Hart v. Community School Bd. of Brooklyn

536 F.Supp.2d 274

Jeffrey HART, et al., Plaintiffs, v. The COMMUNITY SCHOOL BOARD OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK SCHOOL DISTRICT # 21, et al., Defendants.

No. 72-CV-1041 (JBW).

United States District Court, E.D. New York.

February 25, 2008.

As Amended February 28, 2008.

James I. Meyerson, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs.

Gail P. Rubin, Corporation Counsel of the City of NY, New York, NY, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

JACK B. WEINSTEIN, Senior District Judge:

I. Introduction

The Chancellor of the City School District of the City of New York moves to terminate the remedial order imposed by this court in 1974 requiring defendants to desegregate Mark Twain Intermediate Gifted and Talented School ("Mark Twain") in Brooklyn, New York. See Hart v. Cmty. Sch. Bd., 383 F.Supp. 699 (E.D.N.Y.1974) ("Hart I"); see also Defendant's Motion dated Feb. 12, 2008, Docket Entry No. 456.

Anjan Rau and Kanchan Katpadi move to intervene. See Motion to Intervene dated Jan. 14, 2008, Hart Docket Entry No. 451. Proposed intervenors are also plaintiffs in 08-CV-210 ("Rau"). They seek relief similar to that requested by the Chancellor in Hart. The intervenors are American citizens of Asian Indian descent They have three children. One applied for admission to Mark Twain for the 2007-2008 school year and was denied entry. Another child will seek admission to Mark Twain for the 2008-2009 school year.

Having long ago graduated, the plaintiffs do not have the same direct interest they possessed at the time they began the Hart litigation. Nonetheless, they contend that they still retain standing and an interest in the litigation. Plaintiff's consent to the request of the Chancellor with one important caveat: they would have the court issue a narrow order to save it from being misinterpreted in a manner foreclosing the utilization of race, among other factors, in any future assignment of students to Mark Twain.

The court has received communications from parents and interested members of the community opposing the motions. A number of parents and others spoke at a hearing on the motions. Some expressed concern that Mark Twain will lose its status as a school for the talented and gifted. Others do not want the school to lose the racial balance achieved pursuant to the 1974 remedial order. Still others objected to the reduction of the number of local children admitted as the school increasingly drew students from all over the City.

This litigation is a third of a century old. It has long been designated on the court's docket as "closed." In 1990, the Mark Twain Junior High School Parents' Association sought an order requiring the Chancellor to provide contract busing for out-of-district students. That request was denied because segregation had been eliminated and there was no need for further control by the court. See Order dated Aug. 15, 1990, Docket Entry No. 456.

Since 1974 Mark Twain has operated in a remarkably effective manner. Illustrative are the achievements of its students; recently at the Polytechnic University's Future City competition they were awarded the "Safest City" and "Best Use of Nanotechnology" awards.

Defendants have complied with the terms of the court's 1974 remedial order. The desegregation of Mark Twain has been fully achieved. The court has no further jurisdiction. The motion to intervene in the Hart case by Anjan Rau and Kanchan Katpadi is denied as moot.

II. History of the Hart Litigation

A. Trial Proceedings

Hart was the first New York City school desegregation case to reach a federal court. Hart, 383 F.Supp. at 706. It was a class action on behalf of children attending Coney Island's Mark Twain Junior High School, J.H.S. 239. The defendants included the Community School Board of Brooklyn, New York, School District Number 21 ("CSB 21") and the Chancellor of the Board of Education of the City of New York.

Plaintiff's alleged that the defendants were creating, and maintaining, a segregated Mark Twain. They prayed for declaratory and injunctive relief, including a direction to the defendants "to formulate and implement forthwith a comprehensive plan which will eliminate, with deliberate speed, the racially segregated and under utilized nature of Mark Twain Junior High School and which will provide for and assure equal educational opportunities for the plaintiff's and the members of their class." See Complaint at 12, Docket Entry No. 1.

CSB 21 and its members interposed a general denial. Primarily they defended on the ground that if segregation existed, it was due to housing patterns fostered and maintained by the city, state, and federal authorities who were impleaded as third-party defendants.

