FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    CR
MONDAY, JANUARY 9, 1994                                      (202) 616-2765
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

                                     
        JUSTICE DEPARTMENT RESOLVES FINAL OBSTACLE IN EFFORT TO END
      ALLEGED RACIALLY HOSTILE ATMOSPHERE IN ALABAMA SCHOOL DISTRICT 


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Following last month's comprehensive
agreement to end alleged discriminatory policies, an Alabama school
district today agreed to reassign a high school principal who
allegedly threatened to cancel a prom if an interracial couple
planned to attend and called a bi-racial student a "mistake," the
Justice Department announced today.
     The agreement, filed today in U.S. District Court in
Montgomery, forbids Hulond Humphries, the former principal of
Randolph County High School, from visiting any of the campuses
within the school district during regular school hours until at
least July 1997.  Humphries will be permitted to attend scheduled
functions open to the general public.  Under the agreement,
Humphries will serve as consultant to and be directly supervised by
the Randolph County School Board.       
     "Last month's comprehensive agreement got us over many of the
hurdles that stood in the way of restoring racial co-existence and
harmony within the Randolph County School District," said Assistant
Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick.  "We are not in
the business of managing school districts, but we have a clear
responsibility to ensure that existing barriers to equality of
educational opportunities are eradicated.  Today's agreement
accomplishes that objective."           On December 12, the
Randolph County School District, a group of African American county
residents, and the U.S. Justice Department reached an agreement
requiring the school district to create a nondiscriminatory
disciplinary policy, establish a committee to enforce
nondiscriminatory personnel guidelines, ensure that minority
students are not unfairly steered toward less academically
challenging programs or deterred from certain extra-curricular
activities, and form a bi-racial committee to oversee
implementation of the agreement.  
     The December agreement resolved all points of contention
between the parties except for the disposition of Mr. Humphries.  
Today's agreement averts a hearing that was scheduled for tomorrow
which would have addressed the issue of the principal, who was
temporarily reassigned by the school district last August.    
     The Justice Department became actively involved in the case in
May 1994, after investigating complaints from county residents and
community organizations complaining about the school district's
discriminatory practices.  
     In papers filed with the court at the time, the Justice
Department alleged that the school district violated two existing
court orders by disciplining black students more harshly than
whites and failing to recruit or hire black teachers and staff.
     The Justice Department's action followed reports that
Principal Humphries made discriminatory remarks and told a school
assembly that he would call off the prom if an interracial couple
planned to attend.       
     In May, the Justice Department asked the court to force the
school board to implement a nondiscriminatory hiring procedure,
establish a fair and impartial disciplinary code for students and
explain why the principal should not be reassigned to duties that
did not involving contact with students.
     Last August, Randolph County High School burned down.  Federal
investigators have ruled out every cause but arson and are still
investigating the fire.
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95-016