Columbus Board Of Educ. v. Penick

443 U.S. 449 (1979)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

The public schools of Columbus, Ohio, are highly segregated by race. In 1976, over 32% of the 96,000 students in the system were black. About 70% of all students attended schools that were at least 80% black or 80% white. Half of the 172 schools were 90% black or 90% white. Penick (P), fourteen named students in the Columbus school system, brought this case against D, the State Board of Education, and the appropriate local and state officials. P charged Ds with pursuing a course of conduct having the purpose and effect of causing and perpetuating segregation in the public schools, contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment. P sought a declaratory judgment and appropriate injunctive relief. The trial lasted 36 trial days, produced a record containing over 600 exhibits and a transcript in excess of 6,600 pages, and was completed in June 1976. The District Court found that the Columbus Public Schools were openly and intentionally segregated on the basis of race. D never actively set out to dismantle this dual system. D did not assign teachers and administrators to Columbus schools at random, without regard for the racial composition of the student enrollment at those schools. D approved optional attendance zones, discontiguous attendance areas and boundary changes which have maintained and enhanced racial imbalance in the Columbus Public Schools. It concluded that racial segregation in the Columbus school system 'directly resulted from D's intentional segregative acts and omissions in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Judgment was entered against the local and state defendants enjoining them from continuing to discriminate on the basis of race in operating the Columbus public schools and ordering the submission of a system-wide desegregation plan. The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgments entered against the local defendants. Ds petitioned for certiorari. It was granted.