established to help with the process of staff desegregation, (3) the assignment of a significant portion of the staff on a desegregated basis to those schools in which the student body is desegregated, (4) the reassignment of the staff of schools being closed to other schools in the system where their race is a minority, or (5) an alternative pattern of assignment which will make comparable progress in bringing about staff desegregation successfully.

§ 181.14 Services, facilities, activities, and programs.

(a) General. Each school system is responsible for removing any segregation and any other form of discrimination affecting students in connection with all services, facilities, activities and programs (including transportation, athletics, and other extra-curricular activities) that may be conducted or sponsored by or affiliated with the schools of the system.

(b) Specific situations. (1) A student attending school for the first time on a desegregated basis may not be subject to any disqualification or waiting period for participation in activities and programs, including athletics, which might otherwise apply because he is a transfer student.

(2) If transportation services are furnished, sponsored or utilized by a school system, dual or segregated transportation systems and any other form of discrimination must be eliminated. Routing and scheduling of transportation must be planned on the basis of such factors as economy and efficiency, and may not operate to impede desegregation. Routes and schedules must be changed to the extent necessary to comply with this provision.

(3) All school-related use of athletic fields, meeting rooms, and all other school-related services, facilities, activities, and programs, such as commencement exercises and parent-teacher meetings, which are open to persons other than enrolled students, must be open to all such persons and must be conducted without segregation or any other form of discrimination.

(4) All special educational programs, such as pre-school, summer school and adult education, and any educational program newly instituted, must be conducted without segregation or any other form of discrimination. Free choice de

segregation procedures normally may not be applied to such programs.

§ 181.15 Unequal educational programs and facilities.

In addition to the changes made in student assignment practices under its desegregation plan, each school system is responsible for removing all other forms of discrimination on the ground of race, color, or national origin. For example, some school systems still maintain small, inadequate schools that were originally established for students of a particular race and are still used primarily or exclusively for the education of students of such race. If the facilities, teaching materials, or educational program available to students in such a school are inferior to those generally available in the schools of the system, the school authorities will normally be required immediately to assign such students to other schools in order to discontinue the use of the inferior school. § 181.16 Attendance outside school sys tem of residence.

No arrangement may be made nor permission granted for students residing in one school system to attend school in another school system in any case (a) where the result would tend to limit desegregation or maintain what is essentially a dual school structure in either system, or (b) where such attendance is not available to all students without regard to race, color, or national origin. § 181.17 Official support for desegregation plan.

(a) Community support. School offcials must take steps to encourage community support and acceptance of their desegregation plan. They are responsible for preparing students, teachers and all other personnel, and the community in general, for the successful desegregation of the school system.

(b) Information to the public. Full information concerning the desegregation plan must be furnished freely to the public and to all television and radio stations and all newspapers serving the community. Copies of all reports on student and staff assignments required under § 181.18 must be available for public inspection at the office of the Superintendent of the school system.

(c) Protection of persons affected. Each school system is responsible for the

(a) Anticipated enrollment. By April 15 of each year, or by 15 days after the close of the spring choice period in the case of plans based on free choice of schools, each school system must report to the Commissioner the anticipated student enrollment, by race, color, or national origin, and by grade of each school, for the following school year. The report submitted for the 1966-67 school year must also include the comparable data for the 1965-66 school year. Any subsequent substantial change in anticipated enrollment affecting desegregation must be reported promptly to the Commissioner.

(b) Planned staff assignments. By April 15 of each year, each school system must report to the Commissioner the planned assignments of professional staff to each school for the following year, by race, color, or national origin and by grade, or where appropriate, by subject taught or position held. The report for April 15, 1966, must also include the comparable data for the 1965-66 school year. Any subsequent change in planned staff assignments affecting staff desegregation must be reported promptly to the Commissioner.

(c) Actual data. As soon as possible after the opening of its schools in the fall, but in any case within 30 days thereafter, each school system must determine and promptly report to the Commissioner the actual data for the items covered in the reports called for under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.

(d) Attendance outside system of residence. The reports called for under paragraphs (a) and (c) of this section must include a statement covering (1) all students who reside within the boundaries of the school system but attend school in another system, and (2) all students who reside outside but attend

A voluntary desegregation plan based in whole or in part on geographic attendance zones must meet the requirements of this subpart for all students whose assignment to schools is determined by such zones. The general requirement for desegregation plans set forth elsewhere in this Statement of Policies are also applicable.

§ 181.32 Attendance zones.

