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In late April 2017, multiple web sites reported that the state of Alabama had just returned the U.S. to the racially divisive pre-Brown v. Board of Education era and once again brought upon the country the specter of legally segregated schools: Although U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Haikala ruled that a predominantly white city could form their own school district (despite her finding that their motivations for initiating the process were racially biased), her decision didn't actually bring back segregation. Her ruling only allows the city of Gardendale, Alabama, to separate from the Jefferson County Schools district if over the course of three years they meet requirements laid out by the court, submit a desegregation plan, and appoint at least one African-American board member. On 13 February 2018, a federal appeals court blocked Gardendale from moving forward with its secession, agreeing with Haikala's finding its plan to do so was racially motivated. Gardendale plans to appeal that decision. Federal law prohibits institutional segregation in schools, and Haikala is presiding over a 1971 desegregation order resulting from the Stout vs. Jefferson County Board of Education ruling, which requires federal oversight of all Jefferson County Schools to ensure compliance with that order: On 24 April 2017, Judge Haikala (an appointee of President Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama) ruled that she found racial motives for efforts by residents of the predominantly white city of Gardendale to take over four schools within their municipal boundaries and separate from Jefferson County, a diverse public school district. Residents and newly formed Gardendale school district officials actively recruited students from neighboring Mount Olive, which is also predominantly white, and complained about children from racially mixed or majority African-American communities such as Center Point and North Smithfield being bused into schools in Gardendale: The Gardendale education board wanted to take four schools, Gardendale Elementary, Snow Rogers Elementary, Bragg Middle School and Gardendale High School, which are all predominantly white and would become more so over time, because the Gardendale education board would eventually stop allowing students from outside the newly formed district to attend without paying tuition. The students' families would also be required to find their own transportation if they wanted to attend a Gardendale school. According to court documents, Gardendale High is a state-of-the-art school that was built with Jefferson County tax dollars. Although Gardendale planned to fold the high school into their new system at no cost to itself, Jefferson County would have had to pay $55 million to construct a replacement facility. Haikala's ruling prevents Gardendale from taking the high school without compensating the county or relinquishing the school to the county, under which it would operate with a new name. Haikala's ruling initially provides the new district with only two elementary schools and allows secession from Jefferson County only if conditions overseen by the court are met over the course of three years. She held that although their efforts to secede were motivated by race, the rights of parents who simply wanted greater and more local control of their children's education must be considered, citing concerns that African-American children currently attending school in Gardendale would bear the brunt of resentment from their white peers if they were seen as the cause of a failed separation effort. Judge Haikala had ordered nine conditions be met in order for Gardendale to separate: U.W. Clemon, a retired federal judge who represents African-American plaintiffs in the 52-year-old Stout case filed a motion on 1 May 2017 asking Haikala to reconsider her ruling, arguing that it runs contrary to long-standing efforts bring schools into alignment with the desegregation order. Clemon has also sought an injunction blocking Gardendale from moving forward on the ruling and taking steps to establish a separate school district while the motion is being considered by the court: We reached out to the Department of Justice, but a spokesman there said the department had no comment on the matter.
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