78

93-1823-DISSENT

MISSOURI v. JENKINS 3

Brown, neither the State nor the KCMSD moved to
dismantle this system of separate educaation "root and
branch," id., at 1505, despite their affirmative obligation
to do that under the Constitution. Green v. School Bd.
of New Kent County, 391 U. S. 430, 437-438 (1968).
"Instead, the (KCMSD) chose to operate some completely
segregated schools and some integrated ones," Jenkins,
593 F. Supp., at 1492, using devices like optional
attendance zones and liberal transfer politices to "allo(w)
attendance patterns to continue on a segregated basis."
Id., at 1494. Consequently, on the 20th anniversary of
Brown in 1974, 39 of the 77 schools in the KCMSD had
student bodies that were more than 90 percent black,
and 80 percent of all black schoolchildren in the KCMSD
attended those schools. Id., at 1492-1493. Ten years
later, in the 1983-1984 school year, 24 schools remained
racially isolated with more than 90 percent black
enrollment. Id., at 1493. Because the State and the
KCMSD intentionally created this segregated system of
education, and subsequently failed to correct it, the
District Court concluded that the State and the district
had "defaulted in their obligation to uphold the Constitu-
tion." Id., at 1505.

Neither the State nor the KCMSD appealed this
finding of liability, after which the District Court
entered a series of remedial orders aimed at eliminating
the vestiges of segregation. Since the District Court
found that segregation had caused, among other things,
"a system wide reduction in student achievement in the
schools of the KCMSD," Jenkins v. Missouri, 639
F. Supp. 19, 24 (WD Mo. 1985) (emphasis in original),
it ordered the adoption, starting in 1985, of a series of
remedial programs to raise educational performance. As

[Footnotes]
Missouri, 731. F. 2d 1294, 1305-1306 (CA8 1984) (case citations and
footnote omitted).