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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—Feb. 3. I9SS—PAOE 13
Oak Ridge
Continued from Page 12
11 1955, the integration issue at Oak
Ridge remained relatively quiet.
A UNIQUE CITY
In many respects Oak Ridge is
unique. Geographically, it is a south
ern community, situated in Ander
son and Roane counties in Eastern
Tennessee. But its similarities to
other southern towns are few, if any.
Created in secrecy during World
War II and destined to become the
cradle of atomic energy, Oak Ridge
had its doors opened to the general
public in 1949, two years after the
Atomic Energy Commission assumed
control of the atomic development
program from the military.
Today Oak Ridge, a community of
33,500, continues to be owned and
financed completely by the federal
government.
Atomic research and production
account for 16,000 of Oak Ridge’s
28,000 workers. Of the remaining 12,-
000, a little more than half are in
construction work. Housekeeping,
administrative and other jobs ac
count for the remainder.
Of the 28,000 working force, only
900 are employes of the AEC. The
various facilities of the commission
are operated by contractors. The
atomic plants, for example, are run
by private industry on a cost plus
fixed fee basis paid by the govern
ment.
It is estimated that about half of
the workers at Oak Ridge commute.
POPULATION STEADY
From a wartime peak of 75,000, the
population dropped to its current
level, a level it has maintained for the
past three years. While the economy
today, with its overall annual wage
of $5,015 per worker, is considered to
be steady, there exists a tendency to
lay off rather than hire.
There is little unemployment at
Oak Ridge since a worker unem
ployed is given a specified time in
which to find employment and if un
successful must vacate his home.
While every state in the union is
represented at Oak Ridge, the domi
nant native state is Tennessee. The
exact percentage, however, is not
known.
Oak Ridge contains one of the
greatest concentrations of highly
trained scientific workers in the
country. The education level for all
males and females over 25 is 12.5
years.
HOW CITY IS GOVERNED
At the top of the Oak Ridge gov
ernmental pyramid is the AEC in
Washington, a part of the executive
branch of the federal government.
S- R. Sapirie is manager of construc
ts®, production, research and com
munity affairs at Oak Ridge and in
addition directs seven other AEC in
stallations which come under Oak
Ridge operations.
W. Ford, already mentioned, di-
re cts the Community Affairs Division,
which is divided into two branches,
commercial services with Middleton
Wootten its head, and city manage
ment, directed by Fred Peitzsch.
Beneath the Community Affairs
tfivision is Management Services Inc.,
organization contracted with by
ABC to run the city, exclusive of the
ospital, the buses, the schools and
lephones, which are supervised by
Pe itzsch.
R .^SI, for example, furnishes Oak
age’s 37-man police force, which is
e Putized by the sheriffs of Roane
j*d Anderson counties. The handling
Property rentals and building
maintenance are also among the MSI
'Unctions.
g Roughly, the Commercial Services
. r anch supervises the real estate
factions of MSI and the City Man-
gernent Branch the city administra-
n °n and utilities.
Bxpected to be introduced in Con-
ass early this year is a bill which
lts °P°ses the sale of Oak Ridge, minus
jj ® tom i c plants and some real estate.
er this plan, the residential and
r^A^ercial areas will be up for sale
Private persons. If the bill passes,
tvj there is a strong feeling at Oak
f 0 ge that it will, Oak Ridge can look
Tp ar< t to becoming an incorporated
““lessee community in two to five
* Ridge has a community-
r atuxg budget for fiscal 1954-55 of
DR. BERTIS E. CAPEHART
Oak Ridge Superintendent
FRED C. PEITZSCH
Oak Ridge ‘City Manager'
$9,322,000. Last year, for the first time,
Oak Ridge technically ended the year
in the black. That is, revenue from
commercial and residential property,
plus other income, exceeded money
paid by the government to run the
city. The estimated surplus for fiscal
’55 is $286,000. However, this does not
take into consideration the annual
loss through plant and equipment de
preciation.
There are no elected city officials
at Oak Ridge. Possibly the closest
thing to an elected governmental
body is the Advisory Town Council.
Established in 1946, it serves as a
means by which Oak Ridge residents
can make recommendations to AEC.
The council is composed of seven
members, each elected at large for a
two year term. Negroes have served
on the council in the past. Dr. Albert
Stewart is the present Negro mem
ber.
SCHOOL SET-UP
The Oak Ridge schools are under
the supervision of the city manage
ment branch of the Community Af
fairs Division. School Supt. Cape-
hart answers directly to Peitzsch, who
is, in a sense, the city manager of
Oak Ridge.
There is no school board. In its
place is the Parents’ Advisory Coun
cil, the only organized body which
has direct contact with all of O-
Ridge’s 12 schools. The council, as its
name implies, is purely advisory.
Complaints, for example, are chan
neled through it to Dr. Capehart, who
is employed by the AEC to run Oak
Ridge schools.
