This school desegregation case was brought in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in 1971. The United States, as plaintiff, sued the Caldwell Parish School Board to enjoin the operation of a segregated school system. The case lasted until 2011 when the district court concluded that the school system had achieved unitary status.

On May 11, 1971, the plaintiffs filed this action and by June 8, the parties had agreed to a desegregation plan. The district court (Judge Benjamin Dawkins, Jr. and later Judge Thomas Stagg) remained involved through the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, with the parties filing bi-annual reports on the school system's desegregation efforts. On August 5, 2002, the district court entered an additional consent decree -- this one covering extracurricular activities, special education and faculty hiring. The court also rezoned two areas of the school district to achieve the necessary racial balance at two elementary schools. After the decree, the Parish continued its filing of annual reports until 2011 when the parties began the process of moving for dismissal. On July 5, 2011, the district court (Chief Judge Robert James, who had been on the case since at least 2008) concluded that the Parish had achieved unitary status and was, as a matter of law, integrated.

Note: There are no published opinions in this case. The full docket and the declaration of unitary status are available as case docs.

Greg Margolis - 02/25/2017


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