Hugo Black Courthouse

The Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham is pictured in 2010. (File photo)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- In a court hearing on Friday that ultimately grew quite tense, the federal judge overseeing the Huntsville school district's desegregation case ordered that test scores and transfer data for the city's students be made part of the public case file.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala granted part of a motion filed by Huntsville's attorneys, but denied it in part. She granted the request to file majority-to-minority transfer information at this time, but denied the district's request to file that information under seal.

"Once the student information, the identifiable information, is redacted, you can file those in the record," Haikala said.

The district had initially argued in the case that students' AP test scores and information about majority-to-minority transfers should be filed under seal because the documents contained student information that could possibly identify them.

Haikala said Friday, however, that the identifying information could be easily redacted. On the majority-to-minority transfers, the only identifying information was students' names and addresses. On the AP test scores, that information involved students' dates of birth and grade levels.

U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala (File photo)

Those details could potentially identify students at Butler, for example, where in 2013, just 27 students took AP exams.

Brooks said it would take just a few days for a paralegal to redact identifying information. Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice, the plaintiff in the desegregation case, said they had no preference how the data was entered into the record, as long as the documents complied with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

Laurie McCaulley (File photo)

Things in court grew tense as Haikala talked about a "citizens' workshop" that board member Laurie McCaulley has planned for Monday night at Butler High School. McCaulley earlier this week told AL.com that she had decided to host the event to help establish a "template" of the community's wishes for Superintendent Casey Wardynski to refer to during desegregation negotiations with the Justice Department.

In a scathing 107-page opinion she issued June 30, Haikala criticized the school board for a lack of communication with the public about its plans for redrawing school zone lines.

"These sorts of conversations at this juncture could cause problems down the line," Haikala said.

Board attorney J.R. Brooks told Haikala that he'd expressed to McCaulley the need to steer clear of making any commitments during the workshop. He also described the event as an information-gathering event for one board member.

McCaulley has said, however, that at least one other board member, Mike Culbreath, planned to attend.

Haikala expressed concerns that something McCaulley or another board member tells the public now could come back to haunt the district during mediation. She quoted the AL.com story, specifically McCaulley's statement about the public's suggestions being used to create a template.

"The suggestion that a board member would establish a template for mediation is problematic," Haikala said.

The judge went on to say that, in her June 30 opinion, she "took no pleasure" in pointing out inconsistencies between statements that district officials made, either in public or in court, and the official record of events.

"I don't want to have to keep engaging in those exercises," Haikala said. "The board has got to stop engaging in conversations that will hamper the court's efforts in this case."

Brooks seemed to take Haikala's comments personally.

"I've been in practice since 1971, and I've never been accused of hampering the court's work," Brooks said solemnly. "I respectfully say to the court that it is unfair to characterize our actions as hampering the court."

"The court's frustration is that I have not, in any way, tried to limit the ability of the community to be heard," Haikala responded. "In no way am I trying to limit the ability of the public to speak its views."

The judge said that the "characterization" that the board or any member would bring a template for unitary status to the table was not fair to the court.

"That isn't a characterization that is fair to the court because Judge Ott is going to create that template," Haikala said.

McCaulley, when contacted immediately after the hearing, said she would reconsider holding Monday's meeting in light of the judge's comments.

"It is not my intention to offend the judge," McCaulley said in an email response. "My intention was to present the opportunity for citizen engagement in a fashion that was meaningful and transparent."

She said she would determine whether to cancel the workshop after talking to Brooks.

Other noteworthy moments in court included:

Haikala asked that the school district extend its window for parents to request majority-to-minority transfers for the 2014-2015 school year. The district this past spring changed its policy of allowing transfer requests year-round and instituted a month-long window during which applications could be filed.

Parents were given from May 7 to May 31 to apply for the transfers, which are granted to students wishing to leave a school in which they are part of the racial majority and attend one where they are part of the minority.

The transfers are allowed under the district's 1970 desegregation order that ended the city's dual school systems based on race.

Haikala said the short notice after the change in timeframe – along with changing the formerly paper-based application process to an online one – was inadequate and could have caused confusion among parents.

Brooks told the judge that he did not have the authority to agree to her request, but that he thinks Wardynski and the board would be willing to comply.

"I would say that I think that's something we can do," Brooks said.

Maree Sneed, a Washington lawyer and desegregation specialist working with the district, said she would be in Huntsville on Tuesday and that Haikala could schedule a conference call to discuss the issue with Sneed and Wardynski at that time.

The Justice Department's lawyers said they had no objection to the extension, but pointed out that they had not been told about the changes to the district's M-to-M transfer policy.

Haikala introduced lawyers for the school district and the Justice Department to Chief Magistrate Judge John Ott, who attended the hearing and met briefly with the attorneys afterward. Ott is the mediator that Haikala appointed on June 30 to help lead both sides of the desegregation case through the mediation process.

Haikala ordered the two sides into mediation over their disagreement on how the schools' zone lines should be reconfigured. Each side has presented a student assignment plan to the court, but Haikala rejected both plans.

Haikala described Ott as the "premier mediator in the Northern District (of Alabama)." She said he has worked extensively with municipalities in the past and is well versed in handling mediations affecting them.

Haikala and the lawyers also discussed her desire to appoint a special master to help the court during the desegregation case. Special masters are representatives of the court appointed to hear a case involving difficult or specialized issues and to make recommendations to a judge.

"The special master would assist the court in gathering information about the (district's) programs" and about when racial inequities in the curriculum arose, Haikala said.

The special master would also be available to help Ott during the mediation process.

The judge said she is coming up with a list of possible candidates for the role. Both sides' attorneys said they, too, are coming up with names.

Haikala said those names can all be discussed in Tuesday's conference call.

She also assured both sides that the court, and not the special master, will do all fact-finding in the case.

"Under the circumstances of this case, we feel it's appropriate that the court do all the fact-finding," Haikala said.

Haikala has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Alabama to get involved in the case by inviting members of the office to Friday's hearing. She explained that there will likely be times that Ott will need their advice during the mediation process.

Robert Posey, the office's first assistant U.S. Attorney, told Haikala that there are some areas of civil rights litigation in which his office might have jurisdiction instead of the Justice Department. Desegregation is not one of those areas, and anyone from his office would have to play "catch-up" if assigned to a large role in the case, he said.

"Our best role in this would be as an informal consultant," Posey said.