## Facts

- A federal court found unconstitutional, state-imposed segregation in Boston public schools and ordered a citywide, multi-phase desegregation plan that was upheld on appeal.
- South Boston High School was integrated by court order in 1974 and operated under the citywide plan during the 1975–1976 school year.
- Black students and parents sought relief alleging that, despite formal integration, Black students at South Boston High were being denied a peaceful, integrated, nondiscriminatory education.
- After extensive hearings and multiple on-site visits, the district court found plaintiffs’ core allegations supported by the evidence and described conditions as an environment in which Black students were barely receiving an education.
- The district court concluded that school leadership and the Boston School Committee had a record of resisting desegregation and complying only when compelled by explicit court orders.
- Rather than closing the school, the district court placed South Boston High in temporary court receivership to make administrative and operational changes needed for compliance with the desegregation decree.
- The court appointed a senior school official as receiver and later substituted the city superintendent as receiver.
- The court directed the receiver to transfer specified staff (including senior administrators and the football coach) viewed as obstructing implementation, without loss of pay, benefits, or seniority.
- The Boston School Committee took an interlocutory appeal challenging the receivership and the ordered transfers.

## Issues

1. Whether the district court exceeded its equitable authority by placing a public high school under temporary receivership to enforce a school desegregation decree.
2. Whether the district court exceeded its authority by ordering the transfer of specific school personnel, without loss of compensation or seniority, as part of implementing the decree.

## Decision

- The First Circuit affirmed the district court’s orders.
- The court held the temporary receivership was within the district court’s equitable power to secure compliance with the desegregation decree under the circumstances found.
- The court held the ordered transfers, structured to avoid economic penalties, were permissible remedial measures aimed at removing obstacles to compliance.
- The appeal did not resolve how long a receivership may last; it addressed only whether the measures were authorized on the record presented.

## Legal Principles

- Federal courts possess broad equitable authority to fashion and supervise remedies necessary to enforce constitutional school desegregation decrees.
- Where local officials are unwilling or unable to implement a desegregation order in substance, a district court may employ extraordinary supervisory tools, including temporary receivership, to achieve compliance.
- Personnel transfers may be ordered as a remedial implementation measure when reasonably necessary to effectuate a desegregation decree, especially when designed to avoid punitive economic sanctions.
- Appellate review gives weight to a district court’s detailed factual findings and on-the-ground assessments supporting the need for remedial intervention.

## Conclusion

The First Circuit held that, given supported findings of noncompliance with the promised integrated and nondiscriminatory educational environment, the district court acted within its equitable remedial powers by imposing temporary receivership over South Boston High School and ordering nonpunitive transfers of staff to secure implementation of the desegregation decree.


Morgan v. McDonough, 540 F.2d 527 (1st Cir. 1976)