A bench trial was conducted over many months commencing on January 2, 1973. On December 19, 1973, the court announced its decision. It found that the School Board and Chancellor were liable for conducting a segregated school in violation of the Constitution; and it required a plan, effective in September 1974, which would provide that the school population of Mark Twain not deviate more than ten percent from the average ratio of the minority to the white population in District 21. A written opinion was issued on January 28, 1974. See Hart I, 383 F.Supp. 699.

The parties were ordered to submit a plan in conformity with the decision by March 1, 1974, to be put in operation in September, 1974. They submitted plans on March 1, 1974. After hearings, beginning on April 2, 1974, the court appointed the late Professor Curtis J. Berger as Special Master, and found that "plans to deal comprehensively with conditions that have, figured in the segregation of Mark Twain cannot be executed by September of 1974. Accordingly, the desegregation of Mark Twain is postponed to September 1975." Id. at 762.

B. Appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

Plaintiff's appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, seeking a reinstatement of the original September, 1974 date. The appeal was dismissed on the ground that the district court had not issued an injunction from which an appeal could be taken. See Hart v. Cmty. Sch. Bd., 497 F.2d 1027 (2d Cir.1974) ("Hart II").

C. Judgment of this Court

After the Special Master reported in July 1974, the court had before it three basic plans for desegregation of Mark Twain: (1) a plan proposed by the School Board; (2) a plan, quite similar, but more detailed, by the Special Master; and (3) plans proposed, by Professor Dan W. Dodson, plaintiff's expert on educational desegregation.

The court entered a final judgment on July 26, 1974 in the form of a memorandum opinion and order. Hart v. Cmty. Sch. Bd., 383 F.Supp. 769 (E.D.N.Y.1974) ("Hart III"). It required that the plan tendered by the School Board be executed with conditions added by the court. The decree called for: (1) redrawing the feeding patterns of the middle schools so that the incoming grade of each intermediate and junior high school, and 7th and 8th grades of K-8 schools, would reflect approximately 70% Caucasian and 30% "minority" populations — which was the approximate ratio of the school population in the district's middle schools; (2) graduate the 8th and 9th grades of Mark Twain; (3) transfer Mark Twain's present 7th grade, and zone the graduating pupils of P.S. 188 and P.S. 238 (predominantly minority schools) to middle schools in the district other than Mark Twain; and (4) establish at Mark Twain a District School for gifted and talented children — a "magnet school". Id. 771.

The plan required that no new special or accelerated programs for the academically gifted known as "SP" or "SPE" programs be organized in any other school in the district. Eliminating those programs provided a major incentive for parents to send their children to Mark Twain, which would be the only special program in the district for gifted and talented students. Id. at 774. Guidance on what would constitute sufficient desegregation was provided:

The magnet school plan will be deemed to have failed if there are not in attendance at Mark Twain — in the ratio of approximately 70-30, white to minority students — at a minimum at the beginning of the school year in September 1975, 350 students'; in September 1976, 750 students; and in September 1977, 1050 students. Pursuant to the Master's recommendations, the plan will also be considered to have failed if at least 400 children have not expressed an intention to enroll in the program at Mark Twain by March 15, 1975; 800 children by March 15, 1976; and 1100 children by March 15, 1977, in order to allow for natural attrition and in order to provide adequate time for an alternative plan should failure be highly probable.

Id. at 774.

Developed was a "plan B," in case the magnet school concept should not be viable:

In order to provide for an alternative plan should the `Magnet School' concept fail, by January 1, 1975, the Chancellor, in cooperation with the School Board shall provide, in reserve, detailed proposals for new zoning and busing schedules based on `Model II' of the proposal of Dr. Dodson. The full reserve plan shall be kept up-to-date by necessary modifications based upon changes in population. Modifications shall be prepared by January 1, 1976 and by January 1, 1977 for the next succeeding school year.

Id.

D. Appeal on Merits

An appeal was taken to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. See Hart v. Cmty. Sch. Bd., 512 F.2d 37 (2d. Cir. 1975) ("Hart IV"). The Court of Appeals described the various positions taken by each party on appeal:

a) The Chancellor of the City Board of Education filed a brief in support of the Community School Board plan. It does not address itself to the order "mooting" or dismissing the third-party action. b) The [C]ity of New York urges that the District Court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to order HDA and the other housing defendants to follow a specific housing plan. c) HUD filed a brief urging that the District Court...