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District of Columbia WASHINGTON, D. C. HE dual school system of the na tion’s Capital went out of existence Sept. 13 as Negro and white child ren entered classes together. One hundred and eleven of the city’s 161 school buildings enrolled boys and girls of both races for the first time. Thirty-seven of the schools had racially mixed faculties. Opening day was much as it had been in past years. There was only the normal confusion that marks va cation’s end and the start of school. “It was the same as ever,” said one officer. “The children were so clean, big-eyed with awe and more sub dued than they’ll ever be again this year.” Following the Supreme Court opin ion last May, the board of education decided that integration in Washing ton would be a one-year, step-by- step process. First, boundaries of former white and Negro schools were redrawn without regard to race so children could attend buildings nearest home. Under the gradual integration pro gram, the new school zones in Sep tember applied only to students new to Washington schools and to young sters who moved from one part of the city to another. In addition, 3,000 Ne gro students were transferred out of overcrowded schools into former white schools which had empty seats. Then more than 250 new teachers were appointed and assigned regard less of race. Some veteran Negro teachers from formerly overcrowded schools were reassigned to instruct integrated classes. Program Speeded Up So successful was this first step that a week after school opened School Supt. Hobert M. Corning announced a major speed-up of the integration calendar. High school students were given the opportunity to decide whether they would remain in the school they now attend or transfer to the school now zoned to serve their neighborhood. Previously, Corning had said this step would not be taken until February. A survey will be made in October to determine when the new bounda ries can be made effective for all ele mentary and junior high school stu dents. The school board has set a deadline of next September for this move. Under the option plan students may elect to stay in their old build ing unless overcrowding results. While integration worked smoothly in the schools, the board of educa tion’s plan did not have the complete support of the community. The Washington chapter of the Na tional Association for the Advance ment of Colored People denounced the plan as “gradualism,” and called for immediate, 100 per cent integra tion. The Federation of Citizens Associ ation, representing 57 groups limited to white members, filed suit in the Federal court two weeks before school opened to block the planned integration. The Federation said that integra tion should wait until the Supreme Court defined the method and timing of the changeover from segregation. The high court in its decree ending se gregation said it would hear rear- Suments on this subject this fall. Injunction Sought Federation attorneys sought a temporary injunction and a restrain ts order to keep the school board and Corning from “taking any further steps” toward school integration. The suit also asked that integration steps ta * en this past spring and summer be set aside. The suit was filed in the "f^e of the Federation and 22 white children and their parents. . hi addition, the suit said the plan ls arbitrary and unreasonable” be cause it would compel a child of one ra ce to attend a school where 80, 90 jT P er cent of the pupils are of a different race. .,1^5 wee k before school opened, T ^ e< f era ti°n asked District Court udge Henry A. Schweinhaut for a ^straining order. Judge Schweinhaut threquest, saying that since e Supreme Court ruled school seg regation unconstitutional he had no authority to halt plans to abandon it. Federation attorney David C. Col- laday said integration plans will work a hardship on some families and the whole thing should wait until the Supreme Court comes up with a “master plan.” He added: “There is no logical reason to take the pill in two parts.” Hardship Inevitable Schweinhaut said there are bound to be some hardships whether inte gration comes this year or next and that the court can’t stop it because it inconveniences some people. The judge said he thought it better for the school board to act now than to “sit on its hands” and wait for the Supreme Court to tell it what to do. During the hearing, Assistant Dis trict Corporation Counsel Milton Korman read a statement of Coming’s which listed the problems a stop or der would cause. Corning told how since June, teachers had been reassigned, furni ture and equipment moved from one school to another and new students enrolled. “In fact,” Corning wrote, “there does not exist today in the District of Columbia a system of segregated schools.” He added “there is no longer a dual school system; there is actually in existence a single, integrated school system . ..” To go back to seg regation now would cause “utter chaos,” Corning said. He wrote that it would mean schools could not open on time, pupils would have to go back to crowded rooms, teachers’ contracts would have to be cancelled with probable resulting law suits and thousands of dollars already spent would be wasted. The Justice Department intervened on the side of the District and filed a brief but never got a chance to speak on it. The Justice brief argued that the Federation request should be turned down “since this complaint is in ef fect a direct attack on the decision of the Supreme Court . . .Clearly, the Supreme Court would not object when a party to the action before it undertakes to accomplish a swift compliance with the court’s decision.” Registration ‘Normal’ By the time Schweinhaut had acted, school principals had registered the first of some 12,000 new students, in cluding 8,000 kindergarteners. School officials termed the first day registration a “quite normal situa tion.” They said they had received no reports of persons seeking admittance to schools which were not in their zones. “Some people got mixed up on street boundaries, but that always happens,” one