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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—July 6, 1955—PAGE 13 ^lore Litigation Likely Soon In Delaware’s State Courts fob. Hit? for «n. sit? to. ha: nc? me m. ■as. 5- is- :cb ire ir is )1 J. d s r. f WILMINGTON, Del. I ,HE segregation-desegregation is- sUe w ill move once more into the ;tat e Court of Chancery this autumn. 3 On the one hand, Wagner Jackson, -resident of the Wilmington chapter jf the National Association for the advancement of Colored People, has gid that any segregated school dis- [jict that makes no “concrete” move •oward integration will be hailed into court. On the other hand, most, if not all, the school districts in Southern Dela ware plan to wait and see what hap pens before they take any “concrete” step toward integration. And, in general, impartial observ ers put it this way: “Even if one or two or possibly three white school district boards of trustees take what are considered ‘concrete steps’ to ward integration, in keeping with the Supreme Court decree, there will nonetheless be those districts that will take a chance on litigation. STATE COURT JURISDICTION The issue in Delaware will be thrashed out in the State Court of Chancery (equity) rather than in the federal district court, since all the previous integration cases have been tried there. The ultimate appeal in Delaware will be before the State Su preme Court whose record so far is: Two decisions in favor of integration and one against. In the meantime, a reorganized State Board of Education—the ulti mate school authority in Delaware— will come onto the scene later in July or early August—and is expect ed to adopt some policy toward inte gration in the light of the U. S. Supreme Court decree. Just what that policy will be, will depend a great deal upon two appointments to be made to the State Board of Educa tion by Gov. J. Caleb Boggs. The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives of Delaware has twice defeated a proposed fair em ployment practices law, despite the Party’s platform of 1954 that it would undertake such legislation. This left the single Negro repre sentative, Paul Livingston of Wil- *fflgton, quite disconsolate and bitter ward some of his fellow Democrats. However, the vote on the two oc casions was interesting, because it -tossed sectional lines as far as the eir| ocrats were concerned. The aandfui of Republicans in the House Representatives voted for the fair employment practices bill. But on the Democratic side, representatives from southern Delaware—the stronghold of segregation—were split. And this vote, crossing sectional lines, is considered a pretty good ba rometer of how the legislators would vote on any school segregation issue that might arise. NEW BOND ISSUES However, nothing specifically relat ing to integration in public schools has come up. Bond issues for school buildings will be on the old separate but equal basis. Also, the General Assembly is in clined to vote a $2,500,000 bond issue for Delaware State College near Do ver for building purposes, even though this college (for all practical purposes a Negro college) failed re cently to become accredited. And there still is pending in the General Assembly (as of early July) a bill to wipe out the State Board of Education and replace it with a state wide commissioner of education. This bill, introduced in the State Senate by Sen. Walter Hoey of near Milford, is regarded merely as a “threat” in case any concerted move ment is made to bolster integration in the state schools. The General Assembly of Delaware also has passed a law that requires all public agencies—state, county and lo cal—to allow the press and the pub lic to attend their meetings. The law also says that no decisions can be made by these agencies in executive session. This may turn out to be a law favored both by integrationists and segregationists who want to know just what school boards are up to. A very significant citizen-teacher conference on integration was held in Dover, the state’s capital, early in June. This was a meeting called by the Delaware State Education Associa tion, the all-inclusive teaching pro fessional organization of Delaware that has no color line as to its mem bership. Back in 1953, before the May 17, 1954 opinion of the U. S. Supreme Court was handed down, a committee of educational professional people was appointed. Though nothing dra matic was accomplished by this com mittee, apparently it did start to stir thinking among the professional peo ple of the state’s educational system as to what ought to be done and should be done, in the event the U. S. Louisiana Asked (Continued) (Continued from Page 12) to consideration of mat- „ budgetary a nd fiscal.” It will Ma T®® 4 m re Sular session in early y»1956. I v R n easo p given, generally, for Gov. I stru ,° ns ve b° °( the school con- I Wo kiU is that the governor g ra J’ ed a v ast highway building pro- mi_, 1 an d felt that the program I had * " ave suffered if any money skuefi k e *li ver ted to school con- ov er t / ca l observers are puzzlir ?ati 0 n 1 caan ge in attitude of segre r ■ , ea der Sen. Rainach. A, Whe ^oun* 1 C ? Urt s decree of May 31 w; Who h C ] ^ en - Rainach was or Won’t ed U as a “mild” decree. “ 0'adu a ] V '° r ^ out —but at least it at thetim rather Iban abrupt,” he sai Stater!’ — v flle, ’lohn Garrett of Haync the fj r , a er °f segregation forces segregation c aUed «®’ We nt even further. k thp J j.1 Pri - ue p mildest decree the Si balded doilin'” ® oss *kly could ha’ ’ . however, the segregate W of en - Rainach have steppi up their campaign to oppose integra tion, as evidenced by their request for $100,000 immediately for attorney fees. One suggested explanation that ob servers are giving is that the segre gation forces have viewed with alarm Gov. Kennon’s veto of their school construction bill. They now feel, this suggested ex planation continues, that the “segre- gation-at-any-cost” exponents are not as strong as expected. The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board has been presented a petition asking that it take “immedi ate steps” toward doing away with segregation in Baton Rouge’s public schools. The petition was submitted by the Baton Rouge chapter of the NAACP and set forth three points: Formation of an interracial com mittee (composed in a manner to be agreed upon later) before Aug. 1, to discuss ways and means of best implementing the Supreme Court de cisions. Elimination of all racial reference to all schools, school board property, including records and other material, this to take place “as soon as prac ticable.” Elimination of the classification of students or teachers based on race or color, this to be done “as soon as practicable before Aug. 1.” Supreme Court wiped out the sepa rate but equal policy of the state’s schools. Then came the U. S. Supreme Court decision, and in the 1954 meeting, the DSEA, without any opposition within the group, decided to continue this special committee. At the same time, the organization called for “speedy and judicious compliance with the Supreme Court decision and ultimate decree” in the state’s schools and urged that the state’s compulsory at tendance law be enforced. FEW ACCEPT So, early in June of this year, this special committee, now known as the Interracial Committee and headed by Jack Caum, principal of the Col- wyck School in New Castle County, prepared to hold a meeting of lay and professional people. One of the stated purposes of this meeting was to assist school authorities in an easy transi tion toward integration and “to cush ion inevitable changes” within the school system. Invitations were issued to 45 lay individuals and 22 members of the DSEA to attend the first meeting. However, only four lay people and 11 professionals accepted the invitation, in adition to the members of the DSEA committee. This seemed to indicate that lead ing laymen throughout Delaware were hesitant about being linked openly with such a committee. How ever, the committee proceeded with its meeting. A subcommittee was se lected to meet with the State Board of Education and with Atty. Gen. Jo seph Donald Craven to discuss ways in which the Interracial Committee of the DSEA would offer aid in inte gration. As this report is written, there has been no contact as yet be tween the subcommittee and either the State Board of Education or the attorney general. The general meeting of the main committee and the 15 laymen and professional educators also decided that the chairman should appoint a three-member subcommittee of lay men and professionals for each of Delaware’s three counties to serve as steering committees for developing exploratory and planning procedures toward integrational transitions in school districts. Dr. George R. Miller, Jr., state su perintendent of public instruction, when he heard of the subcommittee selected to meet with the State Board of Education, said he would welcome such a meeting but suggested it would be better to wait until later in the summer when the State Board of Ed ucation is reorganized. Delaware now has four NAACP branches—Wilmington, Newark, Kent County and Sussex County. The Wilmington chapter has been spearheading the integration battle in Delaware and Wagner Jackson, pres ident of the Wilmington chapter, says a move is on foot to create a state “congress” of NAACP chapters in preparation for the litigation ahead. Jackson, returning from the Atlan tic City convention of the NAACP, said the Delaware members of the NAACP are determined in their pol icy to sue any school district in Dela ware that does not show evidence of good faith and take “concrete” steps toward integration in 1955-56. “And we don’t mean empty surveys or reports that are just cover-ups,” Jackson said. “We mean ‘concrete’ steps in good faith. Otherwise we sue —and we proceed on the basis of the most recent Supreme Court decree.” Wilmington, the largest city in the state, located in the north of Dela ware, is now preparing for its second step toward full integration in its schools. As in the summer of 1954, all summer schools for children who —Chicago Defender have to make up deficiencies in their studies, are on a completely inte grated basis. During the 1954-55 school year, only the elementary schools of the city were integrated. The following report has been is sued by Dr. Ward I. Miller, superin tendent of the Wilmington schools, outlining the steps to be taken in 1955-56: “On Aug. 2,1954, the Board of Pub lic Education in Wilmington approved a plan of integration for the city pub lic schools. “First steps, to be taken during the school year 1954-55, authorized the desegregation of all elementary schools, the transfer of pupils from one vocational high school to the oth er and the admission in all senior high schools of pupils desiring ad vanced work in any subject not of fered in the high school now attended. “Integration of elementary pupils is now virtually complete. Approxi mately 68% of boys and girls in the elementary grades now attend units enrolling both white and Negro stu dents. The remaining 32% attend schools located in areas where inte gration is not a problem. Due to care ful planning