Judge Barefoot Sanders is no longer on this side of the mountain, but his words remain.
Dallas ISD intends to violate the agreement it made with a federal court in order to convince a federal judge to end a decades old struggle.
Nothing lasts forever, but agreements do have more meaning in a federal court than at the Dallas ISD horseshoe where deceit sometimes prevails.
It appears Dallas ISD is about to commit fraud upon the federal court that released it in 2003 - but only on the condition that it fulfill the agreement made with the court.
Lawyers for DISD have now told them they can violate this agreement with disdain - that the agreement automatically expired after three years - that the required 7-vote majority can be ignored. Superintendent Hinojosa is now actively spreading this information.
There is a big problem here - the district made a written agreement with a federal court. Violating this agreement might be a bit more serious than people who want to destroy these programs want to know.
The Declaration of Commitments and Covenants shall be subject to a "review" after three years. Dallas ISD has never conducted this review. This has been a continuing avoidance. The agreement has also remained as a fully active Dallas ISD policy (AE Local). Only now do we hear the new self-serving and false claim that the Commitments and Covenants mysteriously expired.
Fraud Upon the Court
Right in his court judgment, Judge Barefoot Sanders stated he would be "gravely concerned" if Dallas ISD violated these Commitments and Covenants. Judge Sanders also noted Rule 60 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure which states in subsection (d) - Other Powers to Grant Relief:
Rule 60(d)
This rule does not limit a court's power to:
(1) entertain an independent action to relieve a party from a judgment, order, or proceeding;
(3) set aside a judgment for fraud on the court.
In other other words, it appears Judge Sanders was putting Dallas ISD on notice that violating the Declaration of Commitments and Covenants might land the District back in a federal court.
What Dallas ISD is about to do appears to be fraud upon the federal court that released it from supervision in 2003.
We have seen this before with the Trustee term extensions. Certain lawyers tell certain Board members and Superintendent Hinojosa what they hope to hear.
This is a destructive agenda that is not progressive at all. It is an agenda grounded in the most extreme self-serving notions.
An effort might have to be made to re-open the desegregation case or an independent lawsuit filed to seek a federal court review of the actions now being taken to destroy all special programs that grew out of the desegregation lawsuit and the violation of the Declaration of Commitments and Covenants upon release from court supervision.
It is doubtful that Judge Barefoot Sanders would have released Dallas ISD from court supervision if he had thought that a Board and Superintendent would deceitfully ignore the written Commitments and Covenants made on behalf of Dallas ISD and later seek to destroy every special school and program that they agreed to continue.
That is not what Superintendent Mike Moses and the Board represented to the Court.
Superintendent Mike Moses said:
"In November of 2002, the district's Board of Trustees adopted a list of commitments that would be followed if the court were to release supervision from the desegregation order. The Superintendent said the district will continue to meet the terms of those commitments. We are humbled, honored and ready to keep our commitments."
It would not be surprising if concerned stakeholders seek a new federal court to review this matter of violating the Declaration of Commitments and Covenants after the Board and Superintendent complete their agenda to willfully destroy as many magnets, vanguards, learning centers, etc., as possible.
That might very well be "fraud upon the Court."
