Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 1 of 9 FILED

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2015 Oct-23 AM 09:56
U.S. DISTRICT COURT
N.D. OF ALABAMA

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA

NORTHEASTERN DIVISION
FILED IN CLERK'S OFFICE (
/
LARRY BENNETT, et al., )
NORTHERIll DISTRICT 01' ALABAMA
)
SEP 161970
Plaintiffs, )
) WILLIAM E. DAVIS
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ) CLt:RK, u. S. DISTRICT. COURT
) BY,
B1;t~ isIle;PUT'f
nu.rnal'
CLoERK
,
Plaintiff-Intervenor, )

CIVIL ACTION NO.--63-613

) .i'

V. )
)

MADISON COUNTY BOARD OF )

EDUCATION, et al., )

)
Defendants. )
)

ORDER

Upon the application of the United States for an

ex parte order, this Court entered its order of June 24,
1970 requiring defendants to file with the Court a
plan to be implemented by August 24, 1970, which will
fully desegregate students, faculties and staff, trans-
I
portation services, athletics and other extracu~ricular

activities and in all other ways eliminate the vestiges

of the dual school system based on race. Pursuant to
that order, on July 24, 1970, the defendants submitted
to the Court a desegregation plan. Su~sequently on July
29, 1970, the Office of Education of the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare filed its desegregation
i,
i plan.
 Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 2 of 9

Upon consideration of the evidence, including

•
the modified zone lines presented by the school board

and the statistics in Appendix A showing the statis­

tics under actual operation of the plan approved by

this order, it is hereby ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED
that the plan of the Madison County Board of Education
filed on July 24, 1970, as amended by the defendants on
September 2, 1970, is approved subject to the following
provisions:
LThe twelfth grade students for the 1970-71
school year allowed to attend the school previously

attended in the 1969-70 school year shall be limited to

those students named in defendants' Exhibit Number 1,
September 2, 1970. In all other respects, the zone line

modifications submitted by defendants are hereby approved.

2. The defendants shall hereby announce and

implement the following policies:

A. Desegregation of Faculty and Other Staff

1. Effective not later than September 1, 1970,, the
principals, teachers, teacher-aides and other staff who
work directly with children at a school shall be so assigned
that in no case will the racial composition of a staff
indicate that a school is intended for black students or
white students. For the 1970-71 school year the district
shall assign the staff described above 'so that the ratio
of black to white teachers in each school, and the ratio
of other staff in each, are substantially the same as each

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 Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 3 of 9

such ratio is to the teacher and other staff, respectively,

in the entire school system. (
/
The school district shall, to the extent necessary

to carry out this desegregation plan, direct members of

its staff as a condition of continued employment to
accept new assignments, the provisions of §§351~.261;'Title

52, Code of Alabama of 1940 notwi~hstanding.

2. Staff members who work directly with children

and professional staff who work on the administrative level
will be hired, assigned, promoted, paid, demoted, dismissed
and otherwise treated without regard to race, color, or
national origin.
3. If there is to be a reduction in the number of
principals, teachers, teacher-aides, or other professional
staff employed by the school district which will resu1t­
in a dismissal or demotion of any such staff member, the
staff member to be dismissed or demoted must be selected
on the basis of objective and reasonable non-discriminatory

standards from among all the staff of the school district.

In addition, if there 'is any such dismissal or demotion, no
staff vacancy may be filled through recruitment of a
person of a race, color, or national origin different from
that of the individual dismissed or demoted, until each
·1
displaced staff member who is qualified, has had an opportunity
to fill the vacancy and has failed to accept an offer to do ,
I

so.

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Prior to such a reduction, the school board will

develop or require the development of non-racial objective
criteria to be used in selecting the staff member who is

to be dismissed or demoted. These criteria shall be

available for public inspection and shall be retained by

the school district. The school district also shall

record and preserve the evaluation of staff members under

the criteria. Such evaluation shall be made available

upon request to the demoted employee.
"Demotion" as used above includes any reassignment
(1) under which the staff member receives less payor has
less responsibility than under the assignment he held

previously, (2) which requires a lesser degree of skill

than did the assignment he held previously. or (3) under
which the staff member is asked to teach a subject or grade

other than one for which he is certified or for which he has had
substantial experience within a reasonably current period.

In general and depending upon the subject matter involved,

five years is such a reasonable period.

B. Majority to Minority Transfer PolicX

The school district shall permit a student attending (

/
a school in which his race is in the majority to choose
to attend another school where his race is in the minority.
All such transferring students are to be given priority
for space being available.

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 Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 5 of 9
• ,<

C. Transportation /
The transportation system of the school district shall (

be completely re-examined regularly by the superintendent,

his staff, and the school board. Bus routes and the
assignment of students to buses will be designed to

insure. the transportation of all eligible pupils on 4

non-segregated and otherwise non-discriminatory basis.

