USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, Civil Action Case #4476- Francine Cole, et al vs. the County School Board of Petersburg County, VA, et al
| Creator | USDC, Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division |
| Description | This action, originally filed in September, 1965, aimed to desegregate the Petersburg School System, “converting its faculty, staff, transportation practices, extracurricular activities, facilities, and pupil placement to a unitary system.” The issue of whether or not the County was required to provide free transportation for all of its students was of particular issue in this case. In December, 1968, the Court approved a School Board plan to desegregate all of its schools and faculties beginning the following school year, September, 1969. By March of that year, it was determined that school system was still not a unitary one and required the defendants, at their own cost, to draw up a new plan. The subsequent June 29, 1971 plan submitted by the defendants was deemed “patently inadequate.” On the hearing date of July 5, 1971, the defendants were ordered to put into effect the plan proposed by the plaintiff’s expert witness for the Fall 1971 term. The instant motion for free transportation was also accepted by the Court contingent upon the proposed modifications of the defendants. The estimated cost if transportation was gauged to be $45.00/yr./student, amounting to a total of $140,000/yr. in transportation for the 3,138 elementary school children residing an excess of one mile from their schools and thus entitled to free transportation. Up until this point, transportation for students has been run by a private corporation charging students $.25/day to ride. An additional cost of roughly $18,000/yr. was estimated for secondary school students as only approximately 400 students qualified. The plaintiff was responsible for bearing the no less than $160,000/yr. additional burden of transportation out of their more than six million dollar/yr. budget for all elementary school students living beyond a mile of the school and secondary students beyond a mile and a half. Additionally, council fees were awarded. |
| Call number | Civil Action Case #4476 |
| Date from | 1965 |
| Date to | 1995 |
| Geographic school | Petersburg County, VA |
| Size | 1 Box |
| Access restrictions yes/no | |
| Access restrictions | |
| Part Of larger collection yes/no | |
| Larger collection title | |
| URL | |
| Repository | NARA Mid-Atlantic Region |
| Repository address | 14700 Townsend Road, Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 |
| Repository contact name | David Weber |
| Repository contact title | Director, Records Management Program |
| Repository contact email | philadelphia.reference@nara.gov |
| Repository contact phone | (215) 305-2000 |
| DoveRegion | (outside of Virginia) |
| Subjects | o Busing for school integration
o Public schools o School children o School integration o Segregation in education o United States. Court of Appeals (4th Circuit) |
| Types | o Correspondence
o Legal documents |