Bradley – A Brief Summary
In 1964, the Plaintiffs filed a
federal court class action against the Pinellas County School Board in order to
desegregate the public schools of the county. This case, known as Bradley,
et al. v. Pinellas County School Board, et al., or just Bradley,
was litigated for many years as the District moved toward racial integration of
its schools. The court looked at several issues that impacted what is known as
“Unitary Status” of school districts, meaning that a school district was
operating a racially unitary, as opposed to a dual, system of public education.
These issues are known as the “Green Factors,” named after a U.S. Supreme Court
case. In addition to the Green Factors, the parties agreed to discuss other
issues known as “Quality of Education” issues, including student achievement and
student discipline.
In the late 1990’s and into the year 2000, the
parties came to agreement on all issues and agreed that the District had
achieved Unitary Status. On August 16, 2000, the court approved all of the
agreements that the parties signed. The court also dismissed the lawsuit and
withdrew federal supervision of the District, subject only to the possible need
to revisit the case in order to enforce the parties’ settlement agreements. The
August 16, 2000, court order incorporated the prior agreements and court orders
dated August 30, 1999, December 17, 1999, and June 28, 2000. Thus, these latter
three documents are part of the August 16, 2000, court order.
One of the
provisions of the final court order was that the Plaintiffs could write to the
School Board and claim that it is not living up to its obligations in the
settlement agreements. If this was done, then the parties would meet informally
or more formally in mediation in an attempt to resolve the dispute. If no
resolution could be reached, then additional levels of review would apply. This
process is known as Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”). In 2006, the
Plaintiffs invoked the ADR process and the parties met informally and in
mediation periodically from that time through early 2013, when the ADR
process concluded. These meetings have resulted in a series of Memoranda of
Understanding (“MOU’s") in certain Green Factor and Quality of Education areas.
These MOU’s do not expand the Board’s obligations under the settlement
agreements and court orders, but rather describe in more detail what
it will do to implement its obligations in these areas. The five MOU’s
are available for review via the link to the right. 
