Opinion ID: 465182
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Plaintiffs' Proof

Text: 90 We next consider whether or not plaintiffs met their burden of proof. Plaintiffs raise errors both of law and fact in the district court's decision making process. Initially, they claim the district court erred in its approval of the school board's consideration of white flight as one reason for abandonment of busing of elementary school children. We agree with plaintiffs that white flight cannot be used as a justification for failing or refusing to dismantle a dual school system. United States v. Scotland Neck Board of Education, supra, 407 U.S. at 491, 92 S.Ct. at 2218; Monroe v. Board of Commissioners, 391 U.S. 450, 459, 88 S.Ct. 1700, 1705, 20 L.Ed.2d 733 (1972). White flight cannot be used as an excuse to resist or evade a present duty to desegregate. But the Norfolk school board is not operating a dual school system with a present duty to desegregate. 91 Consideration can be given to the phenomenon of white flight under certain circumstances. As the Sixth Circuit said in a much quoted opinion [i]t does not follow that a board must ignore the probability of white flight in attempting to formulate a voluntary plan which would improve the racial balance in the schools without at the same time losing the support and acceptance of the public.... [T]here is a valid distinction between using the defense of white flight as a smokescreen to avoid integration and realistically considering and dealing with the practical problems involved in making voluntary efforts to achieve integration. Higgins, supra, 508 F.2d at 794 (emphasis in the original). The circuits have consistently followed this language and allowed consideration of white flight in the formulation and adoption of integration plans. Lee v. Anniston City School System, 737 F.2d 952, 957 n. 3 (11th Cir.1984); Liddell v. State of Mo., 731 F.2d 1294, 1314 (8th Cir.1984), cert. den. --- U.S. ----, 105 S.Ct. 82, 83 L.Ed.2d 30; Johnson v. Bd. of Education of City of Chicago, 604 F.2d 504, 516-517 (7th Cir.1979), vacated on other grounds, 449 U.S. 915, 101 S.Ct. 339, 66 L.Ed.2d 162 (1980); Parents Assn. of Andrew Jackson High School v. Ambach, 598 F.2d 705, 719-20 (2d Cir.1979); Stout v. Jefferson Co. Bd. of Ed., 537 F.2d 800, 802 (5th Cir.1976). 92 We are of opinion the district court correctly concluded that the school board could legitimately consider the presence of white flight in the pursuit of a voluntary plan to stabilize school integration in Norfolk. We reject plaintiffs' argument that under Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978), the neighborhood school plan is suspect because its assignments are based upon race. School assignments are based upon the residence of the child, not the race of the child. Plaintiffs present no evidence to support a finding that such a residential classification is a pretext for discrimination based on race. The board assigned students to schools under the new plan solely on the basis of their residence. The only consideration of race involved was an effort on the board's part to gerrymander the school assignment lines to result in the maximum amount of integration possible. 93 The concept of a neighborhood school system in and of itself is not violative of the Constitution. E.g. Crawford v. Los Angeles Board of Education, 458 U.S. 527, 537 n. 15, 102 S.Ct. 3211, 3217-18 n. 15, 73 L.Ed.2d 948; Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 28, 91 S.Ct. at 1282; Thompson v. Sch. Bd. of City of Newport News, Va., 465 F.2d 83 (4th Cir.1972). Congress has recognized that absent discrimination the neighborhood school is the appropriate basis for school assignments. 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1701. Without more, we find nothing constitutionally suspect in the board's preference for a neighborhood school plan. 94 Whether white flight was present in Norfolk during the relevant times is of course a question of fact. The district court concluded that the evidence revealed a significant amount of white flight from Norfolk's public schools. It found that the system lost 6000-8000 white students because of busing. It further found that because of this exodus of white students, the school system was becoming more and more black and faced the real danger of resegregation. As set forth in Part VI, supra, our review of such factual findings is limited by the clearly erroneous rule. We conclude that there are sufficient facts in the record to support the district court's finding that white students are leaving the public schools because of busing. The school attendance figures show that white students have gone from a 60% majority to a 42% minority during the decade of the 1970's. By 1982, whites comprised only 40.87% of the total school enrollment. 17 During this same time frame, white residents continued to be a majority of the city, falling from 70% to 60%. Clearly, white students are leaving Norfolk's public schools at a much higher rate than they are leaving the city itself. 95 In addition to students who attend private schools, Norfolk's public schools were losing those students whose families would otherwise move into the city but who chose to move elsewhere to avoid busing. In 1981, for example, Virginia Beach (273,600) and adjoining Norfolk (273,000) were almost the same size but the school system in Virginia Beach (54,776) was more than half again larger than that of Norfolk (35,816). This supports the district court's finding that a disproportionate number of white families are choosing to move to Virginia Beach. 