The council is composed of 21 mem
bers, one from each of the 12 PTA
the nursery school, the PTA Council,
the Town Council, and Oak Ridge
chapters of the League of Women
Voters, the American Association of
University Women and the Commu
nity Chest, plus three officers who
are elected each April by PAC mem
bers.
There is no set policy for the selec
tion of members. Some are appointed
to serve by the groups they represent,
others are elected.
Under consideration now is the
formation of a six-member steering
committee, which would work within
the PAC. Experience has shown that
the 21-member council is too large to
function with speed and effectiveness.
The current school budget for op
erating expenses at Oak Ridge, paid
by the federal government, is $2,131,-
000. For Jackson and Johnson City,
two Tennessee communities of com
parable size, the current operating
expense budgets are $780,130 and
$897,981, respectively.
The average current operating cost
per pupil in average daily attendance
at Oak Ridge is $272 compared to the
Tennessese state average of $155.
When the schools integrate next
fall, there will be nine elementary
schools, grades kindergarten through
five, two junior high schools, grades
six through eight, and one senior high
school, grades nine through twelve.
For the current school year at Oak
Ridge there are 4,542 white and 147
Negro children at the elementary
level, 1,647 white and 52 Negro chil
dren at the junior high level and
1,674 white and 50 Negro children at
the senior high level.
SAVINGS EXPECTED
It is estimated that integration will
save the Oak Ridge school system be
tween $15,000 and $20,000 annually.
While the Oak Ridge school system
voluntarily conforms with standards
and procedures established by the
Tennessee State Department of Edu
cation, it is, in a sense, considered a
private school system by state level
educators.
The Oak Ridge schools were estab
lished by a contract, still in existence,
with the Anderson County board of
education. This enables Oak Ridge
teachers to participate in the Tennes
see Teachers Retirement System and
facilitates the accrediting of Oak
Ridge teachers in Tennessee.
Technically, contracts for Oak
Ridge teachers come from the Ander
son County board of education, which
acts on the recommendations of
School Supt. Capehart, and all op
erating expenses are paid for by the
Anderson County board, from funds
deposited with the county trustee by
the AEC.
Under the plans to dispose of the
city, federal control and support of
the schools will decrease as the state
and city assume increasing responsi
bility for school operation.
Both the AFL and the CIO are
represented at Oak Ridge, with the
former having an estimated 5,000
members and the latter 3,500.
There are roughly 400 Negro mem
bers of the AFL and approximately
150 in the CIO. They attend meetings
with white members.
Emerson Pownall, president of local
288, CIO, and Jess I. Hamon, presi
dent of the Atomic Trade and Labor
Council, AFL, said they doubted if
there would be any reaction to inte
gration from organized labor. Both
pointed to their unions’ nondiscrimi-
natory membership policy.
NEGRO COMMUNITY
The Negro community is located
somewhat south of the business and
residential districts of Oak Ridge in
a fairly isolated area known as Gam
ble Valley.
The Negroes selected this area in
1948 when their earlier living quar
ters, part of the original boom-town
housing in Oak Ridge, were tom
down. The housing in Gamble Valley
is of the same general type found
elsewhere at Oak Ridge.
Although there is no regulation
which prevents a Negro from renting
a house in any part of Oak Ridge,
Community Affairs Director Ford re
ported that there has never been an
instance where a Negro has asked to
live anywhere but at Gamble Valley.
It is anticipated, however, that if
the bill to sell Oak Ridge is passed
by Congress there will be some Negro
families who will seek to buy prop
erty outside of Gamble Valley.
The bulk of the Negro residents are
from Alabama, Mississippi and Geor
gia, in that order, with possibly Ten
nessee furnishing the fourth largest
number. Like many residents of Oak
Ridge, the majority are holdovers
from workers recruited during the
war.
Most Negroes perform minor jobs
—laborers, maids, janitors, despite
being hired on an equal basis with
white workers. Only two, a chemist
and a biologist, are engaged directly
in the atomic development program.
While a Negro is on the Advisory
Town Council, there is no organized
leadership among the Negroes. An
NAACP chapter started there a few
years ago is no longer in existence.
West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W. Va.
VV7EST VIRGINIA, one of the first
T states to permit consolidation of
white and Negro schools in some
counties, has few plans for additional
integration pending further word
from the U. S. Supreme Court.
The only concrete action taken by
its 132-member legislature occurred
Jan. 26 when Senate President Ralph
Beam appointed a subcommittee to
study the state’s colleges and insti
tutions to determine whether racial
integration will not permit the moth
balling of some of them.
Named to the committee were Sens.
Clarence E. Martin Jr., of Martins-
burg in the state’s eastern panhandle
section; Lyle Smith of Huntington,
the state’s largest city situated in
southern Cabell County; Dr. Ward
Wiley, a physician of Mullens, center
of the large coal mining county of
Wyoming; Ted Bowers of New Mar
tinsville, in the agricultural county
of Wetzel which is rapidly becoming
industrialized; and Dr. Raymond
Vassar, a dentist from Weston in cen
tral Harris County.
REPORT SLATED
This five-man committee is sched
uled to report back before the close
of the 60-day session on March 12.
