meeting, Gloria Tinsley, the black chairperson of the policy council, wrote a letter to the HHS regional office in Atlanta, Georgia, complaining that the board had acted without *203 legal authority and that the Head Start staff was opposed to Carter's return. Tinsley and White later travelled to Atlanta to confer personally with the regional officials. In response to the complaints from White and Tinsley, the HHS regional office informed the board that it had acted improperly and without authority in accepting Carter's withdrawal of her resignation and that Carter's withdrawal of her resignation must first be approved by the executive director and the policy council.
On May 10, the board met again. Tinsley recruited and arranged for black parents to be present. The meeting was so racially chargedand tense that local police had to be present. Many of the black speakers, many of those in the predominantly black crowd, and even signs on the walls accused the white board members of being racist and taunted the black board member who supported Carter for being on the wrong side. White and Tinsley also told the board that they believed that the board's actions were racially motivated; and White further accused Carter of not being able to accept supervision from him because he was black.
In the days and weeks following the May 10 board meeting, the board, White, and Tinsley held firm to their various positions. Some effort was made without success to get the board to rescind its action. Carter wrote Tinsley requesting that her withdrawal