96 Dr. Gene Carter, superintendent of the Norfolk school system, testified that students had left the city's public schools because of the mandatory busing plan. Former superintendent, Dr. Albert Ayars, an opponent of the neighborhood plan, nevertheless recognized that some students were leaving the system because of busing. 97 Plaintiffs argue that the district court's findings are clearly erroneous because their school enrollment figures show that white enrollment in the public schools had stabilized during the early 1980's. These figures set out below 18 reveal that black students comprised 42.4% of the student population in 1969. That percentage consistently increased until 1981 when blacks represented 59.2% of the students. In 1982, the black percentage dropped to 58.8% and to 58% the following year. Plaintiffs rely upon this slight increase in white student enrollment over two years to show that white flight, if ever present, had ended. There is evidence in the record to show that this overall increase in enrollment since 1980 is an aberration due to housing patterns of the Navy during this time. Even absent such an explanation, plaintiffs' enrollment figure differences are not sufficient for us to find that the district court was clearly erroneous. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder's choice between them cannot be clearly erroneous. Anderson, supra, --- U.S. at ----, 105 S.Ct. at 1512. 98 It is also claimed that the board's reliance upon a decrease in parental involvement under the busing plan is merely a pretext for discriminating on the basis of race. As we have previously noted, one of the board's concerns in amending its busing plan was the dramatic drop in parental involvement. No one disputes that such involvement is critical to the well-being of a school system. Former Superintendent Ayars testified that according to a Gallup poll parental involvement was characterized as the most significant factor in the education of a child. Dr. Ayars himself considered parental involvement vital to the health of a school system. 99 The district court found that Norfolk's public schools were facing a crisis because of the sharp decline in parental involvement. PTA enrollment had dropped from 15,000-20,000 to 3500. Dr. Ayars testified that busing virtually destroyed Norfolk's PTA. Efforts to increase parental involvement had been somewhat successful but much more needed to be done to encourage parental interest. 100 Superintendent Carter testified that many parents had approached him regarding their inability to participate in their children's education under the busing plan. School board members also expressed concern over the lack of parental involvement in the public schools. The district court found that Norfolk's public schools faced a crisis because of the sharp decline in parental involvement during the years of busing and that the new plan offered a reasonable alternative to counter such a decline. We agree. The Norfolk school board was faced with the difficult task of bringing parents back into the school system. These parents stopped participating during the time their children attended schools across town. For many, a lack of transportation to those distant schools could have served as a stumbling block to their participation. For others, the extra time and expense required to drive across town may have prevented their participation. For still others, the feeling of a lack of community with a cross-town school may have been a factor. Returning these children to schools close to their homes represented a reasonable attempt to once again obtain the involvement of their parents in the school system. 101 Plaintiffs contend that the district court's findings regarding parental involvement are clearly erroneous because prior attempts by the school board had been successful in obtaining the return of parents to the schools. Former Superintendent Ayars did testify that a past effort had succeeded in obtaining many parents to volunteer to assist in planning school programs. Dr. Ayars admitted, however, that much more needed to be done to increase the number of parents involved at the elementary school level. Plaintiffs also contend that PTA enrollment figures are an inappropriate method of measuring parental involvement. They offer no alternative method, however. We know of no better gauge of parental interest in a school system than involvement in its PTA program. We find substantial evidence in the record to support the district court's conclusion that the school board's concern over parental involvement was not a pretext for racial discrimination. 102 Plaintiffs also argue that discriminatory intent can be seen in the board's failure to follow normal procedures in adoption of the proposed plan. These improper procedures include raising the busing issue at a board meeting where such a topic was not on the agenda and when busing's leading proponent, Dr. John Foster, was absent. Plaintiffs also fault the board for failure to solicit the opinions of Dr. Ayars and for failing to investigate the psychological impact of such a neighborhood plan on black children. 