Fairfield City Schools

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Fairfield City Schools is a public school system administered by the Fairfield Board of Education to serve the City of Fairfield. Its offices are located at 6405 Avenue D Fairfield.

Desegregation

In 1965 attorneys Orzell Billingsley and Demetrius Newton filed Boykins et al v. Fairfield Board of Education on behalf of a group of Black families seeking an order to desegregate the city's schools. At the time the system served a total of 3,938 students, of which 2,159 were Black.

In July the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to join the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs. District Court Judge H. H. Grooms ruled in August that the system must submit a desegregation plan to his court. Board attorney Maurice Bishop submitted a plan as ordered, noting that "the defendants do not consent or agree to said plan," and elaborating scheme whereby parents should enroll their children in schools previously serving their race, and then submit an application to transfer to another school if desired, which would be "processed and determined by the Board pursuant to its regulations as far as is practicable...without discrimination as to race or color." The plaintiffs and the United States argued that the plan was insufficient and unfairly transferred the burden of removing segregation from the board to individual parents. Grooms agreed and ordered the defendants to amend their plan. The revision, which was substantially similar to desegregation plans already approved for Jefferson County, Birmingham and Bessemer, made allowances to make it easier to apply for transfers and to promise prompt placements. The plaintiffs objected to the amended plan, but their objections were overruled and Grooms ordered the board to proceed accordingly.

The plaintiffs appealed that decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The appeals court overruled Grooms decision in January 1970 and ordered the defendants to submit a plan to the District Court which reflected U.S. law, and reflected recommendations made by the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

By that time, the board, which had just renamed Fairfield Industrial High School for its principal, E. J. Oliver, decided to close the school after the 1968 school year and combine it with the formerly all-white high school. In March 1971 the vacant former school burned to the ground.

Later developments

In 1988 then-Mayor of Fairfield Larry Langford used newly-granted authority to push through a 1% sales tax increase to bail out the system's debts.

In 2013 the system embarked on a 5-year capital improvement plan funded with the city's share of a 1% sales tax that Langford, then Jefferson County Commission president, had passed in 2005. Projects included a $10.7 million addition to Fairfield Preparatory High School and $2 million in renovations to C. J. Donald Elemenrary School and Glen Oaks Elementary School. Robinson Elementary School was slated for repairs to its outside canopies, and the system purchased 8 new school busses, and 240 Apple iPads for teachers, along with Wi-Fi networks in each school.

The present configuration of the city schools by grade level was adopted in 2022. In September 2023 the school district was awarded a 5-year $15 million grant to operate Head Start and Early Head Start programs in Fairfield, Bessemer, Birmingham, Brighton and Midfield.

In 2023 the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts completed an audit of the system and identified six "major issues" with the board's oversight of employee certifications.

Superintendents

Schools

former schools

References

External link

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