With one hitch, 2 districts ruled as free of court
Unitary except on facilities issue, judge in ’82 case says
The Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville/North Pulaski school districts are unitary with the exception of some facilities issues, Chief U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. said Thursday.
“Is it time? Yes,” the judge said in a 68-page order in the federal school desegregation lawsuit that began in 1982. “It is therefore time for both Districts to continue their important and challenging work of educating all students without oversight from this Court, except as specified on facilities.”
With the exception of the facilities issues and the possible payment of legal fees “this Court”s jurisdiction over the Pulaski County Special School District and the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District is at an end,” he said.
The judge directed the Pulaski County Special district to propose to him a plan “to comply … and square up” the construction differences in the Mills High and “superior” Robinson Middle School buildings.
“With the exception of truing-up the Mills High School/Robinson Middle School problem, PCSSD is unitary,” Marshall wrote. “Proposal on the Mills/Robinson issue due by 1 August 2021.”
The court ruling affecting the two districts comes after a three-week court hearing in July on the four areas in which the Pulaski County Special district remained under court supervision of its desegregation efforts. Those areas were student discipline, student achievement, facilities and the district’s self-monitoring of desegregation efforts.
There was a similar twoweek trial in October on the compliance issues in the Jacksonville district, which inherited desegregation obligations when it separated from the Pulaski County Special district and began to operate independently with its own employees and elected board in July 2016. The Jacksonville district’s facilities plan, however, was approved previously by the judge, and the court’s role
now is limited to ensuring that the plan is carried out.
The class of all Black students in the two districts — primarily known as the Joshua Intervenors but more recently as the McClendon Intervenors — had challenged the districts’ assertions of compliance with the desegregation requirements.
“The superintendents from both PCSSD and JNPSD said that the many efforts to educate all students are entrenched,” Marshall said in the ruling. “This firm testimony was powerful and persuasive. Court supervision is not necessary to make sure that these Districts press on. And continued oversight is unlikely to yield better results than what the Districts will achieve on their own. For all these reasons, the Court concludes that, with the carve outs on facilities issues, PCSSD and JNPSD have — to the extent practicable — eliminated the vestiges of PCSSD’s segregated past.”
Devin Bates, an attorney for the Pulaski County Special district, said he and district officials were studying the order Thursday evening. He said the district leaders are thankful for the judge’s confidence in the district’s good-faith commitment to the desegregation plan and his finding that their commitment to educating all students fairly and faithfully “is deep.”
Scott Richardson, an attorney for the Jacksonville district, said he agreed with Marshall that it is time for the districts to operate without federal court supervision.
“We are grateful for Judge Marshall’s thoughtful and careful analysis of the large record in this case,” Richardson said.
Efforts to reach Austin Porter Jr., who led the legal team for the Intervenors, by email Thursday evening were not successful. He had not responded by 10 p.m.
In Thursday’s ruling, the judge detailed some of the history of the long-running lawsuit — including the Pulaski County Special district”s Plan 2000 desegregation plan that was supported by the Intervenors and approved by the federal court as a consent decree and order.
Marshall said “substantial compliance” with the plan is the standard for evaluating district efforts and that the burden of showing substantial compliance rests with the districts. Additionally, vestiges of segregation must be eliminated to the extent practicable, he said.
The judge rejected arguments made by attorneys for the Intervenors last year that the comparisons of student groups should be between white and Black, rather than what has long been comparison of Black and non-Black students. The Intervenors argued that the non-Black category includes students other than white students and, as a result, can mask the gaps between Black and white students in achievement.
“Given the case history, and the reliance of the parties and the Court on the black/ non-black rubric, Intervenors are [stopped] from arguing at this late point that a different comparison is better,” Marshall said.
The judge said the districts have shown good faith in the desegregation efforts. The testimony given in court by district administrators and principals showed that “the Districts’ commitment to educating all students fairly and faithfully is deep,” he said.
That is contrary, Marshall said, to what U.S. District Judge Brian Miller said about the Pulaski County Special district in a 2011 order in which he denied unitary status and release of the Pulaski County Special district from federal court oversight.
“With one exception discussed below, PCSSD and JNPSD have demonstrated to the public, the black students and their parents, and this Court their commitment to our Constitution’s promise of equal treatment and to Plan 2000’s remedies for unequal treatment in the past,” Marshall said.
The judge addressed each of the desegregation obligations for the two districts, starting with student discipline practices in the Pulaski County Special system. Miller, the former judge in the case, had in 2011 called the district’s efforts to eliminate racial disparities in the imposition of student discipline “sad.”
Marshall said recent facts about discipline are different, and “more words” are needed.
“On discipline issues, PCSSD is committed, improved and imperfect,” he said.
Each school has a discipline section within its improvement plan, and discipline problems are addressed — as are teachers who have high rates of discipline, he said. He highlighted the district’s initiatives, including the Positive Behavior Intervention, Response to Intervention and Advancement Via Individual Determination programs, as well as plans for establishing a teen court program. He said there is a racial disparity in discipline, and it is recognized by district leaders.
