IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                  FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
                               DELTA DIVISION

                  THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff,
                                    vs.
             TUNICA COUNTY SCHOOL; DISTRICT, et al. Defendants,
                       and THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI;
          THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Added Defendants.

                         CIVIL ACTION NO. DC 6718-K
                 __________________________________________

                MEMORANDUM OF THE UNITED STATES IN RESPONSE
               TO DEFENDANTS' MOTION TO TERMINATE SUPERVISION
              OR, ALTERNATIVELY, TO MODIFY DESEGREGATION PLAN;
      AND IN SUPPORT OF THE UNITED STATES' MOTION FOR A DISCOVERY AND
                           NEGOTIATIONS SCHEDULE

     Plaintiff United States files this Memorandum in response to the
     defendants' Motion to Terminate Supervision or, Alternatively, to
     Modify Desegregation Plan (the "Motion" or "Mem. in Support"), and
     in support of the United States' Motion for a Discovery and
     Negotiations Schedule.

                                INTRODUCTION

     Although styled principally as a motion to be declared unitary,
     Defendants Tunica County School District, et al. (the "District")
     have chosen to come before the Court at this moment primarily to
     obtain the Court's approval for the construction of a new
     elementary school to serve unspecified students at a specific
     location, Robinsonville. Indeed, the District candidly admits that
     this case is "back before the Court at this time" because of the
     purportedly "urgent necessity" for a new elementary school, Mem. in
     Support at 2, albeit in Robinsonville, miles from where African
     American students currently attend elementary school. Absent from
     the District's Motion, Memorandum and voluminous attachments,
     however, is any showing that the proposed school in Robinsonville
     is an appropriate location to serve existing African American
     students in Tunica County, who are said to be attending an
     overcrowded school in the Town of Tunica; or that the proposed
     Robinsonville school promises to reduce travel times for existing
     African American students; or that the proposed Robinsonville
     school promises realistically to afford a desegregated education
     for existing African American students. Cf. Green v. County Sch.
     Bd., 391 U.S. 430, 439 (1968) (burden is on District to come
     forward with a plan "that promises realistically to work, and

                    IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
                  FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI
                               DELTA DIVISION

                  THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff,
                                    vs.
             TUNICA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT, et al.,Defendants,
                       and THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI;
          THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, et al., Added Defendants.

                 __________________________________________

                               CONSENT ORDER

     Plaintiff United States of America ("United States") and Defendants
     Tunica County School District, et al. ("District"), having engaged
     in good-faith negotiations, do voluntarily agree to the entry of
     this Consent Order by the Court, to resolve the District's pending
     Motion to Modify Desegregation Plan. After reviewing the terms of
     this Consent Order, the Court concludes that the entry of this
     Consent Order comports with the objectives of the Fourteenth
     Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America and
     applicable federal law, and, if properly implemented, will further
     the orderly desegregation of the Tunica County School District.

     It is, therefore, ORDERED, ADJUDGED and DECREED as follows:

                                 Background

     On September 16, 1999, the District filed a Motion to Terminate
     Supervision, or, Alternatively, to Modify Desegregation Plan, in
     which it sought a declaration of unitary status and termination of
     federal court supervision, or, in the alternative, approval to
     build a new elementary school in Robinsonville ("the Robinsonville
     site") and to modify elementary-school attendance zone lines. The
     Robinsonville site is situated in Section 24, Township 3 South,
     Range 11 West, on land purchased by the District for the express
     purpose of building the school there. The District operates under a
     desegregation plan that was entered by this Court on January 23,
     1970 ("1970 Order"), as modified by consent orders dated May 19,
     1977, August 1, 1986, July 12, 1988, August 27, 1998, and November
     13, 1998.

     On September 24, 1999, the United States filed a Motion for a
     Discovery and Negotiations Schedule and a Memorandum responding to
     the District's Motion, in which the United States argued, among
     other things, that the District had not met its burden of proving
     either that it had achieved unitary status or that its proposed new