concentrated magnet schools had enrolled no more than 70 percent 

Latino in their entering classes. Six schools did not meet the criteria for integration in both 2015-

16 and 2016-17: Cholla, Ochoa, Robison, Pueblo, Safford, and Utterback. See Ex. A – Table 1 

for relevant data.

 

1 This filing supersedes the November 14, 2016 filing captioned “Special Master’s 

Recommendation Regarding Withdrawal of Magnet Status.” The sole difference between the 

instant filing and the November 14 filing is the correction of certain data in the attached Exhibit 

A.

Case 4:74-cv-00090-DCB Document 1974 Filed 11/15/16 Page 2 of 4
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-3-

Three other schools fell short of reaching 70 percent or less of one race target: Carrillo, 

Drachman and Roskruge. Carrillo and Drachman have been “A” schools and have experienced 

some progress in moving toward integration status. Roskruge is a dual language school and dual 

language is a high priority in the USP.

The Special Master recommends that Cholla, Ochoa, Robison, Pueblo, Safford, and 

Utterback lose their magnet status this fall of 2016. There is no reasonable way to argue that 

these six schools met the integration criteria set by the Court.

Magnet funding for the current year may be sustained unless the District proposes 

otherwise through the established budget reallocation process. Future funding for the six schools 

will be resolved in the budget process for the 2017-18 school year. 

Dated: November 15, 2016

Respectfully submitted,

_____ ___ /s/_____________

Willis D. Hawley

Special Master

Case 4:74-cv-00090-DCB Document 1974 Filed 11/15/16 Page 3 of 4
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-4-

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on November 15, 2016, I electronically submitted the foregoing SPECIAL 

MASTER’S RECOMMENDATION REGARDING WITHDRAWAL OF MAGNET 

STATUS (WITH REVISED ATTACHMENT) for filing and transmittal of a Notice of 

Electronic Filing to the following CM/ECF registrants:

J. William Brammer, Jr. 

wbrammer@rllaz.com

P. Bruce Converse 

bconverse@steptoe.com, 

Oscar S. Lizardi 

olizardi@rllaz.com

Michael J. Rusing 

mrusing@rllaz.com

Patricia V. Waterkotte

pvictory@rllaz.com

Rubin Salter, Jr.

rsjr@aol.com

Kristian H. Salter

kristian.salter@azbar.org

Zoe Savitsky

Zoe.savitsky@usdoj.gov

Anurima Bhargava

Anurima.bhargava@usdoj.gov

Lois D. Thompson

lthompson@proskauer.com

Andrew H. Marks for 

Dr. Willis D. Hawley, 

Special Master

Case 4:74-cv-00090-DCB Document 1974 Filed 11/15/16 Page 4 of 4