103 The district court properly found that the decision making procedure followed by the board was reasonable and not indicative of discriminatory intent. The actions taken by the board show nothing short of a reasonable, deliberative process where the citizens of Norfolk were encouraged to speak up and express their views. The board's adoption of the neighborhood plan was not the result of a single meeting behind closed doors. Instead, the board first established a committee to investigate the issue. That committee appointed a task force to obtain data on the subject. The committee visited several school systems to study their plans. The board solicited the opinions of several experts in the field and retained Dr. Armor for more extensive findings. Six public meetings were held to elicit public comment and criticism. We know of little else the board could have done to make the procedure more fair and open. 19 104 We find plaintiffs' remaining claims to be without merit. Plaintiffs fear that school resources will be inequitably distributed under the new plan so that schools with predominantly white students will receive more than their fair share of both material and human resources. As we have pointed out, the school administration is completely integrated. The superintendent and two of the three regional assistant superintendents are black. Blacks comprise 41% of the system's principals and 44% of its teachers. We conclude that plaintiffs' fears are not enough to prove a claim such as this when the decision-makers in the system are themselves integrated. We are additionally reminded that the plan itself provides for judicial review of resource allocation. 105 Plaintiffs infer discriminatory intent from the board's failure to provide for an alternative plan should the neighborhood plan be unsuccessful at stopping the exodus of white students. We agree with the district court that such a failure would not have an appreciably different effect than continuation of the busing plan under present trends. In either case, the school system would become predominantly black. 106 We find no evidence in the record to support the plaintiffs' contention that the school board and the housing authority have acted in concert with the intent to discriminate on the basis of race. As the district court pointed out, Norfolk's housing projects were constructed as a general rule to replace slum areas in the city. Those residents displaced by that demolition were given priority in assignment to the new housing projects. No one disagrees that most of those residents were black, and blacks still represent the vast majority of housing project tenants in Norfolk. This record shows no evidence by either the housing authority or the school board to assign such housing by race following the culmination of the Beckett case. 20 107 We think the district court was correct in its holding that the discriminatory impact alone shown here is not sufficient to make out such a claim. Arlington Heights, supra, 429 U.S. at 266, 97 S.Ct. at 564; Washington, supra, 426 U.S. at 242, 96 S.Ct. at 2049. Such impact is clearly relevant to a determination of intent, however. Columbus Bd. of Ed., supra, 443 U.S. at 464, 99 S.Ct. at 2950; Dayton II, supra, 443 U.S. at 536 n. 9, 99 S.Ct. at 2978 n. 9; Washington, supra, 426 U.S. at 242, 96 S.Ct. at 2049. In a school desegregation case in which intent is not presumed, a plaintiff must show a discriminatory purpose on the part of the defendant in order to make out a constitutional violation. This purpose, or intent to discriminate, marks the difference between de facto and de jure segregation. The finding that a school population is not homogenous, standing by itself, does not, absent intent, indicate a constitutional violation. Dayton Bd. of Ed. v. Brinkman, 433 U.S. 406, 413, 97 S.Ct. 2766, 2772, 53 L.Ed.2d 851 (1973) (Dayton I ) Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 17-18, 91 S.Ct. at 1276-77. Hence, the presence of one-race schools within a community, standing alone, is not a violation of the Constitution. See Washington, supra, 426 U.S. at 240, 96 S.Ct. at 2047; Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 26, 91 S.Ct. at 1281. 108 We agree with the district court that the evidence reveals that Norfolk's neighborhood school assignment plan is a reasonable attempt by the school board to keep as many white students in public education as possible and so achieve a stably integrated school system. It also represents an attempt to improve the quality of the school system by seeking a program to gain greater parental involvement. While the effect of the plan in creating several black schools is disquieting, that fact alone is not sufficient to prove discriminatory intent. While the number of substantially all black schools in the system will not be decreased by the minority to majority option, the number of students attending such schools will be significantly decreased. 109 Our holding is a limited one, applicable only to those school systems which have succeeded in eradicating all vestiges of de jure segregation. In those systems, the school boards and not the federal courts will run the schools, absent a showing of an intent to discriminate. We do not think this is a case in which a school board, upon obtaining a judicial decision that it is unitary, turns its back on the rights of its minority students and reverts to its old discriminating ways. If such were the case, we would, of course, not approve Norfolk's new assignment plan. But such is not the case. The school board of Norfolk has done a reasonable job in seeking to keep its schools integrated in the face of a massive exodus of white students. We should not tie its hands and refuse to allow it to try another plan that may be successful in stopping that exodus. 110 The district court has thoughtfully and carefully considered the complex issues before it, and its judgment is accordingly 111 AFFIRMED.