Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-almd-2_70-cv-03102/USCOURTS-almd-2_70-cv-03102-1/pdf.json

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

---

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE

MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, NORTHERN DIVISION

ANTHONY T. LEE, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs, )

)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,)

)

Plaintiff-Intervenor )

and Amicus Curiae, )

)

NATIONAL EDUCATION ) CIVIL ACTION NO. 

ASSOCIATION,INC., ) 2:70cv3102-MHT

) (WO)

Plaintiff-Intervenor,)

)

v. )

)

COVINGTON COUNTY BOARD OF)

EDUCATION, et al. )

)

Defendants. )

OPINION

In this longstanding school desegregation case,

the plaintiffs, a class of black students, obtained

relief from race discrimination in the operation of

a de jure segregated school system. The defendants

are the Covington County Board of Education and its

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members and superintendent, as well as the Alabama

State Board of Education, its members, the State

Superintendent of Education and the Governor of

Alabama. The Covington County Board of Education and

its members and superintendent have moved for

declaration of unitary status and termination of this

litigation. Based on the evidence presented, the

court concludes that the motion should be granted and

that this litigation should be terminated as to the

Covington County Board of Education and its members

and superintendent.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Early Litigation and

the 1998 Consent Decree

This case began in 1963 when several black students

and their parents sued the Macon County Board of

Education and its superintendent seeking relief from the

continued operation of a racially segregated school

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1. In October 1992, the Florala City School District

was consolidated with the Covington County Public

Schools.

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system. On July 3, 1963, the United States was added as

plaintiff-intervenor and amicus curiae in order that the

public interest in the administration of justice would be

represented. The Lee litigation, as it is known, grew to

involve 35 school districts throughout the State of

Alabama, and, as part of that litigation, a desegregation

plan for the Covington County Public Schools was ordered

on August 6, 1969.1

 A full history of the Lee litigation

is set forth in detail in Lee v. Russell County Bd. of

Educ., 2002 WL 360000, at *1 (M.D. Ala. 2002) (Thompson,

J.).

On February 12, 1997, this court entered an order

affecting eleven school systems, stating that the court

was "of the opinion that the parties should now move

toward 'unitary status' ... and for the termination of

the litigation [for the school systems] in these cases."

On June 16, 1998, following extensive discovery and

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negotiations by the parties, the court approved a consent

decree finding that the Covington County School District

had achieved unitary status in the areas of student

assignment, transportation, facilities, and extracurricular activities. Further remedial action was found

to be necessary in the areas of faculty hiring and

assignment and special education. Courts may allow

partial or incremental dismissal of a school

desegregation case before full compliance has been

achieved in every area of school operations; jurisdiction

is retained over the remaining parts of a desegregation

case. Freeman v. Pitts, 503 U.S. 467, 490-91 (1992). 

The parties agreed that, in order for the district to

attain unitary status in the remaining areas, the board

would undertake certain actions including developing

policies and procedures in the identified areas to

eliminate the remaining vestiges of the dual system. The

consent decree set forth in detail the areas to be

addressed and the actions to be undertaken. In other

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2. The parties identified two state-wide issues

remaining in this litigation, “special education” and

“facilities.” The state-wide issues involving special

education were resolved and orders adopting the consent

decrees were entered on August 30, 2000, in the eleven

Lee cases, including this one. Lee v. Butler County Bd.

of Educ., 183 F.Supp.2d 1359, 1363 (M.D. Ala. 2000)

(Thompson, J.).

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words, the consent decree represented "a roadmap to the

end of judicial supervision" of the Covington County

school system. NAACP v. Duval County Sch. Bd., 273 F.3d

960, 963 (11th Cir. 2001).2

The Covington County School District was required to

file a comprehensive report with the court each year, and

the plaintiff parties had the opportunity to advise the

school system of any concerns regarding compliance with

the terms of the 1998 consent decree. Concerns raised by

the plaintiff parties were noted in annual progress

reports and discussed at yearly status conferences. The

board addressed these concerns through continued review

and modification of its programs. Impasses regarding the

sufficiency of the board’s actions were referred to a

magistrate judge for mediation. The 1998 consent decree

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provided that the board could file for dismissal of this

case three years after approval of the consent decree and

after filing the third annual report.

On April 22, 2005, the parties submitted an interim

consent agreement that set out specific actions to be

undertaken by the board prior to filing for unitary

status. The court approved the consent agreement on

April 25, 2005, and enjoined the parties to comply with

its terms.

 B. The 2005 Motion for

 Declaration of Unitary Status 

In accordance with the terms of the interim consent

agreement, the Covington County Board of Education filed

its motion for declaration of unitary status and

termination of this litigation on September 30, 2005.

