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PAGE 6—JULY 1959—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
VIRGINIA
Prince Edward ^ otes Out
Public School Support
RICHMOND, Va.
The Prince Edward County Board of Supervisors has declined to appropriate
funds for the coming year for operation of schools in the county which has been
ordered by a federal court to desegregate. Members of the board are (around the
table from the left) T. D. Dillon, H. M. Jenkins, W. W. Vaughan, Board Chairman
Edward A. Carter, John C. Steck and C. W. Gates.
T he prince edward County
school board voted not to ap
propriate any funds for the oper
ation of public schools in the
county during the 1959-60 fiscal
year. White citizens, meanwhile,
were making plans to operate a
private school system for white
children. (See “Community Ac
tion.”)
Gov. J. Lindsay Almond told
Virginians the state cannot afford
to “suffer the catastrophe of per
mitting the public school system
to be destroyed,” and that “aban
donment of public support of edu
cation would constitute an open
invitation to the federal govern
ment to assume that function.” He
called on those who share his view
to “rally to my support before it
is too late.” (See “School Boards
and Schoolmen.”)
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed a
lower federal court which had ruled
three of Virginia’s so-called “NAACP
laws” unconstitutional. The high tribu
nal, in a 6-to-3 decision, held the fed
eral court should not have acted on the
validity of the laws before those meas
ures were construed in state courts.
(See “Legal Action.”)
cational Foundation and about 850 oth
er persons in graduation exercises held
in a Front Royal movie theater.
“Notwithstanding the claims of some,”
he said, “the General Assembly cannot
under the pretense of invoking the po
lice power take over and operate the
public school system and thereby ne
gate the final decree of a federal court.
People who permit themselves to be
fooled by such delusions deserve to be
fooled. . . .
CANNOT SECEDE
“I tell you now that we cannot secede
from the Union, we cannot overthrow
the federal government, and we cannot
reverse a final decree of a federal
court.”
The governor said no mistake could
be more costly than to “succumb to the
blandishments of those who would have
Virginia abandon public education and
thereby consign a generation of children
to the darkness of illiteracy, the pits of
indolence and dependency and the dun
geons of delinquency.”
Virginians must bear in mind, he con
tinued, there are about 800,000 children
in the public school system, and that
there are only 112 sectarian schools
with a total enrollment of 26,610, and
110 nonsectarian schools with a total
enrollment of 10,325.
RECITES CONSEQUENCES
He warned that if the state aban
doned public education, the federal
government “in the extension of its
power of eminent domain could acquire
public buildings adaptable to its pur
pose” and “establish federal standards,
cover the nation’s teaching force under
civil service, prescribe curricula and
integrate both faculties and schools.
(Later, in answer to reporters’ ques
tion, Almond said he thought new
federal legislation would be needed be
fore the federal government could set
up schools in the states.)
Warren County’s school situation for
next year was uncertain as the sum
mer vacation began. The county’s for
merly white Warren County High
School has been attended only by 21
Negroes since February, while white
students attended the private high
school operated by the educational
foundation.
A new Negro high school—the first
in the county—will be ready for use
in the fall, and there has been con
siderable speculation that most of the
Negroes who have been attending the
former white school will go to the new
Negro school, and that the whites will
then return to Warren County High.
The educational foundation is remain
ing in existence, but it has not an
nounced its plans for the fall.
DIPLOMA WITHHELD
The one senior among the Negro stu
dents at Warren County High School—
17-year-old Ann E. Rhodes—was re
fused a diploma by the school board
when it was ruled that she had only
15 credits, whereas 16 are required for
graduation. She said she would go to
summer school to make up the credit
and then go to college. In New York
City on June 20, Ann appeared in cap
and gown before some 10,000 persons
who assembled in Harlem for the 10th
annual Citizens Achievement Day cele
bration, and was awarded a “diploma.”
Developments in other localities in
cluded these:
Charlottesville
Assignment of nine Negro children
to Venable Elementary School and two
to Lane High School in September was
announced by School Supt. Fendall R.
Ellis.
The two schools closed last fall under
the state’s then-existing no-integration
laws, but a federal court allowed them
to re-open on a segregated basis in
February after the city school board
presented a plan under which it prom
ised to assign pupils to schools with
out regard to race, beginning in the fall
of this year.
Arlington County
For the second time, the Arlington
County school board refused to assign
26 Negro applicants to predominantly
white schools.
Last fall 30 Negro pupils requested
transfer to white schools. Four of them
were admitted to Stratford Junior High
on order of a federal district judge.
The court directed the school board to
reconsider the applications of the oth
er 26. On June 22 the board again re
jected all 26 applications.
Floyd County
Eleven of 15 Negroes previously re
jected for transfer to white Floyd
County high school filed new applica
tion forms. The requests were originally
turned down early in June on the
ground that official state application ■
forms were not used. Later in the
month 11 of the pupils filed applica
tion on the proper forms. The school
board of this southwestern Virginia
countv meets July 14.
