To reach this conclusion, the district court accepted defendants' prediction that as new areas of the district qualified for "stand-alone" status, the distances which black students in grades 1-4 would have to be transported to attend integrated schools would increase. Fifth-grade centers in the northeast quadrant would then close because of the consequent diminished enrollment
Gary Roberts Black Van 5
Dr. Clark produced relocation statistics for black families with kindergarten children, 1974/75 to 1977/78, and black families with children in three grade levels, 1982/83 to 1984/85. The results are visualized in Def. Exs. 7 and 8
"In 1960, 84% of all blacks residing in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area lived within these tracts. In 1980, however, only 16.8% of the total black population in the metropolitan area lived in this area." 677 F. Supp. at 1507
For example, on the basis of his calculations, Dr. Welch projected the black population in the District for 1995. (Def. Ex. 11). The projection represented areas between 92.3% and 100% black, becoming somewhere between 89.6% to 93.2% black. Dr. Welch stated the projections suggest whites will move into the area. (R. III, 252-53)
For example, in 1986-87, at Edwards Elementary School, which is 99.5% black, the faculty is 70% black. At Rancho Village Elementary School, which has a 10.6% black student population, there are no black teachers. (Pl.Ex. 54). In 1972, the Edwards' faculty was 15% black; Rancho Village's faculty was 23% black. (Pl.Ex. 48)
Pressed on cross-examination to explain why he didn't believe social interaction outside of school was beneficial, Dr. Crain was asked if he thought taking black children to a shopping mall to see white children or going to a movie theatre, "rubbing elbows at the candy counter, wasn't beneficial." Defense counsel then suggested that such contacts might be beneficial to blacks to "allow them to become socially acceptable when they ... get out of school." (R. VII, 1093)
The court was generous in its praise, viewing it as "significant that the Board has elected to employ intelligent and competent black individuals in upper-echelon central office administrative positions." 677 F. Supp. at 1519. School facilities "are not discriminatory ... [s]ince most of the predominately black schools today served as 5th-year centers under the Finger Plan ... and expenditures made by the Board for the students in the predominately black elementary schools is [sic] greater than that made in the elementary schools with a black population of less than 10%." Id. at 1519
Defense counsel asked plaintiffs' expert, Dr. Mary Lee Taylor, if the Plan was adopted with discriminatory intent. The question followed her extensive direct testimony on the impact of institutional racism over time and the effect of the Finger Plan's unlinking many of those discriminatory patterns. Defense counsel then asked, "Based upon your educational background and your experience and your review of the facts in this case, you don't feel that the Oklahoma City Board of Education adopted this neighborhood plan with the intent to discriminate against blacks, do you? " (Emphasis added.) Dr. Taylor responded, "I have no evidence of that at all. I did not mean to suggest it." (R. VIII, 1238). Although the question is a non sequitur, the court cited her response to support its conclusion there was no discriminatory intent
In our analysis, we have declined to mire the legal issues with extensive examination of the conflicting evidence on the question of the effect of integration on student achievement. The dissent wades into this area, citing the testimony of Dr. Sampson, the Board's rebuttal witness, who had compared the achievement of blacks at six all-black parochial schools in the Chicago area to that of black students at Chicago public high schools. Based on this study, Dr. Sampson was asked if black students must be in a classroom with white students to learn effectively. He responded that an "effective schools program" and a dedication to education encompassed by positive socioeconomic conditions assured black student achievement. When asked on cross-examination if intentional segregation of the public schools is harmful, Dr. Sampson responded that it didn't have to be and certainly wasn't for those blacks going to the parochial schools he studied in Chicago. Who could disagree when we compare a self-selected private parochial school setting to a large urban public school. The court, however, used this evidence, comparing the 65% dropout rate of Chicago public high schools to the 80-90% rate of these parochial students who then attend college, to conclude "the racial composition of a school has absolutely no effect on the academic achievement of its students." 677 F. Supp. at 1524. Although we remain uncertain what this testimony was intended to rebut in the first instance, we are certain it cannot represent evidence of the District's commitment to maintain a unitary system
This court took a slightly different approach to determining minority concentration in the elementary schools and concluded that 46.2% of the black K-4 elementary students attend a 90% + black school. Court's Opinion at 1497. The court's slightly higher 46.2% concentration figure is different than mine (43.8%) for two reasons. First, the court used the 1985-86 student enrollment data, pl. ex. 26, reproduced in Appellants' Addendum to Brief at 180-81; I used the 1986-87 data contained in pl. ex. 27, reproduced in Appellants' Addendum to Brief at 187-91, and the above table contains the 1986-87 data. Second, the court did not include the K-4 portion of the K-5 schools; I did. Had I followed the court's method with the 1986-87 data and not included the K-4 students which attend K-5 schools, the concentration figure would be 46.3% (2954/6387), meaning that 46.3% of the black K-4 elementary students attended a 90% + black K-5 school.
