Opinion ID: 531041
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defining Unitary Status

Text: 39 A school system achieves unitary status when it no longer discriminates between school children on the basis of race. Georgia State Conference of Branches of NAACP v. Georgia, 775 F.2d 1403, 1414 (11th Cir.1985) (Georgia NAACP ); Pitts I, 755 F.2d at 1426; Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, 584 F.2d 78, 81 (5th Cir.1978). A school system no longer discriminates between school children on the basis of race when it affirmatively eliminates all vestiges of its dual system. Columbus Board of Education v. Penick, 443 U.S. 449, 458, 99 S.Ct. 2941, 2946, 61 L.Ed.2d 666 (1979) (school board under continuous constitutional obligation to disestablish its dual school system); Swann, 402 U.S. at 15, 91 S.Ct. at 1275 (the objective today remains to eliminate from the public schools all vestiges of state-imposed segregation); Green, 391 U.S. at 437-38, 88 S.Ct. at 1693-94 (school board charged with affirmative duty to eliminate racial discrimination root and branch). See Georgia NAACP, 775 F.2d at 1413 n. 12 (school system achieves unitary status when it eliminates vestiges of prior discrimination and operates a non-segregated system for a period of several years). 7 The district court erred by concluding that there is no binding precedent in this circuit which articulates a precise definition for unitary status and by following the non-binding definition of unitary status in Brown v. Board of Education, 671 F.Supp. 1290 (D.Kan.1987) (Brown III ). Pitts v. Freeman, No. 11946 at 3 (N.D. Ga. June 30, 1988). 40