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Civil rights Keyed to Jeffries, 5th Ed.
Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools v. Dowell
Citation:
498 U.S. 237 (1991)Facts
Oklahoma City schools were segregated by law until 1954. Despite the Brown decision, the district continued to maintain segregated schools through various policies, including manipulating attendance zones to match residential segregation. In 1972, after years of litigation, the district court ordered implementation of the “Finger Plan,” which required busing to achieve integration. After operating under this plan for five years, the Board moved to close the case, and in 1977, the court terminated its active supervision, finding substantial compliance with constitutional requirements. In 1984, facing demographic changes that increased busing burdens on young Black children, the Board adopted the Student Reassignment Plan (SRP), which returned to neighborhood schools for grades K-4. This resulted in 11 of 64 elementary schools becoming more than 90% Black. The plaintiffs moved to reopen the case, arguing the district had not achieved unitary status and the SRP represented a return to segregation. The district court refused to reopen the case, but the Tenth Circuit reversed, holding that the 1977 order did not dissolve the injunctive decree.
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