The court required the school board to give all

plaintiff class members appropriate notice of the motion

as well as procedures for lodging objections. After the

court approved the notice form, the school board

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published, in local newspapers over a three-week time

period, notice of the proposed termination of this

litigation and the date of the fairness hearing. The

notice also provided procedures for class members and

interested persons to file comments and objections with

the court regarding the proposed dismissal of this

lawsuit. Forms for objections and comments were made

available at all public schools and the local school

board office. In addition to the published notice,

copies of the unitary status motion, the 1998 consent

decree, and all annual reports were made available at the

local school board office and the offices of board

counsel. On January 4, 2005, the court held a fairness

hearing on the motion for declaration of unitary status

and termination.

The court concludes that the Covington County Board

of Education complied with the directives of the court in

providing adequate notice of the proposed dismissal to

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class members as well as to the community. Fed. R. Civ.

P. 23(e).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standards for Termination of a

School Desegregation Case

It has long been recognized that the goal of a school

desegregation case is to convert promptly from a de jure

segregated school system to a system without "white"

schools or "black" schools, but just schools. Green v.

County School Bd. Of New Kent, 391 U.S. 430, 442 (1968).

The success of this effort leads to the goal of

ultimately returning control to the local school board,

as "local autonomy of school districts is a vital

national tradition." Freeman v. Pitts, 503 U.S. 467, 490

(1992) (quoting Dayton Bd. of Education v. Brinkman, 433

U.S. 406, 410 (1977)). Returning schools to the control

of local authorities "at the earliest practicable date is

essential to restore their true accountability in our

governmental system." Id.

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The ultimate inquiry concerning whether a school

district operating under a school desegregation order to

dismantle a de jure segregated school system should be

declared unitary is whether the school district has

complied in good faith with the desegregation decree, and

whether the vestiges of prior de jure segregation have

been eliminated to the extent practicable. NAACP,

Jacksonville Branch v. Duval County Sch. Bd., 273 F.3d

960, 966 (11th Cir. 2001) (citing Missouri v. Jenkins,

515 U.S. 70, 88 (1995), and quoting Freeman v. Pitts, 503

U.S. 467, 492 (1992)); see also Manning v. Sch. Bd. of

Hillsborough County, 244 F.3d 927, 942 (11th Cir. 2001),

cert. denied, 534 U.S.824 (2001); Lockett v. Bd. of Educ.

of Muscogee County), 111 F.3d 839, 843 (11th Cir. 1997).

In addition to these articulated constitutional

standards, the Covington County Board of Education was

required to comply with the contractual requirements of

the 1998 consent decree and the 2005 interim consent

agreement which set forth the steps the board was to take

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to attain unitary status. NAACP, Jacksonville Branch v.

Duval County Schools, 273 F.3d 960 (11th Cir. 2001). The

parties agreed that the board would analyze and review

programs and practices in each of the areas in which

further actions were required. The board was to formulate

and adopt procedures and practices designed specifically

to address each of these areas. The board was thus

required to take specific actions to address concerns the

parties argued were vestiges of the prior dual system, to

ensure that the district was being operated on a

nondiscriminatory basis.

The legal standards for dismissal of a school

desegregation case were set forth in the 1998 consent

decree as (1) whether the district has fully and

satisfactorily complied with the court's decrees for a

reasonable period of time, (2) whether the vestiges of

past discrimination have been eliminated to the extent

practicable, and (3) whether the district has

demonstrated a good-faith commitment to the whole of the

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court's decrees and to those provisions of the law and

the Constitution that were the predicate for judicial

intervention. Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70, 87-89

(1995). By emphasizing that the good-faith component has

two parts (that is, that a school district must show not

only past good-faith compliance but a good-faith

commitment to the future operation of the school system),

the parties looked both to past compliance efforts and to

a good-faith commitment to the future operation of the

school system through "specific policies, decisions, and

courses of action that extend into the future." Dowell

v. Bd. of Educ. of the Oklahoma City Public Schools, 8

F.3d 1501, 1513 (10th Cir. 1993) (citations omitted).

Regardless, "[t]he measure of a desegregation plan is its

effectiveness." Davis v. Bd. of Sch. Comm’rs, 402 U.S.

33, 37 (1971).

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B. Terms of the 1998 Consent Decree

and Compliance Efforts

1. Faculty and Administrator Hiring and Assignment:

The Covington County Board of Education was required (1)

to take specific steps to increase the number of black

applicants in the pool from which it selects its teachers

and administrators to fill administrative and faculty

vacancies and (2) to develop policies and procedures to

ensure that faculty and staff were assigned to schools

across the district such that the proportion of minority

staff, faculty, and administrators at each school is

substantially the same as the ratio district-wide.

Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate Sch. Dist., 419

F.2d 1211, 1218 (5th Cir. 1969). 

As evidenced by the annual reports filed with the

court, the district has expended considerable efforts to

recruit and employ minorities. Significantly, the

district created the position of personnel director in

the central office and hired an African-American employee

to fill that position. Under the leadership of the

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personnel director, the district revised its employment

procedures and developed and implemented a plan to

increase the recruitment of minority faculty, staff, and

administrators. 

The district’s faculty recruitment strategies

included advertising all vacancies for at least 20 days;

expanded on-site recruiting at historically black

colleges and universities (HBCUs) in Alabama, and all

colleges and universities in the immediate area that

grant degrees in education; encouraging all faculty,

particularly black faculty, to actively participate in

recruitment efforts; seeking to establish internship

opportunities with teacher education programs at HBCUs;

contacting neighboring Alabama school districts with

larger black applicant pools to ensure that those

applicants are made aware of positions to be filled in

the Covington County system; using the Alabama State

Department of Education (ASDE) statewide computerreferral system; advertising vacancies through public

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service announcements on Alabama radio stations and in

newspapers with substantial minority audiences and

readerships; filing notices of faculty and administrative

vacancies with the ASDE Placement Service; and filing

vacancy notices with HBCUs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia

and Mississippi, and with the local chapters of the

NAACP, SCLC, Alabama Democratic Conference, and New South

Coalition. 

The record reveals that the recruitment and placement

efforts of the Covington County school system achieved

positive results during the term of the 1998 consent

decree. During the 1997-1998 school year, approximately

5 % of the 226 faculty and administrators in the

Covington County school district were minorities. By the

2005-2006 school year, that percentage (and the

underlying actual number) had more than doubled to over

10 %, with 25 minority employees out of 243 faculty and

administrators. The following chart details the numbers

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and percentages of employees at each school and at the

central office.

Faculty and Administrators By School 

 2005-06 Total Black White % Black

Fleeta JH

Florala City

MS

Florala High

Pleasant Home

Red Level 

Straughn Elem

Straughn High

W.S. Harlan

Elem.

Central Office 

22.50

6.50

 16.50

38.00

 51.00

 41.50

 36.50

 22.50

 

8.00

 

3.00

2.00

2.00

2.00

5.00

4.00

2.00

3.00

2.00

 19.50

 4.50

 14.50

 

 36.00

 

 46.00

 

 37.50

 

 34.50

 

 19.50

 

 6.00 

 

 13.33

 

 30.77

 

 12.12

 

 5.26

 

 9.80

 

 9.63

 

 5.48

 

 13.33

 

 25.00

District Total 

 

243.00 25.00 218.00 10.29

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Numbers that are not whole integers reflect the fact that

certain employees are assigned to more than one school,

and split their time accordingly.

2. Special Education: As stated, the state-wide

issues involving special education were resolved by a

consent decree entered on August 30, 2000. See Lee v.

Butler County Bd. of Ed., 2000 WL 33680483 (M.D. Ala.

2000)(Thompson, J.). According to the terms of the

state-wide decree, any claims in the area of special

education would be raised with the state defendants.

Even if any such claim involving the Covington County

school system were pending, it could not prevent a

declaration of unitary status since the matter would be

addressed with the state defendants as part of the

commitments made under the state-wide decree.

3. Future Action: On February 5, 2002, the Covington

County Board of Education adopted a resolution

acknowledging the commitment of the school board to

maintain the improvements in the district that resulted

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from its efforts to comply with the consent decree. The

board has stated its intention to adopt again the

resolution as board policy upon a declaration of unitary

status, thereby affirming its intent to provide continued

attention to the areas of concern raised by the plaintiff

parties. This attention includes affirmation of the

policies and procedures set forth in each of the board’s

annual reports to ensure fair and equal treatment of

faculty, staff and administrators.

C. January 2006 Fairness Hearing

 As stated, after the Covington County Board of

Education and its members and superintendent filed their

motion for declaration of unitary status, the court

required publication and notice of the proposed

dismissal, scheduled a fairness hearing, and established

procedures for filing comments and objections. Three

written submissions were filed with the court, each

expressing concern regarding the possible impact that

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dismissal would have on the recruitment and hiring of

black teachers. 

