Opinion ID: 531041
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Demographic Changes

Text: 62 We also reject the district court's refusal to require the DCSS to eradicate segregation caused by demographic changes. As the former Fifth Circuit stated in Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, 616 F.2d 805, 810 (5th Cir.1980): 63 Not until all vestiges of the dual system are eradicated can demographic changes constitute legal cause for racial imbalance in the schools.... Notwithstanding the school authorities' apparent good faith attempt to desegregate in 1970, the system has never achieved unitary status.... Consequently, the school board in Tuscaloosa is still under an affirmative duty to dismantle the dual system, regardless of current housing patterns. (Citing Flax v. Potts, 464 F.2d 865, 868-69 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1007 [93 S.Ct. 433, 34 L.Ed.2d 299] (1972)). 64 We rejected a similar demographics argument in Pitts I. In Pitts I, the DCSS planned to accommodate white population growth in the Redan High School area by building an additional facility. The district court accepted the DCSS's plan, finding that the DCSS simply planned to build a school where students lived and that a discriminatory intent did not motivate the DCSS's actions. We noted the discriminatory effect of the proposed Redan expansion and held that [u]ntil the DeKalb County School System achieves unitary status, it has an affirmative duty to eliminate the effects of its prior unconstitutional conduct. Pitts I, 755 F.2d at 1426. We repeat what we said in Pitts I: The DCSS has not achieved unitary status; consequently, its affirmative duty remains in force. 12 65