In the meantime its study will cover
the state. Every one of the nine col
leges under the state board of educa
tion will be put under the commit
tee’s magnifying glass, as well as the
mental hospitals, sanitaria and other
facilities controlled by the state board
of control.
It was mentioned informally that
Fairmont College will be given spe
cial attention as a possible new loca
tion for the West Virginia University
College of Engineering. Fairmont is
only 19 miles from Morgantown
where the university is located, and
the university has been asking for
years to build a new $4.5 million en
gineering school.
Colored students were enrolled in
state-supported white colleges for
the first time last fall, and a number
of white students also are attending
classes at West Virginia State College
and Bluefield State College which
formerly limited their enrollment to
Negroes.
Some legislators have discussed in
formally the possibility of eliminating
one of these schools in an effort to
consolidate the state’s educational
facilities. Should this occur Bluefield
State probably would be dropped
since it is situated about 16 miles
from Concord State College in Ath
ens which has excellent physical fa
cilities. West Virginia State is at In
stitute, only a few miles from the
capital city of Charleston, and serves
the useful purpose of providing state-
supported facilities in the midst of a
highly industrialized coal and chemi
cal center.
The precedent was set for merging
state-supported schools when the
West Virginia board of education
asked the legislature for the right to
close the Negro school for the deaf
and blind and maintain only the
Romney School for the Deaf and
Blind for both races. This action was
supported by a report filed by the
present superintendents of the two
schools recommending the consoli
dation.
At present there are only 47 stu
dents enrolled in the colored institu
tion as compared with 309 in the
Romney school.
NO NEW BILLS YET
There was considerable talk before
the legislature convened Jan. 12 of
legislation which would pave the way
for additional integration, but at
deadline time for this edition not a
single bill out of 102 introduced in
the Senate and 174 in the House in the
least pertains to integration.
It also is extremely doubtful
whether the committee appointed by
the Senate will recommend any defi
nite action to be taken by this legisla
ture. What is more likely to happen
is a proposal that the matter be
given further study pending a final
decision by the Supreme Court. Un
officially, state officials hold the
opinion that since the West Virginia
constitution specifically prohibits the
mixing of white and colored students
in public schools and colleges it
would be best to wait and see. Some
believe that the Court’s decision
would automatically drop the pro
hibition from the state constitution
although this remains to be deter
mined.
The legislature will meet in a 30-
day regular session next January for
the first time in the state’s history
under a constitutional change voted
last November. This would permit
legislators to then make any changes
they felt necessary to provide for
complete integration.
The Negro community, as a whole,
appears to be docile and non-
aggressive.
Bill Scott, the Community Center
director at Gamble Valley, explained
this condition by pointing to the rela
tively small number of professional
people—those with at least a high
school education, persons who nor
mally furnish the leadership in a
Negro community. There are a few
highly trained persons, he said, but
the majority are poorly educated and
lack the capacity for leadership.
There is evidence, however, of a
gradually developing community
spirit. The Negro, like his white
neighbor, has come to consider Oak
Ridge home.
RECREATION PROGRAM
While the recreation program for
the Negro children is as comprehen
sive as that followed in white neigh
borhoods, there are few adult recrea
tional facilities. There is no Negro
theatre, for example. The lack of these
facilities undoubtedly is one answer
why the number of well educated
Negroes at Oak Ridge is small.
The Negro, like others at Oak
Ridge, accepted the integration an
nouncement with little comment. Re
ported Scott: “They are aware of it.
There are some who are glad. But
generally, there is complacence.”
In 1946, the Scarboro school opened
with grades one through eight. High
school students were taken daily to
a Negro school in Knoxville.
Several years later a small kinder
garten was added, plus a night school.
The next year the ninth grade opened
and the school moved to its present
site in the Gamble Valley Com
munity.
As 1950 neared there developed a
feeling among some of the white resi
dents at Oak Ridge that the Negro
high school students being trans
ported daily to Knoxville should be
taught at home.
VOLUNTARY FACULTY
After consultation with school of
ficials, it was agreed that certain of
these people, known as the Volunteer
Group, would teach free of charge at
the Scarboro school in order to sup
plement the small high school teach
ing staff which the AEC agreed to
furnish.
In 1950 the high school, plus a
nursery school, opened. Members of
the Volunteer Group continued to in
struct daytime classes at Scarboro
until this year, when they were re
placed by regular teachers. They con
tinue to teach at the night school,
however.
The efforts of the Volunteer Group,
in a sense, typifies the ties that have
developed through the years at Oak
Ridge between the white and Negro
communities.
Since 1945, Negro teachers and
school administrators have partici
pated with white educators at school
workshops, which cover a period of
20 days spread throughout the school
year. At these meetings, usually held
in the Jefferson junior high school,
problems of mutual interest are dis
cussed and solved.
The Scarboro Student Aid Com
mittee, composed of white and Negro
members, has been formed to solicit
financial help for those Negro stu
dents who want to continue their
education beyond the high school
level but lack the means,