The consent decree: tested negative for PHM — the county's decree is South Bend's, and it is still in force

no desegregation decree against Penn-Harris-Madison was found, at any strength. Exact-phrase searches on the district's name with “consent decree,” the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse's school-desegregation listings, and the Northern District of Indiana civil-rights docket as indexed by Justia return no PHM decree. What PHM's federal docket does carry is individual litigation — Grove et al. v. Penn-Harris-Madison (3:2007cv00298), Love v. Penn-Harris-Madison (3:2014cv02039), Reinoehl (1:2023cv00889) — employment and individual-rights cases, none of them a desegregation order, none carrying a decree, a plan, or retained jurisdiction over student assignment. The negative is therefore printed as tested: if a PHM decree exists, it is not in the open court, clearinghouse, or press record reached in November 2026, and its settler is named below.

The decree that is documented in this county belongs to the neighbouring district, and it is told whole because it is the matter the row mistook for PHM's. In United States v. South Bend Community School Corporation, Civil Action No. S 80-35 (also printed 80-0035), Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division, the Department of Justice filed its complaint on February 8, 1980, under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974, and a Consent Order was entered the same day: the corporation neither admitted nor denied discrimination, a student-assignment plan was due September 1, 1980, and the court retained jurisdiction. The board adopted a plan February 26–27, 1981; a renegotiated decree was submitted April 3, 1981 and approved April 17, 1981 — United States v. South Bend Community School Corp., 511 F. Supp. 1352 (N.D. Ind. 1981), affirmed, 692 F.2d 623 (7th Cir. 1982); the Brookins-class intervention appeal followed at 710 F.2d 394 (7th Cir. 1983), and the decree's working life runs through Britton v. SBCSC, 593 F. Supp. 1223 (N.D. Ind. 1984). The plan's core terms: Black enrollment in each school within fifteen percentage points of the district-wide percentage, transportation and closing burdens borne equitably, and faculty affirmative-action reporting. Its later course includes the “Plan Z” redistricting in effect from 2002 and annual reports to the Department of Justice and the court.

Its present state, dated: the decree is still in force in November 2026, and South Bend is described in current reporting as the only Indiana district still under a desegregation consent decree — the Indiana Capital Chronicle of May 15, 2026, quoting Superintendent Mansour Eid in a story headlined by the decree's denial of school choice; the South Bend Tribune of December 2025, reporting a board committee formed to review decree data, with the NAACP's Oletha Jones noting South Bend is now Indiana's only district under one; and a Tribune opinion of September 21, 2026, recording that unitary status has never been achieved or declared. One dating conflict is printed whole, unmerged: the consent order itself is February 8, 1980, while Tribune explanation commonly dates the decree “since 1981” — the year of the plan's approval, not the order's entry. Both datings stand as their sources give them.

PHM's own openly documented discrimination settlement is a different and smaller instrument, and it is printed at its true size so the row is not left empty. In June 2007 Ann Hostetler filed a civil-rights claim alleging racial discrimination in the suspension of her biracial daughter, Kelsey West, after a fight at Penn High School; the Indiana Civil Rights Commission's findings supported the allegation, and the district settled out of court for $30,000, reported April 27, 2010 (Associated Press, via Education Week). A commission-supported claim and a five-figure settlement are not a federal decree, and this section does not inflate them into one. Named gap, with settler: any PHM desegregation decree not indexed in the open record would be settled by the PACER Case Locator and the Northern District of Indiana clerk's civil docket for Penn-Harris-Madison as defendant, checked against the Civil Rights Division's school-desegregation docket list at the Department of Justice. Until that docket is read, the row's honest close is the tested negative above.

Sources:

1. Open-web and docket searches, November 2026: exact-phrase “Penn-Harris-Madison” + “consent decree”; Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse school-desegregation listings; Justia, Northern District of Indiana civil-rights docket (PHM matters returned are individual cases: Grove et al. v. PHM, 3:2007cv00298; Love v. PHM, 3:2014cv02039; Reinoehl, 1:2023cv00889) — no decree returned.
2. U.S. Department of Justice, consent order in United States v. South Bend Community School Corporation, Civil Action No. S 80-35 (N.D. Ind., entered February 8, 1980; plan due September 1, 1980; jurisdiction retained); United States v. South Bend Community School Corp., 511 F. Supp. 1352 (N.D. Ind. 1981), aff'd 692 F.2d 623 (7th Cir. 1982); 710 F.2d 394 (7th Cir. 1983); Britton v. SBCSC, 593 F. Supp. 1223 (N.D. Ind. 1984); Indiana University Civil Rights Heritage Center, Brookins collection finding aid (plan terms; Plan Z, 2002; annual reports).
3. Indiana Capital Chronicle, May 15, 2026 (decree still in force; Indiana's only such district); South Bend Tribune, December 2025 (board committee to review decree data; Oletha Jones) and opinion, September 21, 2026 (unitary status never declared); Tribune explainer dating the decree “since 1981,” printed in conflict with the February 8, 1980 order.
4. Associated Press via Education Week, April 27, 2010 (Hostetler/West claim filed June 2007; Indiana Civil Rights Commission findings; $30,000 out-of-court settlement).