Freeman v. Pitts
1992
"Federal Courts have the authority to relinquish control of a school district in incremental stages, before compliance has been achieved in every area of school operations." -- Justice Kennedy
In 1969, the DeKalb County School System in Georgia received a consent order to desegregate its schools. In 1986, the School System petitioned a federal trial court to become officially unitary and to remove itself from being under judicial oversight. The federal trial court said the DeKalb School System met four of the six Green factors, but still would not qualify for unitary status in (1) faculty assignments and (2) allocations of resources. Thus, the Court mandated more relief in these two areas, and the Court released control in the other four. The Eleventh Circuit reversed the trial court's decision, saying that the trial court must retain control over all areas of the school system until achievement of unitary status in all six Green factors.
The Supreme Court reversed the Circuit. Justice Kennedy delivered the decision, saying that the a Federal Court can release control of a school district step by step. The Court also recommended the following three criteria in determining whether a court had appropriate authority over a school district:
(1) "whether school officials provided full compliance in the areas to be drawn from court supervision."
(2) "whether retaining control of some areas was necessary to achieve compliance in other areas not considered unitary"
(3) whether school officials demonstrated good faith to the whole plan"
SOURCE
Freeman v. Pitts. (2010-2011). Education Law. Retrieved on December 5, 2012 from http://lawhighereducation.com/301-freeman-v-pitts.html.