A single system of non-racial attendance zones must be established. A school system may not use zone boundaries or feeder patterns designed to perpetuate or promote segregation, or to limit desegregation or maintain what is essentially a dual school structure. A school system planning (a) to desegregate certain grades by means of geographic attendance zones and other grades by means of free choice of schools, or (b) to include more than one school of the same level in one or more attendance

zones and to offer free choice of all schools within such zones, must show that such an arrangement will most expeditiously eliminate segregation and all other forms of discrimination. In any such case, the procedures followed for the offer, exercise and administration of free choice of schools must conform to the provisions of Subpart D of this part. § 181.33 Assignment to school in zone of residence.

Regardless of any previous attendance at another school, each student must be assigned to the school serving his zone of residence, and may be transferred to another school only in those cases which meet the following requirements:

(a) Transfer for special needs. A student who requires a course of study not offered at the school serving his zone, or who is physically handicapped, may be permitted, upon his written application, to transfer to another school which is designed to fit, or offers courses for, his special needs.

(b) Minority transfer policy. A school system may (1) permit any student to transfer from a school where students of his race are a majority to any other school, within the system, where students of his race are a minority, or (2) assign students on such basis.

(c) Special plan provisions. A student who specifically qualifies to attend another school pursuant to the provisions of a desegregation plan accepted by the Commissioner may be permitted, upon his written application, to transfer to such other school.

(a) Individual notice. On a convenient date between March 1 and April 30 in each year, each school system must distribute, by first class mail, a letter to the parent, or other adult person acting as parent, of each student who is then enrolled, except high school seniors expected to graduate, giving the name and location of the school to which the stuIdent has been assigned for the coming school year pursuant to the desegregation plan, and information concerning the bus service between his school and his neighborhood. All these letters must be mailed on the same day. Each letter must be accompanied by a notice, in a form prescribed by the Commissioner, explaining the desegregation plan (Attachment 2). The same letter and notice must also be furnished, in person or

by mail, to the parent of each prospective student, including each student planning to enter the first grade or kindergarten, as soon as the school system learns that he plans to enroll.

(b) Published notice. The school system must arrange for the conspicuous publication of an announcement, identical with the text of the notice provided for under paragraph (a) of this section. in the newspaper most generally circulated in the community, on or shortly before the date of mailing under paragraph (a) of this section. Publication as a legal notice is not sufficient. Whenever any revision of attendance zones is proposed, the school system must similarly arrange for the conspicuous publication of an announcement at least 30 days before any change is to become effective, naming each school to be affected and describing the proposed new zones. Copies of all material published hereunder must also be given at that time to all television and radio stations serving the community.

(c) Maps available to public. A street or road map showing the boundaries of, and the school serving, each attendance zone must be freely available for public inspection at the office of the Superintendent. Each school in the system must have freely available for public inspection a map showing the boundaries of its attendance area.

(a) Attendance zones. The report submitted under § 181.18(a) by April 15 of each year must be accompanied by a map, which must show the name and location of each school facility planned to be used during the coming school year, the attendance zones for each school in effect during the current school year, and any changes in the attendance zones planned for the coming school year. The map need not be of professional quality. A clipping of each newspaper announcement and any map published under § 181.34 (b) or (c) must be sent to the Commissioner within 3 days after publication and, in the case of proposed revisions, must be accompanied by data showing the estimated change in attendance, by race, color, or national origin and by grade, and in the racial composition of the professional staff, at each school to be affected,

(b) Attendance outside zone of residence. Whenever a student is permitted

to attend a school other than that serving his zone of residence, and whenever a request for such attendance is denied, the school system must retain records showing (1) the school and grade applied for, (2) the zone of the student's residence and his grade therein, (3) the race, color, or national origin of the student, (4) the reason stated for the request, and (5) the reason the request is granted or denied. Whenever the total number of transfers permitted from any school exceeds 2 percent of the student enrollment at that school, the relevant facts must be reported promptly to the Commissioner.

Subpart D-Additional Requirements for Voluntary Desegregation Plans Based on Free Choice of Schools § 181.41

General.

A voluntary desegregation plan based in whole or in part on free choice of schools must meet the requirements of this subpart for all students whose assignment to schools is determined by free choice. The general requirements for desegregation plans set forth elsewhere in this Statement of Policies are also applicable.

§ 181.42 Who may exercise choice.

A choice of schools may be exercised by a parent or other adult person serving as the student's parent. A student may exercise his own choice if he (a) is exercising a choice for the ninth or a higher grade, or (b) has reached the age of fifteen at the time of the exercise of choice. Such a choice by a student is controlling unless a different choice is exercised for him by his parent, or other adult person acting as his parent, during the period in which the student exercises his choice. Each reference in this subpart to a student exercising a choice means the exercise of the choice by a parent or such other adult, or by the student himself, as may be appropriate under this provision.