and thorough super vision on the part of principals, teach ers and parents, this step has been accomplished without serious inci dent. FURTHER STEPS OKAYED “Only one pupil requested transfer from one senior high school to anoth er. Because of the nature of the work desired, and the lack of adequate preparation, all agreed that this stu dent should complete his work in the school presently attended. “On May 24,1955, the board author ized the Staff to take further steps, to be accomplished during the school year, 1955-56. “These steps include the integra tion of all seventh grade pupils in the junior high schools and the admission into the senior high schools of pupils in grades 10, 11 and 12 who desire instruction in courses not offered completely in the school to which they would otherwise be assigned. “The procedures to be followed are similar to those established for the integration of elementary pupils: “1. Attendance areas will be estab lished around each junior high school. “2. Pupils will normally attend the junior high school located in the at tendance area. However, in accord ance with the practice followed for many years, parents may request transfer of their children to another unit. Re-assignment will be approved provided space in other schools is available. “3. All requests must be made in writing on forms especially prepared for this pin-pose, must state the rea son for the request of transfer, and must be signed by a parent or guar dian. These requests must be re ceived in the office of the Director of Personnel, School Administration Building, not later than Friday, July 1,1955. 4. All requests will be reviewed and action taken by Friday, July 8. “5. Pupils completing their work at Bancroft junior high school who desire to enroll in a high school oth er than Howard high school must also present a written request. Special forms will be supplied for this pur pose, to be returned to the Director of the Secondary Schools. “6. Transfers of teachers will be considered after the enrollment of pupils is known.” OLD DISTRICTS RETAINED School attendance areas as outlined in Wilmington are not new ones but those areas that have been in force for years. In the meantime, other school dis tricts in northern Delaware that have had integration policies are continu ing them for the next school year with slight expansions but are re fraining from giving these expansions too much publicity. As to the question—How many Ne gro children have actually attended mixed classes in Delaware during this past school year?—it is extremely difficult to come up with a realistic figure. The reason is that most school of ficials are taking the attitude that the sooner they differentiate between white and Negro children in school records, the better. Another reason is the attendance figures are extremely fluid and offi cials are hesitant about giving out figures until all the statistics of the past school year have been collected and analyzed. However, by August, official reports from all school districts will be on hand, will have been submitted to the State Board of Education, and the mixed attendance picture will be in more accurate focus. WARY ON POLICY In Delaware, school authority is more centralized than in many other states. Hence, the State Board of Ed- uqation (appointed by the governor) and the State Department of Public Instruction are keys to the develop ment of integration in Delaware. The department and the board are on record already as favoring an or derly transition toward integration, but with the reservation that the ul timate decision of when and how in tegration shall come about should rest with the local district boards of trus tees. That has been the policy during this past school year. It has had the support of Gov. Boggs and of the Democratic and Republican parties, as expressed in their 1954 political platforms. However, the Milford “incident’’ in the fall of 1954 and the advent of Bryant Bowles, president of the Na tional Association for the Advance ment of White People, virtually put on the brakes on pushing integration into districts that had not accepted the May 17, 1954 opinion of the U. S. Supreme Court by last fall. Now, the State Board of Education and the State Department of Public Instruction are extremely wary of making known any new integration policy. An example of this: Early in June, G. Tyler Coulson, Wilmington attor ney and a member of the State Board of Education, made the following pro posal to the board for action: PROPOSALS SHELVED “That the State Board of Education would issue a directive to every one of the 105 school districts in Dela ware to prepare for opening of their facilities to any student in their at tendance area, regardless of race. “That this would apply to Negro as well as white school districts. “However, school districts in Del aware that did not wish to comply with this directive, would have to state their reasons in writing to the State Board of Education. The school districts would have to give an ap proximate time as to when they would be ready to comply with the direc tive. “Such school districts would be given time, provided the State Board of Education was satisfied that the reasons were presented in good faith.” However, the State Board of Edu cation, after discussing this proposal, decided not to take action because two of its northern Delaware mem bers go off the board this summer. And it was felt that such a proposal should be taken up by the board when two new members are appointed and the board reorganized. Coulson and O. H. Small of Wil mington are the members whose terms expire.