Fairfax County
Twenty-six Negro children have sub
mitted applications for admittance to
five white elementary and three white
high schools in Fairfax County in
northern Virginia.
RICHMOND EXPLAINS
In Richmond, the Virginia Pupil
Placement Board issued a statement
saying that in assigning nearly 420,000
children to schools during the past 30
months, it has never based an assign
ment solely on the ground of race or
color.
(The board has never assigned a child
to a school attended by members of the
(Continued on Next Page)
The Prince Edward County Board
of Supervisors announced on June 2
that it would abandon public education
in the county by not appropriating any
funds for schools for the fiscal year
beginning July 1.
On June 26 the board formally car
ried out its plan by adopting a budget
that included nothing for schools, not
even funds which the school board had
requested for maintenance of the build
ings. The board took the position that
maintenance could be financed by the
state.
COURT ACTS SAME DAY
On the same day the Prince Edward
Board adopted the budget, the U. S.
Supreme Court denied the county’s re
quest ror a stay of a federal circuit
court order calling for desegregation in
September. (See Southern School
News, June 1959, for legal background.)
With no funds needed for schools,
the supervisors cut the county prop
erty tax rate 53 per cent.
The supervisors declined even to ap
propriate funds to match available state
money for tuition grants. It was re
ported the board was fearful Virginia’s
tuition grant plan may be successfully
challenged in the courts.
About 145 school teachers are affect
ed by the board’s action. Most of the
70-odd white teachers are expected to
be employed by the Prince Edward
School Foundation in the private
school which it plans to operate for
white children beginning in the fall.
The foundation announced it had raised
about 70 per cent of the $300,000 neces-
sarv to finance the private system next
year.
GOING TO COURT
The supervisors’ action in abandon
ing schools will be attacked in the
courts, NAACP Attorney Oliver W. Hill
told a mass meeting of about 250 Ne
groes at a country church in the coun
ty-
The State AFL-CIO, in convention in
Richmond, adopted a resolution sup
porting continuation of free public
schools in Virginia. The resolution said
that if public schools are destroyed,
child labor laws probably would be
repealed, thereby “placing young chil
dren in the labor market to be ex
ploited, as in the years gone by.”
The Virginia Methodist Conference,
meeting in Norfolk, urged appointment
of a statewide bi-racial commission to
■effect gradual desegregation. Gov. Al
mond replied that appointment of such
a commission would “add fuel to the
flames” of controversy, rather than
help solve any problems.
“We must save, sustain, and support
the cause of public education in Vir
ginia,” Gov. Almond told the 95 grad
uate*! of the Warren County Edu-
FLORIDA
‘Mild’ School Bills Given Legislative Sanction
MIAMI, Fla.
he Florida Legislature ended
its session without passing
drastic segregation legislation
which was introduced and de
bated. (See “Legislative Action.”)
Only seven bills, described as
mild by legislative leaders, were
passed. One of these was vetoed.
Dade County moved steadily
toward its first integrated school
in September. Teachers were be
ing selected and talks conducted
among parents. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
The University of Florida ac
cepted five Negro students in
summer sessions. (See “In The
Colleges.”)
When the Florida Legislature open
ed its biennial session last April many
members predicted drastic segregation
bills would be passed.
As the final gavel fell, only seven of
the 33 which had consideration in com
mittee or on the floor were enacted.
These, in the words of House Speak
er Thomas D. Beasley, were “relatively
mild.”
SEGREGATION BY SEX
Passed early and approved by Gov.
LeRoy Collins was a measure allowing
school segregation by sex. A permissive
law, it was approved with little debate.
Another that passed incorporated
into the Florida Pupil Assignment Law
changes of language and some provi
sions borrowed verbatim from the Ala
bama law which has been approved on
its face by the U. S. Supreme Court.
The state compulsory attendance law
was modified to permit parents to with
draw children from integrated schools.
An accreditation board for private
schools was created.
HOTLY DEBATED
Three bills drew most fire. One was a
proposal by Rep. W. H. Reedy of Eustis,
appropriating $500,000 over a two-year
period for a public relations and adver
tising campaign to “sell the southern
way of life” to the nation.
Reedy’s appropriation would be con
tingent on at least four other southern
states taking the same action.
The measure reached Gov. Collins
after the Legislature had adjourned. It
provoked wide debate.
PRESS URGES VETO
Several newspapers editorially urged
disapproval. The Florida Methodist
Conference, meeting in Lakeland, unan
imously asked the governor to use his
veto.
As the demands increased, Rep.
Reedy said that if the governor failed
to approve his bill he would circulate
a petition among fellow members, un
der the provision by which two third
of the Legislature can convene an ex
tra session, to override the veto.
