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Chapter 14 The Interdistrict Remedy, 1976-78 Provisional Remedy The road to cross-district desegregation in the Wilmington area would prove long and rough. The three-judge court received city-only plans and interdistrict proposals ranging from "free transfers" and "magnet schools" between existing districts to countywide consolidation. The Wilmington board proposed actual desegregation by clustering schools as originally suggested by Gordon Foster; but it proposed that the existing districts be retained to operate these desegregated schools, at least for an interim period while the Delaware General Assembly developed an alternative governance structure. The Wilmington board's plan also included a comprehensive program for ancillary relief to prevent discrimination against minority students and staff during the desegregation process. The close-in suburban districts in this compact metropolitan area proposed plans that included their somewhat more distant neighbors who argued, in tum, for limiting any plan to the close-in districts. Other proposals sought to exempt elementary grades or to rely solely on one-way assignment of Wilmington blacks to suburban schools. The state board proposed a redistricting plan to divide Wilmington into five parts and to attach each part to one or more of the existing suburban districts. Bill Prickett suggested to Lou Lucas that the case be settled on the basis of voluntary transfers between existing districts. Lucas presented the state board's offer to the Wilmington board and to the private plaintiffs. The proposal was not what Louis Redding and his clients had been fighting for; and the state board's threat to dismantle the Wilmington school district and administration only confirmed the commitment of the new president of the Wilmington board, Wendell Howell, to fight for a fair, two-way plan that would also protect Wilmington's black students, staff, and community from state retaliation. During the extensive remedy hearings before the three-judge court, Lucas stressed that a conservative approach to any judicial reorganization of school districts should be followed. The state, as in reapportionment cases, should be given the first crack at changing school district boundaries. In the interim, actual two-way desegregation should proceed between the existing districts, with any disputes resolved by a court-appointed monitoring commission. Lucas also stressed that the scope of remedy should be no greater than necessary to remedy the areawide violation. 309 310 Beyond Busing The suburbs proceeded to battle with one another over which should be included and which should be excluded in any desegregation plan. In addition , the defendants argued that any compulsory interdistrict desegregation premised on retaining existing school district boundaries was impractical and would inevitably involve the district court in resolving disputes concerning the administration of the schools. Any areawide desegregation remedy, argued the suburbs, should be limited to voluntary transfers and magnet schools. At the remedy hearing, the presence of Wilmington's superintendent, Thomas Minter, had its first impact on the case. Minter, who had served as a regional school superintendent in New York City and Philadelphia, took over as Wilmington superintendent in the midst of the school case. His job was to lead the district to a fair and effective metropolitan desegregation solution. He testified that magnet schools and voluntary plans, as a primary remedy, were ineffective and expensive and catered to racial choices. Dr. Minter asserted, "If we are going to ... desegregate, it's [got to be] a two-way process." If children of both races attend desegregated schools located in black as well as white areas, he noted, "then both groups are accepting, both groups are looking out one for the other. ', When the defense lawyers sought to argue that one-way desegregation plans reflected "freedom of choice in a democracy," Minter replied: I don't believe any of us, if I may be philosophical, has complete freedom of choice.... In terms of schools, even when children go to schools within their own districts, they are assigned to schools.... I don't know of anyone who has absolute freedom of choice in the matter of going to public schools. Other suggestions for blacks-only desegregation and even a complete black school closing program were made. Gordon Foster, who had assisted hundreds of school districts to desegregate throughout the South, responded: "[That] would buy several years of politically oriented, racial difficulties with the school operations. . . . In terms of desegregation plans, it is just bad news." Magnet proposals also fell before Foster's experience: "The sudden popularity of 'magnet' programs ... when desegregation is threatened [is] essentially a racist idea. [Their premise is...

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