At the fairness hearing held on January 4, 2006, the

court heard testimony offered by the Covington County

Board of Education. Ronnie Driver, Superintendent of the

Covington County schools, testified about the school

district’s affirmative efforts to comply with court

orders and the gains in black faculty and administrative

staff. Such efforts include hiring an outside consultant

to review procedures and progress and conducting training

sessions on hiring procedures and interview practices.

Superintendent Driver stated that the number of minority

employees will continue to increase, given the emphasis

that the board has placed and will continue to place on

recruitment. 

Superintendent Driver also gave testimony explaining

the rather wide variance in percentages of black faculty

and administrators from school to school in the district.

Such variance could indicate a Singleton violation.

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Florala City Middle School draws particular attention

with over 30 % minority faculty, nearly three times the

district average. Driver explained that an AfricanAmerican teacher had been transferred to Florala City

Middle School--where previously there had been no

minority faculty--in an effort to comply with the consent

decree. Subsequently, a position became available for a

math teacher at the school, and the district hired the

most qualified applicant, an African-American. 

Because the school has only six full-time faculty,

this hire naturally increased the percentage of minority

faculty to a level much higher than the district average.

The record therefore reflects that this difference is not

the result of Florala City Middle School’s identification

as a ‘black’ school--indeed, black students made up only

7.6 % of the school’s student population in the 2004-2005

school year--but rather the result of the district’s

decision to hire the most qualified candidate for an open

position, who in this case was African-American. 

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John Clark, President of the Covington County Board

of Education, testified that the board is committed to

continuing its good-faith compliance strategies, as

evidenced by the resolution dated February 5, 2002.

Clark stated that the board intends to reaffirm the

resolution and adopt it again as board policy. He

emphasized that the board will continue to vigorously

recruit, assign, and attempt to retain black faculty and

staff if the court declares the district unitary. 

Anne Shakespeare, Personnel Director of the Covington

County Schools, testified about the district’s

recruitment procedures. In addition to the procedures

described above, Shakespeare stated that her contact with

community leaders, including local pastors and churches,

is an important part of the district’s recruitment

efforts. She described enhanced strategies to recruit

and hire black faculty, including monthly meetings with

school principals and use of the applicant database

established under the 1998 consent decree. Shakespeare

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stated that the superintendent and board reassured her

that the district's recruitment strategies would continue

after a finding of unitary status.

The testimony of the witnesses confirmed the

information contained in the annual report filed by the

Covington County Board of Education on September 14,

2005. Counsel for the plaintiff parties stated no

objection to the request for unitary status.

III. CONCLUSION

On the basis of the record evidence, witness

testimony, and averments of counsel, the court finds that

the Covington County Board of Education and its members

and superintendent have met the standards entitling the

school district to a declaration of unitary status and

termination of this litigation. The board has fully and

satisfactorily complied with the orders of this court.

The vestiges of the prior de jure segregated school

system have been eliminated to the extent practicable.

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The court also finds that the board and its members and

superintendent have demonstrated a good-faith commitment

to the whole of the court’s decrees and to those

provisions of the law and the Constitution that were the

predicate for judicial intervention in this school system

in the first instance through their compliance with the

court’s orders over the years, through their good-faith

implementation of their contractual obligations under the

1998 consent decree, and through their adoption of

specific policies and actions that extend into the future

demonstrating their commitment to the operation of a

school system in compliance with the Constitution.

The plaintiff parties have succeeded in the task they

began decades ago to seek the end of the seemingly

immovable de jure system of school segregation in

Covington County. This lawsuit sought to bring the

district into compliance with the constitutional

requirement of equal protection under the law, and the

court states today that they have succeeded. NAACP,

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Jacksonville Branch v. Duval County Schools, 273 F.3d

960, 976 (11th Cir. 2001). By its actions today, the

court recognizes and congratulates the sustained efforts

of the parties. In so doing, the court notes, as the

Eleventh Circuit stated in Duval County Schools, that

"[t]he Board, and the people of [Covington County] who,

in the end, govern their school system, must be aware

that the door through which they leave the courthouse is

not locked behind them. They will undoubtedly find that

this is so if they fail to maintain the unitary system

[the court] conclude[s] exists today." Id. at 976-77.

Therefore, with the judgment the court will enter

today, control over the Covington County School System is

properly returned to the Covington County Board of

Education and its members and superintendent. The motion

for declaration of unitary status and termination of this

litigation filed by the board and its members and

superintendent will be granted, all outstanding orders

and injunctions will be dissolved, and this litigation

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dismissed as to the board and its members and

superintendent. However, the state defendants are not

dismissed, and the orders dealing with the state-wide

"special education" and "facilities" issues are not

dissolved.

DONE, this the 6th day of February, 2006. 

 

 

 /s/ MYRON H. THOMPSON 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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