Question

Green v. County school board—brief this case into four sections

1. Facts
2. Issues (the legal question the court took on)
3. Holding
4. Court reasoning

Answer 1

Facts: In New Kent County there were two public schools - one on the west side and one on the east side. Nearly half of the population in county was black, and the families were evenly dispersed throughout the county. But these the two schools were segregated 100 percent between black and white students. U.S. Supreme Court more than a decade prior held in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) that it was unconstitutional to segregated schools but most of the school districts throughout Virginia maintained their operations as segregated in their schools even after the decision of the court.

A group of black students and parents maintained that no appropriate steps were undertaken by the board for school to desegregation as no white child had selected to go the traditionally all black school and nearly 15 percent of the black children attended the white school traditionally. It was asserted that there was availability of good options that would affirmatively cause integration. The decision of the court was reversed and held that the freedom-of-choice plan of the board was unacceptable as a sufficient approach to effectuate a transition to a system of unitary. Moreover, the board was ordered by the court to adopt steps for promptly converting to a system without a segregated school.

Issues: Does the Board's adoption of a plan - "freedom-of-choice" for the respondent School; that permits a pupil to select his own public school, constitutes compliance adequately with the responsibility of Board "in achieving a system of determining admission on a non-racial basis to the public schools”?

Holding: No

Court reasoning: The court concluded that freedom-of-choice plan was not constitutional as it failed to result in a unitary school system which is racially non-discriminatory. It was noted by the court that desegregation was no longer acceptable. The court ordered the board of the school in New Kent county for formulating a revised desegregation plan and to include other efforts, such as zoning