D. School Construction and Site Selection

All school construction, school consolidation, and

site selection (including the location of any temporary
classrooms) in the system shall be done in a manner which

will prevent the recurrence of the dual school structure

once this desegregation plan is implemented.
E. Attendance Outside System of Residence
If the school district grants transfers to students < .~ •

living in the district for their attendance at public schools

outside the district, or if it permits transfers into the

district of students who live outside the distr!c~ it

shall do so on a non-discriminatory basis, except that

it shall not consent to transfers where the cumulative

•
effect will reduce desegregation in either district or
or reinforce the dual school system.
F. ~rvices! Facilities, Activities and Programs
No student will be segregated or discriminated against
on account of race or color in any service, facility, activity,
or program (including transportation, athletics, or other
extracurricular activity) that may be conducted or sponsored
by or affiliated with the school in which he is enrolled.

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 Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 6 of 9

A st~dent attending school for the first time on a desegre­

gated basis will not be subject to any disqualification or

waiting period for participation in activities and programs,
I
I- including athletics, which might otherwise apply because

he is a transfer or newly assigned student, except that

such transferrees shall ,be subject to longstanding, non-

racially based rules of city, coun~y, or state aEfiletic

associations dealing with the elibibility of transfer students

for athletic contests.' All school use or school-sponsored

use of athletic fields, meeting rooms, and all other school·

related services, facilities, activities, and programs

such as commencement exercises and parent-teacher meetings

will be open to all persons without regard to race or color.

All special educational programs conducted by the school

system will be conducted without regard to race or color.

G. Reporting

On each October 15, until the court directs otherwise,

the defendants shall report to the court with service on the

parties, the information listed~~ ~pp~diX B.

Done this I t.day of fl.:-Y; -;;- ; 1970.
A TRUE coP! CLERK
WILLIAM E. ~~V;~SlRICT cOURT
UlIl'IED STAT TRICI OF ALABAMA~
"ORTllERl1 ... /
BY: £-'1.­
DEPUTY CLERK ;VI #. "'1 { f'!'fO A--( ~
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
J
(

~
 Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 7 of 9
.
APPENDIX "A"
MADISON COUNTY SCHOOLS
STUDENT ENROLLMENTS AND FACULTY ASSIGNMENTS
(ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1970)
School Grades Callacity Students Faculty
White Black Total White Black Total
Big Cove K-9 240 (300)* 171 111 282 9 3 12

Brownsboro 1-8 270 109 80 189 7 3 10

Buckhorn 10·12 300 (330) 248 123 371 13 5 18

Central 1-9 420 (480) 268 98 366 13 5 18

Farmers Capital K-8 300 150 133 283 9 3 12

Gurley (Madison

County High) K-12 690 (720) 631 86 717 25 9 3)

Harvest 1·9 210 (240) 228 178 406 8 4 12

Hazel Green 1-12 810 (840) 794 99 893 32 11 43

Madison Junior High 1-9 750 347 298 645 23 7 30

r
_ Madison Cross Roads 1-9 630 (780) 541 159 700 22 8 30

.7 ,
Meridianville 1-8 210 144 95 2~- 7 3 10

Monrovia 1-9 690 (780) - -- 529 273 802 21 8 29

New Hope High K-12 1050 (1140) 1,139 21 1,160 41 14 55

New Market K-12 480 306 137 443 14 6 20

New Sharon 1-8 210 167 66 233 7 3 10

Owens Cross Roads K-9 480 476 25 501 15 5 . 20

Riverton 1-9 660 (750) 482 212 694 22 8 30

Sparkman 10-12 570 (660) 389 272 661 24 7 31

Toney 1-9 360 (450) 195 152 347 12 5 17

Walnut Gm ve 1-9 270 264 40 304 9 4 13

West Madison K-9 600 (630) 283, 248 531 16 7 23

Tech Center 12 3 15

Central Office 8 4 12

Totals 7,861 2,90610,767 369 135 504

*Capacity with Ports.

Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 8 of 9

APPENDIX B
REPORTING

I.

a. The number of students by race enrolled in

the school districts;
b. The number of students by race enrolled in
each school of the district.

II.

a. The number of full time teachers by race in

the district;
b. The number of full time teachers by race in

each school in the district;

c. The number of part time teachers by race in j
the district. (

III.

List all transfer appl ications (majority to

minority and attendance outside system) made to the
Board of Education both within and without _~he ~chool

district, the action taken by-~the school board, together

with the reasons therefore; the name, address, and race
of the student involved and the school' from which the

transfer was requested.

IV.

In the event that the system, in connection with

its conversion to a unitary system, plans to dismiss or
demote personnel or has done so, a report containing
the following information should be filed in con­
junction with the reports set out above.
Case 5:63-cv-00613-MHH Document 68 Filed 09/16/70 Page 9 of 9

a. The system's "non-racial objective criteria"

used in selecting the staff members dismissed or demoted;
b. The name, address, race, type of certificate
held, degree or degrees held, total teaching experience
and experience in the system and position during the
1969-70 school year of each person to be dismissed or
demoted, and in the case of the demotion, the person's
new position during the 1970-71 school year~nd his
salary for 1969-70 and 1970-71;
c. The basis for the dismissal or demotion of each
person, including the procedure employed in applying the

system's "non-racial objective criteria";

d. Whether or not the person to be dismissed or

demoted was offered any other staff vacancy, and, if so,
the outcome; and', if not, the reason.
v.
Describe any present or proposed construction
or expansion of facilities, and the effect of such
construction on the desegregation of the school system.