Def. ex. 63, reproduced in Appellees' Addendum to Brief. None of these schools are virtually one-race white schools. Though these schools contain less than the system-wide average of black students, 38.5%, pl. ex. 26, reproduced in Appellants' Addendum to Brief at 184, and less than the system-wide average of K-4 black elementary students, 36.04%, id. at 181, there is no requirement "that every school in every community must always reflect the racial composition of the school system as a whole." Swann, 402 U.S. at 24, 91 S. Ct. at 1280.
The school board planned to close 2 of the 90% + black elementary schools (Lincoln & Truman) and reopen 1 (Dunbar) at the end of the 1986-87 school year. Def. ex. 65. The 1987-88 membership projections for the remaining elementary schools reveal ten 90% + black elementary schools. Id. These schools are as follows:
Mr. Day: Based upon your educational background and experience and your review of the facts in this case, you don't feel that the Oklahoma City Board of Education adopted this plan with the intent to discriminate against blacks, do you?
Before the Finger Plan was instituted, the dissimilarity index for the system in 1971 was .78; in 1984, it was .24; and with the introduction of neighborhood schools the index rose to .38 in 1985. The dissimilarity index does not represent "the ratio of blacks to non-blacks," Court's Opinion at 1495, rather it is the number of students who would have to be reassigned so that each school would have the district-wide proportion of black student enrollment, divided by the number of students who would have to be reassigned if the district were completely segregated. F. Welch & A. Light, New Evidence on School Desegregation-U.S. Comm'n on Civil Rights Clearinghouse Pub. No. 92, 37 (1987) [hereinafter cited as Welch & Light ]; def. exs. 44 & 45; rec. vol. II at 127-28. Below is a chart including the dissimilarity and exposure indices, together with other information about the school system.
Kindergarten students under the 1972 Finger Plan were permitted to attend schools of choice. Pl ex. 6, reproduced in Appellants' Addendum to Brief at 19. Dr. Foster's proposed desegregation plans did not include kindergarten students in reassignments. Pl. ex. 57 at 1. Thus, it would appear that plaintiffs do not object to the present 5 one-race black, and 6 virtually one-race black, kindergartens at 11 schools. For example, in 1986-87, the 11 virtually one-race black K-4 elementary schools had the following kindergarten enrollments:
Plaintiffs' expert Dr. Crain testified that segregated schools inhibit learning, but acknowledged that the studies conflicted concerning the effects of desegregation on achievement. Rec. vol. VII at 971-72. Defendants' expert Dr. Walberg testified, based on a variety of studies "that racial composition of the school is irrelevant to how much children learn in school, and no particular racial composition, such as zero, ten, fifty, ninety, or a hundred makes important differences for how much children learn in school." Rec. vol. VI at 913-14. He indicated that parental involvement and what he termed the "curriculum of the home" is important for academic achievement. Id. at 916. Defendants' expert Dr. Sampson testified that certain home values, such as consistent parental authority, parent-child interaction, and monitoring and reinforcement of children by parents, rather than race or economic status, determine academic achievement. Rec. vol. IX at 1455, 1458. Dr. Sampson testified that "if the purpose of the schools is education," and if an effective schools program was in place, he would not be concerned with 90% + black schools. Id. at 1461.
Dr. Sampson relied in part upon his research concerning 6 all-black parochial schools located in very poor black communities. Rec. vol. IX at 1456. Only about half the students are Catholic. Id. at 1457. Dr. Sampson looked at why these schools were so successful and concluded that they have characteristics associated with effective schools and the children are motivated at home. Id. at 1457-58. This district stresses effective schools concepts and greater parental involvement in an effort to improve educational outcome. In my view, the district court could consider this evidence as indicative of a lack of segregative intent. See Dowell, 677 F. Supp. at 1524. This court disagrees. See Court's Opinion at 1503-04 n. 51. 2ff7e9595c
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