“The circumstances add up to substantial compliance,” he said.
About facilities, Marshall referred to an 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2011 upholding Miller’s finding that disproportionate funding was directed to campuses in predominantly white areas of the Pulaski County Special district.
Marshall noted that in the intervening years, efforts were made to address the needs of school buildings — that the detachment of the Jacksonville district from Pulaski County Special was such an effort to improve campuses.
Marshall also described the Pulaski County Special district’s promises to build a new Mills High and to renovate the old Mills High building into a middle school. But then Robinson Middle School was rebuilt, and the plans for Mills High were squeezed, he said.
“The plans for Mills High that [then Director of Operations Derek] Scott presented to the PCSSD cabinet of District leaders were not followed. For example, classroom size was reduced to the state minimum. Hallways shrunk in width and three feet in height. Overall capacity was reduced from seven hundred fifty students to seven hundred,” said Marshall, who has toured the Mills High and Middle campuses as well as Robinson Middle.
While the Pulaski County Special district attorneys and witnesses have argued that the district has now spent the promised $55 million on the two Mills campuses, the attorneys for the Intervenors argued that the district has returned to the path it promised, but it still has some distance to go.
“The Court agrees with the Intervenors,” Marshall wrote.
“The many fixes in the last two years are commendable. They are not, however, a complete cure for the resulting inequity.
“Mills High School and Robinson Middle School are both excellent facilities. But, if Mills High gets an A, Robinson Middle gets an A++. Mills is superior in only two ways: its new stainless steel kitchen; and its magnificent auditorium, which is a smaller version of the singularly impressive Maumelle High School auditorium. Robinson Middle has no auditorium; it has a cafetorium.”
The judge cited differences — the concrete block walls and smaller, teacher-shared classrooms at Mills versus the gypsum board walls at Robinson where the entrance is grander, the halls are wider, the ceilings are higher, the floors are of polished concrete, the lighting fixtures are “ultra-modern” and every teacher had their own room. Mills’ gym, with a better playing surface, holds 1,100 but can’t host certain tournaments, while Robinson has an arena for more than 2,000.
“What must PCSSD do to comply … and square up the Mills High School/Robinson Middle School inequity? The Court declines to dictate particulars at this point,” he said. “Instead, it requests a proposal from the District.”
Marshall noted that various possibilities were mentioned during the trial. Those included new space at Mills for the Driven program, which is an online, self-paced instructional program for students. Also suggested previously is new space for the Mills’ ROTC program, more classrooms, or an arena.
“The Court recognizes the constraints: dollars are finite and needs are many,” he said, adding that any plan for Mills can’t “hobble” other district responsibilities.
“The District must, after balancing all the other District needs, and after consulting with the Intervenors, propose a plan for finishing this task. That is how PCSSD can substantially comply with Plan 2000 on facilities.”
Marshall devoted several pages to the Pulaski County Special district’s multiple efforts to reduce the achievement gap between Black and non-Black students on standardized tests. Those included the district efforts to carry out what was referred to as the Ross academic plan and the $10 million the district provided for the Donaldson Academy at local college and university campuses. The academy was designed as a bridge to help high school students move into college.
“The Intervenors doubt the District’s commitment,” Marshall wrote. “They point out that many of the initiatives are at a fledgling stage; they see no durable remedy in place; and, while acknowledging that results aren’t determinative, they say students’ poor performance indicates lack of a real District commitment.
“PCSSD is far from perfect in academic achievement, but the Court disagrees with Intervenors’ assessment,” he said, adding later in the ruling that he is impressed with Pulaski County Special’s districtwide academic initiatives as described by Superintendent Charles McNulty, Deputy Superintendent Alesia Smith, Assistant Superintendent Janice Warren and others.
The judge concluded that while there is much to be done on academic achievement and the performance gap, the district has done enough in good faith so far to comply with its desegregation plan.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski district has been under court supervision on staffing incentives, student discipline practices, academic achievement and self-monitoring.
Marshall highlighted the Jacksonville district’s efforts to “grow its own” teachers by offering tuition reimbursements to employees to become state-licensed teachers or to add certification in high-need subject areas — with Black employees given priority for the benefits.
On the matter of student discipline, “JNPSD is making a good faith effort to treat all students fairly by scrutinizing who is being disciplined, what students are being disciplined for, and what consequences are being imposed. All this is to the good,” Marshall said.
“Based on all the evidence of record, JNPSD is unitary on all its discipline obligations.”
Marshall cited what he called “hard truths” about achievement in the district.
“According to the ACT Aspire test results, most of JNPSD’s students are performing substantially below grade level. And, in general, the performance gap between Black and non-Black students is either holding steady or getting worse,” he said.
But the judge also described the district’s multiple initiatives to raise achievement.
“Notwithstanding the bad test results and the continuing academic challenges they reveal, JNPSD has complied in good faith with Plan 2000. It has made, and is making, sustained efforts to improve student achievement and close the achievement gap between Black students and non-Black students.”