The Eleventh Circuit revisited a school-desegregation order that had governed Jefferson County, Alabama, since 1971. Residents of the predominantly white community of Gardendale sought to create a separate municipal school system, and the district court denied the Gardendale Board’s request to secede while addressing the continuing remedial obligations imposed by the desegregation decree. The court held that local autonomy must yield while the constitutional violation underlying the decree remained unremedied. A new municipal district could not proceed if its formation would impede Jefferson County’s desegregation efforts, although the judiciary could not prohibit secession forever if Gardendale later produced a permissible plan. The decision applied the governing precedent on splinter school districts and preserved the district court’s authority to supervise the remedial process. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded with instructions to deny the Gardendale Board’s motion to secede.