Source: http://openjurist.org/616/f2d/895
Timestamp: 2016-07-31 07:34:12
Document Index: 696871965

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1710', '§ 1710', '§ 1221', '§ 1703', '§ 1701', '§ 1709', '§ 2000', '§ 1702', '§ 1720', '§ 1292']

616 F2d 895 United States v. School District of City of Ferndale Michigan | OpenJurist
616 F. 2d 895 - United States v. School District of City of Ferndale Michigan HomeFederal Reporter, Second Series 616 F.2d.
616 F2d 895 United States v. School District of City of Ferndale Michigan 616 F.2d 895
UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.SCHOOL DISTRICT OF the CITY OF FERNDALE, MICHIGAN et al.,Defendants-Appellees.
No. 79-1006.
Argued Oct. 10, 1979.Decided Jan. 30, 1980.As Modified On Denial of Rehearing and Rehearing En BancApril 4, 1980.
I. EEOA SUIT
C. Dismissal of State Defendants
II. TITLE IV SUIT
Black parents in the Forest Grove area filed a lawsuit against the Ferndale School District protesting the transfer of students from Ridgewood and Washington to Jefferson. (See Appendix B.)
We have summarized the capacity figures in Appendix D attached
Pursuant to a request from the Office of the General Counsel of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation conducted a title search of property located in Section 33, Royal Oak Township, Oakland County, Michigan, which included lands lying within the corporation limits of the City of Ferndale and the City of Oak Park. That title search developed information identifying subdivisions within the Ferndale School District which were racially restricted. The results of the search were introduced before the Hearing Examiner in the 1969 fund termination proceeding as government exhibits G-145 and G-146. The District Judge adopted the fund termination record as part of the record in the instant case. Appendices B and C of the government's brief before the Hearing Examiner neatly summarize the results of the title search by the Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation of the Section 33 properties
The basis for assignment to the Grant School was primarily race and the residential area of the black children
The School District designed the Grant School just large enough to fit the neighborhood that it contemplated for purposes of school attendance, and the black student body immediately expected
The Board was aware of the racial boundaries in the development of residential subdivisions in the District
The preponderance of the evidence indicates that the neighborhood served by the Grant School was known as a residential area primarily for blacks at the time the school was authorized in 1925, and that the Board knew that the Grant are was being developed for black residents at that time
The white residents of the Grant area moved out after the Grant School was opened
Racially restrictive covenants on land were enforceable in Michigan courts and were actually enforced in Oakland County. Racial covenants continued to be enforceable by the Michigan courts until 1948
Racial covenants were widely used in the School District, particularly in newly developing subdivisions, to exclude black residents
On the borders of the Grant area or in the immediate vicinity, several of the subdivisions were racially restricted as a matter of record, according to a general plan. In other subdivisions, although the land records reveal no filing of a general plan, the decos for the first sale of land from the subdivisions contain racial restrictions
Excepting one white child for the year 1926
We have reviewed the District Judge's oral opinion delivered from the bench granting summary judgment to the State of Michigan for want of adequate notice under 20 U.S.C. § 1710 (1976). The prior opinion of this court (See Judge Celebrezze's opinion, 577 F.2d 1339, 1348-9 (6th Cir. 1978), Appendix A) made clear that the State of Michigan was on notice of the claims by the United States that Ferndale has been operating an intentionally racially segregated school at the Grant School. Further, we view the letters presented to the District Court on remand as complying with 20 U.S.C. § 1710 (1976), (See particularly App.Vol. V, pp. 943-953) and find therein ample notice of the constitutional violations served on the Governor (a member of the State Board of Education) in ample time for the State of Michigan to have taken curative measures. No more notice is required
Figures are based on stipulated projections made by parties to this case prior to the start of the 1975-76 school year
Traditional Program Open Classroom
black (approx) 31 black
white 169 white
total 200 total
In addition to the EEOA claim, the complaint alleged violation of the Federal Revenue Sharing Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 1221, et seq., by several of the State defendants. The Revenue Sharing allegations are not at issue in this appeal
The District Court reached the summary judgment motion only because it dismissed the EEOA claims with leave to amend. 400 F.Supp. at 1143
The original complaint was dismissed with leave to amend. 400 F.Supp. 1122. The United States subsequently filed an amended complaint. "The complaint," as used herein refers to the amended complaint only
The complaint also identifies the black faculty and staff of the elementary schools as persons represented. The District Court properly discounted this claim. 400 F.Supp. at 1128-29. Although racial discrimination with regard to faculty may well constitute a violation of the EEOA (see 20 U.S.C. § 1703(d)), the Act's protection is provided for the direct benefit of students rather than teachers. See 20 U.S.C. § 1701(a)(1)
Congress clearly contemplated a broad role for the Attorney General in enforcing the remedial provisions of the EEOA. Not only is he permitted to file suit on behalf of an individual, but he may also intervene in any action initially brought by an individual under the statute. 20 U.S.C. § 1709. Moreover, he need not await receipt of a written complaint from the individual as is required for desegregation suits by the Attorney General under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000c-6
The District Court suggested that specificity was required in the complaint because the EEOA's purpose was to vindicate "the individual rights of those discriminated against" as opposed to a "national policy of school desegregation." 400 F.Supp. at 1128. This reading is totally inconsistent with the Act's statement of purpose: "(to) specify appropriate remedies for the elimination of the vestiges of dual school systems." 20 U.S.C. § 1702(b) (emphasis supplied)
Under the Act, "educational agency" is defined as "a local educational agency or a 'State educational agency.' " 20 U.S.C. § 1720(a)
The legislative history of the EEOA is of little assistance on this issue. See 1974 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News, p. 4093. See generally 400 F.Supp. at 1126
The Title IV complaint names fewer defendants than the EEOA complaint. The Title IV defendants are the School District of the City of Ferndale, the Superintendent of the School District, the State of Michigan, the Michigan State Board of Education, and the Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction
Prior to the preliminary injunction hearing, the District Court granted summary judgment to the State defendants dismissing the Title IV complaint against them on procedural grounds without prejudice. The District Court's oral opinion granting summary judgment does not appear in the record. We are thus unable to review it at this time, even if we were to decide that such review is appropriate on an appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1)
Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (1955)
In the fall of 1976, the local defendants filed a brief with the District Court in which it was claimed that 50 Grant area black students had elected the "open enrollment" option for the 1976-77 school year. The District Court relied on this allegation in denying the preliminary injunction, even though no evidence was offered to support it. Even if the allegation is true, however, approximately 75% of the black elementary students in the District would still be in Grant's segregated traditional program. Under such conditions, Grant would still clearly remain a racially identifiable school
See Boykins v. Fairfield Bd. of Ed., 457 F.2d 1091, 1096-97 (5th Cir. 1972), cert. den., 420 U.S. 962, 95 S.Ct. 1350, 43 L.Ed.2d 438 (1975)
The District Court's reliance on Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Devel. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977), is misplaced. The mere fact that the inquiry into discriminatory intent must be a "sensitive" one does not automatically preclude preliminary relief. There is no general rule against granting preliminary relief where questions of intent are material to a disposition on the merits
Certainly this was the case at Grant school through the 1974-75 school year. See note 1 and accompanying text, supra. Even under the school district's projected figures for 1976-77, the traditional program at Grant had a 50% black faculty far in excess of the normal district-wide percentage