United States v. Richardson Independent School District,
Desegregation Litigation 1970 – 2009 and beyond . . .

1.
approved RISD s District-wide attendance zone system;
2.
approved RISD s request to close Hamilton Park Junior High ;
3.
required RISD to assign staff in a desegregated manner;
4.
required RISD to hire and treat staff without regard to race;
5.
required any dismissal/demotion of staff to be based on objective, non-discriminatory criteria;
6.
established majority to minority transfer policy;
7.
required RISD to regularly examine its transportation system;
8.
required RISD to select sites for schools/classrooms to prevent dual school structure;
9.
mandated transfers in and out of district be on non-discriminatory basis;
10.
eliminated segregation of classroom, non-classroom, or extra curricular activities;
11.
created a Bi-Racial Committee to serve as an advisory body; and
12. required RISD to submit semester and annual reports to the court to provide information about the District s compliance with the Order.
- A later order, entered in 1975, approved the Pacesetter Program for Hamilton Park Elementary.
2

A school district may petition the court for dismissal of the desegregation litigation.
This motion historically has been called a
Motion for Unitary Status.
To obtain unitary status, a school district must establish that it no longer operates a segregated (dual) school district and that it has eliminated the vestiges of past segregation
3

and
See Freeman v. Pitts, 112 S. Ct. 1430, 1446 (1992); Board of Educ. v. Dowell,
498 U.S. 237, 250 (1991).
A declaration of unitary status signals the beginning of the end of federal judicial supervision over the District's operations. Tasby v. Woolery, 869 F. Supp. 454, 456 (N.D. Tex. 1994)
4

In Green v. County Sch. Bd., 391 U.S. 430, 437-38 (1968), the US Supreme Court held that school boards "operating state-compelled dual systems were … clearly charged with the affirmative duty to take whatever steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch."
The Green Court held that a school district has achieved unitary status when it is devoid of racial discrimination with regard to (i) faculty, (ii) staff, (iii) transportation, (iv) extracurricular activities, (v) facilities, and (vi) pupil assignment. 391 U.S. at 432.
5

When may the court end its supervision over a district under a desegregation order?
The Fifth Circuit answered the question by examining the Supreme
Court s decisions:
“ [T]he lower courts have discretion to terminate a desegregation case if the school board has consistently complied with a court decree in good faith and has eliminated the vestiges of past discrimination to the extent
“practicable.” Freeman created a framework in which equitable decrees will not remain in effect perpetually and school districts can be returned to local control.”
Hull v. Quitman Cty. Bd. of Educ ., 1 F.3d 1450, 1454 (5th Cir. 1993).
6

T asby v. Woolery:
The court explained what should occur after a district court declares that a school district is unitary:
-
A district court should not dismiss a school desegregation case until at least three years after it has declared the system unitary.
During the three-year period, the school district continues to report to the district court, and the court continues to monitor school district operations. Before the court dismisses the case at the end of the transition period, it may consider whether the school district has done all that it could to cure any deficiencies.
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Race neutral attendance zones
Predominately one-race schools
Desegregated schools
RISD
Race neutral attendance zones
1974: All 39 schools racially identifiable (38 white, 1 Af. Am.)
2007 -08:
No racially identifiable high schools and jr. high;
8 of 40 racially id. elem.
sch. (5 white; 3 Hisp.)
8

Percentage of minority employees in the workforce;
Increase in number of minority faculty and administrators (as compared to % in labor market);
Factors explaining hiring successes or challenges
RISD
Strong policy of nondiscrimination and equal employment opportunity;
1974 - 2009: RISD increased the number and % of minority teachers of all races as a result of recruitment and hiring efforts;
RISD recruits at 24 historically black/minority colleges;
Other strategies to attract and retain minority candidates;
Superintendents performance goals address increased minority hiring
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Total RISD
Teachers
White
Hispanic
Af. Am.
Asian
Am. Indian
1974
1503
2007
2440
As of 04/09
2568
1464 (97%) 2054 ( 84%) 2120(83%)
3 (.019%) 157 (6.4%) 18 (7.2%)
35 (2%) 180 (7.3%) 218 (8.5%)
0
1
39 (1.5%)
10 (.4%)
36 (1.4%)
9 (.4%)
New teacher hiring:
2007 – 2008 : 454 new teachers hired; 109 (24%) minority
2008 – 2009 : 353 new teachers hired; 74 (21%) minority
Minority Campus Administrators ( Af. Am. or Hisp. Administrators):
Secondary: Prin.: 5 of 14 (36%) ; Ass t Prin.: 20 of 44 (45%)
Elementary: Prin.: 9 of 41 (22%); Ass t Prin.: 10 of 23 (44%)
10