Collins did disapprove the measure,
declaring it would accomplish nothing
except waste taxpayers’ money. Reedy’s
threats of a self-convened session failed
to materialize.
The Legislature passed and the gov
ernor approved HR 990 which the Com
mittee on General Legislation proposed.
It authorized any sheriff to close any
public beach, park or public recreation
facility where racial violence was
threatened.
Earlier in the session, action was
completed on HB-989 authorizing 25 or
more persons to set up corporations
to operate private schools.
Gov. Collins praised the Legislature
for moderation and gave credit to
House Speaker Beasley. Beasley had
created a watchdog committee to screen
racial bills and personally worked
against some drastic proposals.
‘HORATIO’
“He was indeed a Horatio at the
bridge,” said the governor.
Beasley himself praised House mem
bers in the closing moments of the ses
sion for not passing the sweeping bills.
“We can take pride in our not per
mitting passage of destructive legisla
tion that might have provided for a next
generation of uneducated and uninform
ed citizens by virtue of their having
been denied a free public education,”
the speaker said.
Senate President Dewey Johnson ex
pressed disappointment, declaring the
Legislature could well have passed
more stringent bills.
There was a feeling expressed by
many members that the final outcome
amounted to official approval of a policy
of “moderation.”
All three of these leaders called the
legislative session good. But Floyd
Christian, Pinellas County (St. Peters
burg) school superintendent, called it
Florida’s “poorest and worst.”
“There are many things they could
have done that they didn’t do,” he
said. “I do not feel they should pat
themselves on the back because they
didn’t pass any bad education bills.”
H. Phil Constans of Gainesville, pres
ident of the Florida Education Associa
tion, said:
“The legislation was disastrous. But
it could have been worse. It almost
was.”
Constans’ criticism was directed at the
Legislature’s failure to provide for ex
panded school programs, leaving ap
propriations about the same, with al
lowances for numerical growth. There
was an actual increase of $54 million
for schools for the biennium.
“Florida needs to decide if we want
quality education,” he said. “If we do
we must provide the money.”
Another school official, Philip H. Rice,
chairman of the Sarasota County
Board of Public Instruction, said the
Legislature “could have been worse.”
Dade County moved steadily toward
its first integrated school in September.
Four Negro children have been assign
ed to the Orchard Villa Elementary
School, previously all white. Prospects
were that more would enroll on open
ing day.
In preparation for the test, a quiet
program of community education is in
process. Negro leaders have met with
school officials to iron out difficulties.
Plans have been made for joint meet
ings of white and Negro parents, and
of parent groups with teachers.
Dade school officials said teachers
were being selected carefully.
“No teacher shall be employed for the
faculty next year who doesn’t demon
strate a complete understanding of the
tasks involved,” said W. W. Matthews,
assistant county school superintendent.
EX-MARINE PRINCIPAL
Erwin Marshal, ex-Marine officer
named as principal, has been inter
viewing prospective teachers.
“I’m looking for the type of teacher
who is deeply interested in the welfare
of the child,” said Marshall.
Those being sought, he said, should
be “level-headed and calm by nature.
They should be flexible enough to
make adjustments. But in the final
analysis the qualifications I want are
no different from those required of any
good teachers.”
Meanwhile there were indications
that the school, built to accommodate
400 pupils, would open with less than
100. Joe Hall, school superintendent, said
about half that estimate might be too
high.
SOME MOVING
“Some people say they are going to
move and sign up for another school,”
Hall said. “We don’t know how many.
We just won’t know until September.”
If voluntary attendance falls off
markedly, the school board may assign
children, white and Negro, from nearby
overcrowded schools. It has that auth
ority under the Pupil Assignment Law,
the same authority used in integrating
the school in the first place.
The University of Florida, which ac
cepted its first Negro graduate student
last September, enrolled five more for
the summer sessions that began in
June.
Four will attend sessions at the ex
pense of the National Science Founda
tion, a federal agency which promotes
technical studies.
The enrollments were handled in
routine fashion, the University spokes
man said.
The Presbytery of St. Johns in South
Florida cancelled plans for two inte
grated summer youth camps at Weeki-
wachee on Florida’s West Coast be
cause of threats of violence from resi
dents of the neighborhood.
Prospective students were notified by
letter of the decision.
VIOLENCE FEARED
“We deeply regret the necessity for
this action,” the letters said. “It was
taken in view of repeated and serious
threats from persons in the Brooks-
ville area to use violence to prevent
the attendance of colored young people-
“We believe that the fullest resources
of our church program, including our
camps, must be available to all our
youths irrespective of race.
“The Presbytery is already taking
steps to provide for the unhindered
conduct of our camps next year.”
The Florida Methodists, at their 177th
conference at Lakeland, adopted the re
port of the church’s Board of Social and
Economic Relations which said:
“We call upon our people to sup
port the principles of socially controlled
schools in accordance with existing
law.”
The conference also called on the
state to keep public schools open.
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