Topeka's Secret

Another discrimination suit

Unwelcome fame came to the Topeka, Kans., school board 25 years ago as the defendant in Brown vs. Board of Education, the landmark Supreme Court case that outlawed segregated public schools. Now, less than a month before the silver anniversary of that decision, Topekans have learned that their school board has quietly paid $19,500 to settle a discrimination suit brought by a ninth-grade student, Evelyn Johnson, 16.

Topeka's blacks, 16% of a 17,000 total student population, are concentrated in schools on the eastern side of the city. Topeka has no mandatory busing for school integration; students are allowed to attend any school they choose. But in 1973 Evelyn Johnson sued for $20,000 in damages, claiming that the Brown decision had never been put into practice in Topeka and that she was receiving an inferior education. Blacks maintain that the Topeka system permits whites to flee second-rate schools in the inner city, leaving behind lower-income nonwhites who cannot afford to travel long distances to classes.

The board denied any wrongdoing. It insisted that a steady effort had been made since 1954 to change the school-district boundaries and close rundown, largely black schools. Moreover, the board maintained, Johnson was receiving a quality education. But after years of wrangling, the board's guarantors, Insurance Co. of North America, last December offered a settlement to Johnson. Explains I.N.A. Attorney Eugene Ralston: "The basic reason for settling was the enormous expense involved in the litigation. An in ordinate amount of time would have been involved in trying the case, and an appeal would have been likely." To avoid encouraging other such suits, I.N.A. requested that records of the case be sealed in secrecy, and U.S. District Judge George Templar agreed. But after the Kansas City Star broke the news of the settlement, Templar admitted that he had "stubbed his toe" by approving the secrecy agreement and unsealed the records.

Although school-officials believe that the dispute is settled, Johnson's attorney, Fred Phelps, warns that he is "probably going to file a class action suit" seeking damages for all of Topeka's black students as victims of racial discrimination. Says Phelps: "There's not going to be any want of available clients." If such a suit is brought, one thing seems certain. No attempt will be made to keep the outcome secret.

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