Opinion ID: 764702
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts from 1975 to the Adoption of Vision 21 Plan in 1993

Text: 6 The history of this case is long and complicated. Two years after the suit was filed, the late Judge Frank J. Battisti presided over a lengthy bench trial in 1975 and 1976. On August 31, 1976, Judge Battisti dismissed the Complaint as to the Governor and the Attorney General, but concluded that the other Defendants, including the state board of education, had contributed, by both commission and omission, to an unconstitutional segregation of the Cleveland Public Schools. The court thus permanently enjoined Defendants from discriminating on the basis of race in the operation of the public schools of the City of Cleveland, and from creating, promoting, or maintaining racial segregation in any school or other facility in the Cleveland Public Schools. Reed v. Rhodes, 422 F.Supp. 708, 797 (N.D.Ohio 1976), remanded without opinion, 559 F.2d 1220 (6th Cir.1977), on remand to 455 F.Supp. 546 (N.D.Ohio), on remand to 455 F.Supp. 569 (N.D.Ohio 1978). 7 On February 6, 1978, the district court reaffirmed its earlier conclusion that Defendants were constitutionally liable for having maintained a de jure segregated public school system, and that these numerous constitutional violations had system-wide impacts entitling plaintiffs to a system-wide remedy. The court also issued a remedial order directing Defendants to implement, beginning in September 1978, a comprehensive, system-wide plan of actual desegregation which eliminates the systematic pattern of schools substantially disproportionate in their racial composition to the maximum extent feasible. Reed, 455 F.Supp. at 568. The court's broad remedial order required Defendants to desegregate administrative, supervisory and teaching personnel, to desegregate the schools, to develop creative educational curriculums, and to develop methods of monitoring compliance. The district court also ordered racial balance: the racial composition of the student body of any school within the system shall not substantially deviate from the racial composition of the system as a whole. Id. at 608. The court then mandated that [a] fifteen percent deviation from the percent ratio of the District as a whole is the maximum deviation that would be reasonable. Reed, 472 F.Supp. 615, 617 (N.D.Ohio 1979). 8 On August 11, 1980, the court appointed a Special Master (Mr. Daniel McCarthy), two experts on school desegregation (Dr. Gordon Foster of the University of Miami at Florida and Attorney Ted Mearns), and a certified accounting firm (Ernst & Ernst) to conduct a fiscal analysis of the school district en route to a comprehensive remedial order. In that Order, Judge Battisti directed the establishment of the Office of School Monitoring and Community Relations, charged it with rigorous monitoring of desegregation implementation, and ordered the appointment of an official Desegregation Administrator to be paid by defendants. These actions were affirmed by this Court. See Reed v. Rhodes, 635 F.2d 556 (6th Cir.1980). 9 Racial balance in Cleveland is difficult to achieve because the city is to a great extent divided racially along a North-South axis. Schools on the East Side are predominantly African-American; schools on the West Side are predominantly White. In order to comply with the plus/minus 15% test, the school system was first divided into 190 residential zones. Students were then assigned and bussed to schools across town to achieve the requisite racial balance in each individual school. When imbalances resurfaced, they were corrected by administrative orders and students were reassigned as needed. Annually, as many as 4,000 students were reassigned and bussed to satisfy the court order. Bus rides for some students exceeded 80 minutes each way, e.g. between the southeast corner of the school district, which has a student population that is 98-99% African American, and the southwest corner of the district, which is only 35% African American. Some schools, known as LAU sites, were excluded from the court's 15% parameters because they serve specially assigned concentrations of students who speak little English. Later, on August 14, 1987, Judge Battisti authorized changes in pupil assignments without prior court approval if such changes were agreeable to the following three parties: the school district, the State Superintendent, and Plaintiffs' legal counsel. 10 During the 1980s, the school system became predominantly nonwhite as a result of white flight. The Cleveland School District operated approximately 130 schools, 90% of which satisfied the 15% limitation every year. After the district court's order of August 14, 1987, Dr. Gordon Foster was appointed as a joint expert of all parties for the purpose of assisting in planning improvements to the student assignment process. Dr. Gordon had previously served as the Plaintiffs' expert witness during the liability phase of this case. In 1988, Dr. Gordon issued a report of his assessment of desegregation in the Cleveland School District. He stated that the district had put an end to any overt segregation or discrimination and was the only majority black, large city system in the country which is totally desegregated. Termination Order, 934 F.Supp. 1533, 1538 (N.D.Ohio 1996) (quoting Foster Report, at i-ii) (emphasis added). In addition, pursuant to a July 10, 1990 court order, the Office of School Monitoring and Community Relations conducted a detailed assessment of the state of compliance with all outstanding remedial orders and concluded that Defendants had substantially complied with the 15% limitation and that any deviations therefrom could not be attributed to discriminatory student assignments. It reported: 11 Based on presently available information, it appears that defendants have complied in large part with the requirement that all schools have enrollments by race that reflect district-wide enrollment by race. While a relatively small proportion of district schools each year have enrollments that exceed the maximum deviation that would be reasonable (plus or minus 15% from the district ratio), no evidence suggests that this is the result of discrimination on the basis of race in the assignment of students. 12 Id. at 1542 (citing Office of School Monitoring and Community Relations Report, at V-1-11) (emphasis added). The Office's assessment recommended that the parties continue to work together to move the case forward. 13 In March 1992, the district court vacated over 500 orders upon joint motion of all the parties. There was a sense that the quality of public education had declined while the cost of operation had increased. The court thus urged the parties not to hesitate to think about innovative programs and undertakings that might ameliorate the situation in the school system. Reed v. Rhodes, 1992 WL 80626, at  2 (N.D.Ohio Apr.2, 1992). Judge Battisti further noted that the Court [had] not set out to run a busing company, id. at  1; directed the parties to address whether they believed the interests of the students in Cleveland would be better served by an alternative student assignment plan, id. at  4; and suggested that parental and student choice become an important factor in student assignment within the Cleveland School District, see id.