official said. Because of the gradual nature of District integration, many families found during registration they would have grade school children attending two different schools this semester. For example, one mother tried to enroll her two daughters in one Northwest Washington grade school. She learned that her brand new kin dergartener would be admitted to this former white school while her six-year-old would have to attend first grade at the former Negro school where she was enrolled last year. In all, school headquarters received 300 complaints and requests for pupil transfers. Corning appointed a special bi-racial committee of his public educators to review and rule on these written requests. Pupil hardship and not race is the basis of committee de cisions, Coming said. Most of the complaints, Coming said, were from families whose child ren are split into two buildings. Other requests involved working parents who wanted their children to attend schools near their businesses rather than their homes. A small number of the transfer re quests, Coming said, were based on the reluctance of both white and Ne gro parents to have their children at tend schools in which they would represent a minority race this semes ter. In some cases, one child attends a school where his race is in a major ity while a younger brother goes to a school where he is in a racial minor ity. SUPT. HOBART CORNING Directs District Integration “It’s a tough, often heartbreaking situation,” a top school official said, adding, “but we don’t intend to let race enter the picture at all.” Rigid Rule Adopted Although committee rulings were undisclosed, parents’ wishes were granted only in cases where a child was “severely handicapped” by his new location in school. In most of these instances, the situation involved a child’s physical condition and where distance or lack of a big sister’s guid ing hand might prove hazardous. “You hate to say no to people,” an other school official said, “but where can we draw the line?” He explained that one person might feel that one child in a minority situation is un reasonable. To another a 100 to 50 ra tio appears in the same light and to still others a 50-50 racial classroom split is considered “out of the ques tion.” Give in to one, he said, and all boundaries go out the window. As old pupils through the year be gin to exercise their option to trans fer to new zoned schools, many split brothers and sisters again will be in the same buildings. Before school opened, the city’s new grade school teachers met together. They were welcomed to the school system by Associate Superintendents Carl F. Hansen, who formerly admin istered white grade schools, and Edith Lyons, who headed the Negro ele mentary schools. Staff Assignments On the Friday before schools opened, Corning told his teachers that school integration had made it possible for him for the first time to assign staffs according to the needs of all children. Coming addressed the city’s edu cational employes during a televised “faculty meeting” beamed to the city’s individual school buildings which all have sets. School faculties saw the program from classrooms and audito riums. “Our schools have been organized and are ready to go,” Coming said. “We are ready to begin the education of children,” he added. For the first time, Corning said, teachers have been placed not by race but where their services were needed most and new children were placed in schools according to where they lived. “There will be problems, sure,” Corning said, “but we’ll see this big job through together.” Coming added that teachers always seemed to meet problems and overcome them. When school opened, a uniformed policeman was near every District school. They were assigned there for the first weeks of integration. “No major difficulty is anticipated during the initial stage of school in tegration,” Deputy Police Chief How ard V. Covell said in a directive to his force. It is reasonable to expect some friction, he said, adding “we have no precedent to follow ...” Deputy Chief George R. Wallrodt, in charge of the uniformed police force, said the extra police protection was “routine service” prompted by a new situation. Wallrodt said a survey had been made of places where young people gather around schools, such as SOUTHERN SCHOOL bus stops, small stores and other busi ness establishments. He said men would be on hand at these spots in particular to quell any “little flare-ups of temper.” He added, “I have learned children have a ten dency to get along with each other.” Opening day produced no incidents. “The scene in individual school buildings was wonderful,” said schoolman Hansen. “It made you feel good just to walk in the schools,” Miss Lyons said. Coming viewed the start of inte gration in this fashion: It is very gratifying to all school offi cers, as I’m sure it must be to the com munity, that schools opened on an inte grated plan and with no more difficulty and confusion than has attended the open ing of schools any other year. This office is appreciative of the splen did cooperation of school personnel and the public. Naturally, some individual problems remain to be solved and they will be given careful study and sympa thetic treatment. Corning termed the transition from a dual school system “normal and or derly.” At Raymond School, the principal talked to her new Negro and white pupils. “What kind of school this is going to be will depend on you, the children,” she said, adding, “You can be kind to each other, polite and help ful to each other and make this a happy school.” Raymond, a former white school, had 341 Negro and 152 white pupils. This school received a transferred block of pupils from a nearby over crowded former Negro school. The Raymond faculty included 11 white and 5 Negro teachers. Teachers at Barnard School, an other former white institution, termed their integrated classes “democ racy in action.” They told their youngsters “school is for everyone and an education is free for all.” Bar nard, which also received Negro transfer pupils, had 307 white and 158 Negro children. Most of the