Opinion ID: 563713
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The order is remedial in nature.

Text: 19 The City Board argues that the district court's January 1991 order did not establish racial goals and thus is not remedial. We disagree. While the order itself does not set forth racial goals, the order incorporated without modification most of the 1990 SSD plan, including that portion of the SSD plan that set forth racial goals. 20 The SSD plan provides that the SSD shall work toward achieving a racial balance for the aggregate student body at each school of 50% white, 50% black with a 5% variance. These percentages are consistent with those discussed in Liddell XI, 822 F.2d at 1459, where the district court had mandated that each vocational school in the system meet racial goals of 55% white/45% black with a 10% variance. We do not view the goals in the SSD plan as mere window dressing. They are goals that must be met in a timely fashion, and we are fully confident that the district court will ensure that they are complied with. 21 The City Board also claims that the order is not remedial because it forces black city vocational education students to attend school in the county rather than in the city. Although this contention has some merit, we see no feasible alternative. Nearly all city students are now being transported to and from school each day. The travel times will be only marginally longer under the district court's plan; some city students will be able to attend school in a city facility as soon as the SSD fully implements its plan, and some county students will attend school in the city when the plan is fully implemented. 22 We emphasize that it is vitally important that the SSD operate vocational education facilities in the city, and that no site be developed in a racially discriminatory manner. 23 B. The district court order designating the SSD as the sole provider of vocational education for area students, as modified, will sufficiently protect the interests of city parents and students. 24 The City Board and the Liddell and NAACP plaintiffs are properly concerned with the fact that the SSD Board of Education is elected exclusively by the voters of the SSD, and thus might not be expected to have the interests of the city students at heart. The district court appreciated these concerns but decided: 25 [T]he city students ... need a vocational education program and they need it now. The only entity capable of providing a viable ongoing vocational educational program to city students is the Special School District. 26 We agree with the district court and add that the district court has always had the power to consolidate the dual system. In Liddell V, we held that: 27 a complete merger of the SSD and city board's vocational system could be ordered under the express terms of the 12(b) plan if the plan fails to effectively desegregate the metropolitan vocational education schools by the end of the 1985-86 school year. 28 677 F.2d at 636; see also Liddell XI, 822 F.2d at 1460. 29 If the SSD does not fulfill its obligation to provide a quality integrated vocational education for the students of both the city and the SSD, the merger-consolidation alternative remains viable. To insist, however, that the merger-consolidation alternative be implemented now would create further delays, delays which would further harm the students who need a vocational education now to hold a job in a society that increasingly demands technical competence. Under the district court plan, a program that will meet the needs of all students should be in place by the opening of the 1991-92 school year. 30 The district court also decreed the following measures (set forth in bold print) to ensure that the SSD fully meets the needs of city students seeking a vocational education. We agree with these measures in general, but add some modifications to strengthen the voice of city parents and to improve the education of city students. 31 (1) That the SSD establish a curriculum and recruitment advisory committee composed of the superintendents of each of the sending districts. This committee is essential. The record reveals that many county school districts and the city district operate vocational education programs which have competed and will continue to compete with those offered by the SSD. The committee has the responsibility to make sure that duplication of programs is minimized. We expect the committee will ensure that all school districts publicize the SSD's vocational programs to their students and that each district will cooperate fully in the SSD's recruitment and marketing efforts. The committee shall, on a periodic basis, seek the advice and counsel of representatives of industry and labor who are familiar with the needs of industry for technically trained young workers. It appears from the record that SSD, the City Board, and the Metropolitan Coordinating Council all have recruiting and marketing programs. These programs should be coordinated. Recruitment in the next few years will be particularly difficult. It is thus imperative that recruiting and marketing programs be fully funded and professionally administered. 32 (2) That a special grievance procedure be established for city and county transfer students. This grievance procedure will apply to all students. This procedure will permit the students to resolve problems including those relating to discrimination, transportation, or course offerings. The procedure should be simple and readily available. 33 (3) That the Metropolitan Coordinating Council and its function shall continue as heretofore, with one change; that change being that the city representative shall be the superintendent of the St. Louis Public Schools, or his/her designee. We approve of the change and we additionally direct that the Council be expanded to include one representative of the NAACP plaintiffs, and two representatives selected from principals or teachers currently involved in vocational education--one from the city and one from the SSD. These educators, designated by their respective superintendents, are to give the Council first-hand advice as to how vocational programs are actually working. In addition, the district court shall direct the Council to provide quarterly reports directly to the court as to the operation of the SSD vocational programs, including whether the desegregation goals outlined herein are being met. 34 Reflective of our concern that city parents and residents ultimately have a stronger voice in the operating of the SSD, we direct that when the 1991-92 school year is well under way, the district court appoint a study committee consisting of representatives of the State, the City Board, the SSD Board of Education--or their designees--, and the public, to consider how city residents can be given an appropriate voice in the affairs of vocational education in the greater St. Louis area. This consideration should include the alternatives of merger or consolidation. 35 C. The SSD has available to it sufficient resources to provide a quality integrated program of vocational education for all metro area students. 36 The City Board is concerned that the SSD does not have available to it the financial resources necessary to provide a quality integrated program of vocational education for county and city students alike. The SSD assures this court that that is not the case. It asserts that it has the resources to meet all expected expenditures in the years ahead, including those necessary to meet the needs of an expanded student body and to provide vocational education facilities and programs in the city. It states that it has ample funding which can be used to make sure that the vocational education program meets contemporary needs and is available to city as well as county students. We accept these representations. We further note that if additional funds are required, it is within the power of the district court to ensure that the funds necessary to provide a quality integrated education are provided. See Missouri v. Jenkins, --- U.S. ----, ---- - ----, 110 S.Ct. 1651, 1664-67, 109 L.Ed.2d 31, 56-58 (1990). 37 The City Board is particularly concerned because the SSD has the responsibility for all special education activities in the county as well as vocational education. It fears that the SSD may put more emphasis on the important services it provides to the special education students and may slight city students seeking vocational education. Again, the SSD assures this court that that will not be the case; that it fully intends to design, develop, and implement vocational programs which will fully meet the needs of both city and county students and that these facilities and programs will be established in both the city and the SSD. We accept these commitments. We are, moreover, confident that the district court will make sure that they are fulfilled within the city. 38