Extracurricular activities offered to all students on nondiscriminatory basis;
All vestiges of past discrimination eliminated ;
Policy of nondiscrimination in all activities;
Student participation;
No evidence of unlawful exclusion or denial
RISD
Strong policy of nondiscrimination and equal educational opportunity;
Race-neutral eligibility criteria for participation;
Offers a variety of activities to appeal to a wide variety of interests and abilities;
Cost considerations do affect participation; financial assistance available in some activities
11

Maintenance, repair, and construction of facilities without regard to race of students attending;
Resources allocated to facilities without regard to race of students attending;
Per pupil spending relatively equal regardless of racial composition of school
RISD
New construction addresses crowding or program needs;
Biracial advisory committee review and input;
20-year facilities master plan developed to address facility repair and renovation needs;
Facility services tracks response time and completion rates for all work orders;
Funding allocated on per pupil basis without regard to race
12

Transportation provided to all students on nondiscriminatory basis
RISD
Free transportation to students who (i) live more than 2 miles from assigned school or (ii) must travel a hazardous route to school;
Free transportation to magnet students, overflow students, and disabled students per ARD committee recommendation;
Contract with Dallas County
Schools requires all services be offered on a nondiscriminatory basis
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Academic programs offered to attract and serve a diverse student population;
Diverse student population served in the programs;
Are resources effectively deployed to achieve academic and operational goals.
RISD
Magnet programs offered to attract diverse groups of students;
QUEST and REACH programs serve gifted and talented students in elementary;
Pre-AP and AP courses offered in secondary;
RISD is committed to serving all students; student data shows success of all students
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RISD s demonstrated history of all students success:
THREE consecutive years as a Recognized District under the state accountability system (TAKS);
Steady increase in numbers of students not only passing TAKS, but also in students receiving commended performance recognition;
High student completion rates (drop out reduction)
Class of
RISD 2007
State 2007
RISD 2006
State 2006
Total
93%
White Hisp.
Af. Am.
96.3% 87.2% 87.6%
86.7% 92.3% 81.9% 81.2%
92.8% 95.8% 88.6% 85.6%
88.9% 93.2% 84.9% 85.0%
As./Pac.
Isl.
97.7%
95.7%
96.5%
96.2%
Am. Ind.
90.9%
87.6%
100%
90.%
15

RISD has steadily closed the achievement gap between White and African American and White and
Hispanic students as reflected on TAKS achievement data;
RISD s progress in closing the achievement gap leads the state in every area assessed
16

As courts have considered desegregation litigation in more recent years, particularly in urban districts, the effects of changing demographics and housing patterns over time often had resulted in increases in the numbers of predominately one race schools.
To effectively analyze what was occurring, the courts thus had to look behind the raw numbers of racially identifiable schools and consider what was causing the changes.
That inquiry led courts to observe that the districts demographics and residential living patterns, and not discriminatory actions by school districts, had caused the changes.
Racially identifiable schools that are the result of changed demographics and housing patterns are not vestiges of past discrimination.
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RISD
T he following historical data represents the number of racially identifiable schools in RISD over time:
High School
Junior High
Elementary
1974
4 of 4
7 of 7
28 of 28
1997
1 of 4
2 of 9
7 of 39
2007
0 of 4
0 of 10
8 of 40
Despite increasing its school campuses from 28 in 1974 to 54 in 2007, RISD (1) reduced the number of one-race elementary schools (from 28 to 8), and
(2) eliminated entirely all one-race schools at the junior and senior high levels.
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RISD s Student Population:
Year White
1974 95%
1997 57%
2007 35%
2009 32%
Hisp.
Af. Am.
.009% .03%
14% 2%
31%
35%
26%
25%
Asian Am. Ind.
.004% .001%
.09% .003%
8%
8%
.004%
.004%
Data Analysis:
From 1974 to 2009, RISD s student population has changed from 95% majority white students to 68 % overall minority students. These changing demographics clearly illustrate that RISD has transformed into a predominantly minority district today.
The 2007 demographic study that RISD commissioned confirms that many of the District s school attendance zones have transformed into minority neighborhoods. These changes in racial demographics are reflected in the racial composition for the attendance zones for the elementary, junior high, and senior high schools.
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RISD significantly reduced the number of racially identifiable elementary schools (from 28 of 28 to 8 of 40) and eliminated entirely the racially identifiable junior high schools (from 7 of 7 to 0 of 10) and senior high schools (from 4 of 4 to 0 of 4).
In 2007, RISD had eight remaining racially identifiable elementary schools.
Five of the eight schools were racially identifiable white and three were racially identifiable as Hispanic. None were racially identifiable as African
American.
The five schools racially identifiable as white are located in the J.J. Pearce attendance zone, which is a predominantly white neighborhood;
The three schools racially identifiable as Hispanic are located in the
Richardson High School attendance zone, which the 2007 demographic study shows is now a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
these 8 schools.

Based on the 2007 Demographic Study –
we expect the evidence to show that remaining racially are the result of patterns and demographics.
schools residential living
there is no evidence that RISD has caused the changes in the racial demographics of the reflected in
District or the housing patterns as the study.
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