San Diegans Challenge Perpetual
Court Assignment of Pupils,
Emanating from Carlin v. Board of Education,
To Restore Local Control
According to the Constitution

On July 28, 1998 Groundswell filed a Motion That Court Issue an Order Discharging as of July 1, 1998 the Writ of Mandate. It recited that the Petition in Mandamus by the Board to the Fourth District Court of Appeal to return the termination date January 1, 2000 had been denied on February 9, 1998, but the writ of mandate remained to be discharged.

On August 26, 1998 the Court granted the Motion to Discharge the Writ of Mandate in a manner which did not change the judicial directions as to the Board's integration plan in the Final Order, as is seen from the formal order (filed September 30, 1998):

IT IS ORDERED that the Writ of Mandate issued as of March 10, 1977 is discharged as of July 1, 1998. The Court's August 1996 Order directed the District to continue and to increase its integration programs and goals. Significantly, no party appealed that Order and it remains viable. If future actions warrant involvement, the Court's jurisdiction can be invoked again by a new Writ of Mandate.

The Groundswell parents and their children, with the author as their pro bono counsel, had achieved local control in the sense they and other San Diegans similarly situated were now free of a non-class status in a pending class action. They could now exercise the full range of their civil rights on a level “playing field.” It remained to be seen how the Board would respond to the following modifications in the integration plan they had sought, but which were not granted, in the Final Order:

(E)liminate the use of racial and ethnic considerations in connection with its “classroom balance,” “Voluntary Ethnic Enrollment Program (VEEP),” “Choice” programs, and the establishment of school attendance zones.
 

Carlin v. Board of Education, San Diego Unified School District,
San Diego Superior Court No. 303800 (1967-1998)
San Diego, California
 

Board of Education v. Superior Court, 61 Cal.App.4th 411 (Feb.1998)
[conclusion of Carlin v. Board of Education]
San Diego, California
 

— Handbook: Challenge Five, pages 65 - 74 —