 Until the conclusion of the desegregation case the school district had been proposing to continue operating the two sets of secondary schools with "Freedom of Choice" and magnet programs, although one of its two desegregation programs did advocate merging the middle schools.The U.S. Department of Justice advocated consolidating the schools, arguing that the voluntary programs were not effective and that the black schools were disadvantaged.Part of the resistance against consolidation stemmed from fear that the integrated schools would suffer from white flight if consolidation happened.