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mence no earlier than March 1 and to end no later than April 30, preceding the school year for which choice is to be exercised. The Commissioner may require an additional period or different dates for a particular school system. No preference in school assignment may be given on the basis of an early exercise of choice during the choice period. § 181.45 Failure to exercise choice.

A failure to exercise a choice within the choice period does not excuse a student from exercising his choice, which may be done at any time before he commences school for the year with respect to which the choice applies. However, any such late choice must be subordinated to the choices of students who exercised choice during the choice period. If by a week after school opens there is any student who has not yet exercised his choice of school, he must be assigned to the school nearest his home where space is available. Standards for determining available space must be applied uniformly throughout the system.

§ 181.46 Letters to parents, notices, and choice forms.

(a) Mailings. On the first day of the choice period, each school system must distribute, by first class mail, a letter, an explanatory notice, and a choice form to the parent or other adult person acting as parent of each student who is then enrolled, except high school seniors expected to graduate, together with a return envelope addressed to the superintendent. The texts for the letter, notice, and choice form to be used must be in a form prescribed by the Commissioner (Attachments 3 to 6).

(b) Extra copies. Extra copies of the letter, the notice, and the choice form must be freely available to parents, students, prospective students, and the general public, at each school in the system and at the office of the Superintendent.

(c) Content of choice form. Unless otherwise authorized or required by the Commissioner, each choice form, as prepared by the school system for distribution, (1) must set forth the name and location of, and the grades offered at, each school, and (2) may inquire of the person exercising the choice only the name, address, and age of the student, the school and grade currently or most recently attended by the student, the

school chosen, the signature of one parent or other adult person serving as parent or, where appropriate under § 181.42, the signature of the student, and the identity of the person signing. If necessary to provide information required by §§ 181.18 and 181.19, or for other reports required by the Commissioner, the choice form may also ask the race, color, or national origin of the student. No statement of reasons for a particular choice, or any other information, or any witness or other authentication, may be required or requested. No other choice form, including any pupil placement law form may be used by the school system in connection with the choice of a school.

(d) Return of choice form. At the option of the person completing the choice form, it may be returned by mail or by hand to any school in the school system or to the office of the Superintendent.

(e) Choices not on official form. Exercise of choice may also be made by the submission in like manner of any other writing which sufficiently identifies the student and indicates that he has made a choice of a school.

Each prospective student, including each student planning to enter the first grade or kindergarten, must be required to exercise a free choice of schools before enrollment. Each such student must be furnished a copy of the prescribed letter, notice, and choice form, by mail or in person, on the date the choice period opens or as soon thereafter as the school system learns that he plans to enroll. Each must be given an opportunity to exercise his choice during the choice period. A prospective student exercising his choice after the choice period must be given at least one week to do so.

§ 181.48 Choice may not be changed.

Once a choice has been submitted, it may not be changed for the school year to which it applies, whether during the choice period, after the choice period, or during that school year, except on request (a) in cases meeting the conditions set forth in § 181.50, (b) in case of a change of residence to a place where another school serving the student's grade level is closer than the school to which he is assigned under these provisions, and (c) in case of a compelling hardship. A student who cannot enter

the school of his choice because the grade he is to enter is not offered at that school must be promptly notified as soon as this is known and must be given the same opportunity to choose another school as is provided a prospective student under § 181.47.

§ 181.49 Assignment according to choice.

No choice may be denied in assigning students to schools for any reason other than overcrowding. In cases where overcrowding would result at one or more schools from the choices made, preference must be given on the basis of the proximity of schools to the homes of students, without regard to race, color, or national origin. No preference may be given to students for prior attendance at a school if such preference would deny other students their free choice of schools under the plan. In cases where this provision would result in unusual difficulty involving, for instance, students not being able to finish their senior year in a particular school, or students being unable to attend school with other members of the same family, or at a school having special courses required by a student, the relevant facts may be brought to the attention of the Commissioner for consideration of alternative procedures. Any student whose choice is denied under these provisions must be notified in writing promptly and given his choice of each school in the system serving his grade level where space is available. Standards for determining overcrowding and available space that are applied uniformly throughout the system must be used if any choice is to be denied. Each student and his parent, or other adult person acting as parent, must be notified in writing of the name and location of the school to which the student is assigned hereunder promptly upon completion of processing his first or any second choice. A school system may, at its option, give preference to any student whose choice is for a school at which students of his race are a minority.

§ 181.50 Transfers for special needs.

Each student must attend the school to which he is assigned under the foregoing provisions, except that any student who requires a course of study not offered at that school, or who is physically handicapped, may be permitted, upon his written application, to transfer to another school which is designed to fit, or offers courses for, his special needs.