classes showed a 75 per cent white racial ratio. Barnard has one Negro and 12 white teachers. At still another former white school, Woodridge, the principal made early plans to integrate the School Boy Patrol. “We’re trying to make every child feel as if he belongs in this school,” she said. Woodridge had 226 white and 147 Negro pupils. There are seven white and two Negro teach ers. Enrollment Figures Elsewhere in the city, former white grade schools reported the enroll ment of only a few Negro children. For example, Janney School, located in a predominantly white community, reported four Negro and 618 white students. The school has 19 white teachers. At Hyde School in George town, an exclusive, restored section of Washington, there was reported two Negro pupils among 166 white. In predominantly Negro neighbor hoods, former Negro schools also re ported the enrollment of a few white children. Perry School reported two white and 336 Negro pupils. Pierce School had one white and 344 Negro students. River Terrace School had four white and 354 Negro pupils. On the junior high level, three for mer white schools received large transfers of Negro students. They were Eastern Junior High, 500; Jef ferson, 200; and Sousa, 140. Early enrollment figures showed Eastern had 244 white students and 436 Negroes. This school’s faculty in cluded 24 white and nine Negro teachers. At Jefferson, there were 339 white and 213 Negro students. Its faculty includes 22 white and five Ne gro teachers. At Sousa, officials re ported 779 white students and 94 Ne groes. Six out of 28 teachers are Ne gro. Due to new enrollees, other former white juniors highs had fewer Negro students. For example, Gordon Jun- or High had one Negro and 752 white students and no Negro teachers. An other, Deal, had one Negro student and 1,392 white. Former Negro junior highs report ed a similar situation. Banneker School had 12 white and 1,210 Negro students. The faculty consists of one white teacher and 60 Negro. Shaw Junior High had two white stu dents, 1,298 Negro students and no white teachers. Only one of the city’s former white high schools received a special trans fer of students. This was McKinley NEWS —Oct. I, 1954—PAGE 5 High which received transferred stu dents from nearby Armstrong Tech nical High. The latter school even tually will merge its entire student body into McKinley which will serve as a city-wide technical institution. McKinley reported 588 white and 346 Negro students. The faculty con sisted of 47 white teachers and four Negroes. Armstrong reported 549 Ne gro and no white students. Other Ratios Given Elsewhere, Eastern High, a former white school, reported 710 white and 10 Negro students. A former Balti more physics teacher was the only Negro instructor appointed to the for mer white high schools. He is as signed to Eastern. At former Negro Cardozo High School, there are two white and 1,861 Negro students. None of the former Negro high schools has white teachers. At Wilson Teachers College (run by the public schools), President Walter E. Hager reported that letters of admission had been out to 128 freshmen, including 98 white persons and 30 Negro. New advanced students total 52 white and 21 Negro. Last year, Wilson admitted white students only and Miner Teachers College was the Negro institution. Both institu tions this year are accepting students regardless of race. Miner, to date, has reported no white students. In the future, the two plants will be merged in a new location. Hager said he expects for the first time since the beginning of the Ko rean War to have his freshmen class meet the quota of 150-160. Wilson ex pects a total registration of more than 425 students this year as compared to October 1953 registration of 350. By mid-October, about 8,500 per sons are expected to have enrolled in the system’s evening school program on an integrated basis. Shortly before school opened, the board of education decided to keep rolls by race this term to inform the public of the effects of school integra tion. This reversal of an earlier stated policy of ending racial reference in records primarily stemmed from the fact that District law requires a ra cial count of students for census pur poses. First week enrollment figures showed a grand total of 99,946 stu dents. Of this number, 59,364 were Negro and 40,582 white. Total faculty was 3,620. Of this number, 1,943 are Negro teachers and 1,677 white. Officials predict the total enroll ment will rise to a record-breaking peak of 106,000 students by middle October. Washington is notorious for its number of late registrants. Negro Ratio Going Up If this predicted increase of ap proximately 2,500 students proves true, officials say the racial ratio of the school child population will be 59 per cent Negro and 41 per cent white. This would be nearly a 2 per cent increase in the total number of Negro students over last year. Translating the early enrollment racial breakdown in still another manner, only 27 of the District’s 121 grade schools were unaffected by the start of integration. Of this number, 16 formerly were in the Negro wing of the school system and 11 were in the white division. Of the city’s 22 junior high schools, all 11 former white buildings had some integrated classes. Eight former Negro schools are unaffected by inte gration. Of the city’s 11 high schools, only one former white school and two for mer Negro schools reported no inte gration. Faculty, as well as student body in tegration, is expected to show a marked rise, school officials say, when enrollments level off, final in dividual school reorganizations have been completed and the results of new high school boundary regula tions tabulated. Corning said extra space in former white high schools was a big factor in allowing him to accelerate his in tegration timetable. The trend of dropping white high school registra tion began several years ago, Com ing said, as families began an exodus to nearby Maryland and Virginia suburbs. A predicted rush of public school students to private schools failed to develop after the start of integration, See DISTRICT on Page 11