This is a school desegregation case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in 1970. The United States was the plaintiff and alleged that the Choctaw County School District (CCSD) was operating a segregated system of public education that violated the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
According to a later opinion, the district court issued a consent decree on August 5, 1970. The consent decree required that all students, faculty, staff, school transportation, and extracurricular activities be desegregated according to the standards set forth in
Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 419 F.2d 1211 (5th Cir. 1969). The desegregation plan was proposed by the U.S. Office of Education; CCSD's desegregation plan was approved by the district along with desegregation plans for several other school districts in Mississippi. The school districts submitted reports to the court throughout the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.
On August 3, 1984, plaintiff intervenor Charles Thomas, who was a black CCSD employee, filed suit and alleged that CCSD was violating
Singleton, the consent decree, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, and 2000e et seq., and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Thomas was a principal at an all-black high school when the 1970 desegregation order was issued. He later became a co-principal with a white principal after the desegregation order. Thomas claimed that the white principal's salary was greater than his and the white principal was provided with free housing and a utilities allowance. When the white principal resigned, Thomas applied for the job but was not hired. Another white principal was hired and CCSD said he was more qualified than Thomas, even though Thomas had more experience. Thomas was routinely passed over for other principal jobs in CCSD. District Judge Neal B. Biggers, Jr. held that CCSD was not a fully unitary system because it could not prove that the school district was fully integrated in all areas. Judge Biggers also held that Thomas was entitled to relief under
Singleton. Thomas received $40,508.91 in backpay and the fair rental market value of the house occupied by Thomas' white co-principal from 1970-1985. All other claims were declared moot. 725 F. Supp. 307 (N.D. Miss. 1989).
The case remained quiet until 2012. CCSD filed a motion to modify the desegregation order on October 23, 2012. The motion proposed to consolidate two high schools in order to promote desegregation and alleviate the financial burden of operating two schools. The United States filed a motion in opposition and claimed that CCSD's proposed modification was not constitutionally adequate because it did not foster desegregation at the elementary and middle school levels and placed the desegregation burden on black students in the community of Weir. District Judge Glen Davidson held on April 10, 2013 that CCSD's plan did not place a transportation burden on black students; however, because the modification would place a transportation burden on 7th and 8th grade students, CCSD was ordered to modify its plan to include students in 7th and 8th grades. 941 F. Supp. 2d 708 (N.D. Miss. 2013).
On October 11, 2016, CCSD moved for declaration of unitary status, which would dissolve its current injunctions and terminate the court's jurisdiction. The United States opposed that motion for several years, at one point entering discovery with CCSD, before ultimately joining the motion for declaration for unitary status in April 2019. Six months later, on October 28, 2019, Judge Glen Davidson granted the motion, dissolved the prior injunctions, terminated jurisdiction, and dismissed the matter. This case is now closed.
Available OpinionsUnited States v. Mississippi, 725 F. Supp. 307 (N.D. Miss. 1989).
United States v. Mississippi, 941 F. Supp. 2d 708 (N.D. Miss. 2013).
Amelia Huckins - 03/15/2017
Sean Drohan - 06/17/2021
compress summary
