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PAGE 2—MAY I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
DELAWARE
Court Asked To Reverse
Grade-Per-Year Order
DOVER, Del.
HE U. S. THIRD CIRCUIT Court of
Appeals has been asked to
reverse a district court order ap
proving grade-a-year desegrega
tion of Delaware schools and to
order immediate desegregation of
all grades. (See “Legal Action.”)
A local district and the state
board don’t see eye-to-eye on the
registration and transfer of Negro
pupils at the second-grade level.
(See “School Boards and School
men.”)
An outspoken foe of integra
tion has been endorsed for gov
ernor by a Democratic club. (See
“Political Activity.”)
LEGAL ACTION
The U. S. Third Circuit Court of Ap
peals in Philadelphia was asked on
April 22 to set aside Delaware’s grade-
a-year desegregation program and
order immediate desegregation of all
12 public school grades.
Louis L. Redding, attorney for 42 Ne
gro pupils who sued for admission to
white schools in 1956, asked reversal of
a U.S. district court order in July 1959
by Judge Caleb R. Layton III, approv
ing the gradual plan advocated by the
State Board of Education.
Redding argued that the original de
segregation order from District Judge
Paul Leahy in 1957 entitled his plain
tiffs to admission at all grade levels.
Originally, he told the court, there
were 42 pupils, but 16 have either
dropped out or have been graduated.
Judge Layton’s order, Redding con
tended, “completely deprives the plain
tiffs of any right to desegregated edu
cation.”
Furthermore, he said, it “invalidly
assumes to vary the mandate of the
appellate court,” which upheld Judge
Leahy’s original order.
Redding also took issue to the fact
that Judge Layton apparently took
community hostility into consideration
as an obstacle against any more imme
diate plan.
REPRESENTS STATE
Atty. Gen. Januar D. Bove Jr., repre
sented the state board in the hearing
before Judges John Biggs, Herbert F.
Goodrich and Harry Kalodner.
Bove denied that the Negro pupils
have any immediate right to enter
white schools.
“If they have a present, immediate
right, that would mean immediate de
segregation in all grades in all the
schools in the land, which the U.S. Su
preme Court, itself, has rejected.”
If the court directs the admission of
the plaintiffs, “it would mean, in Sep
tember, that all others in their class
will apply,” Bove told the court.
An action of that nature, he said,
would place a great financial burden on
the educational system.
Bove wouldn’t concede, in answer to
a question from Judge Biggs, that “this
is the absolute minimal plan.”
“It is not the most minimal plan that
can be conceived,” he said.
CONSIDERED TIME ELEMENT
Bove, who also represented the state
board in the hearing that led to Judge
Layton’s order, told the court that
“Judge Layton properly did consider
the time element.”
‘ And remember,” he told the three
judges, “Judge Layton had only one
plan before him.”
The plan, which went into effect last
September with 25 Negro pupils ad
mitted to the first grade in white
schools, has worked well, Bove said.
But there is one minor exception, he
said.
“Caesar Rodney (a special district
near Dover) seems to take the position
that once a Negro enters the first grade
of a Negro school he cannot ever en
ter a white school. The state board
takes the opposite position.”
ASKED REJECTION
Two other attorneys, representing lo
cal districts, also asked the court to
reject the appeal.
James M. Tunnell Jr. said “The state
of Delaware, in the exercise of its dis
cretion, decided to set up the one-
grade-a-year plan in the interest of the
majority of the people.
“This plan has imagination. I know
of no other southern state which has
agreed to eliminate all segregation in
public schools within 12 years.”
Immediate desegregation, Tunnell
said, “would handicap an educational
system and people who are not the
culprits.”
To give the plaintiffs their rights, he
said, “would injure a number of third
parties.”
Everett Warrington argued that
Judge Leahy did not order immediate
admission of the Negro pupils, that the
order was purely a “declaration of de
cisional law.”
The court took the case under advise
ment. Normally, an opinion is delivered
within 60 days from the date of the
hearing.
Earlier in the month, a directive trom
the State Dept, of Public Instruction
setting registration policy for first and
second graders resulted in an angry
exchange of letters between the Caesar
Rodney and the State Board of Educa
tion presidents.
Under the gradual desegregation
plan now at issue before the court, Ne
gro pupils will be allowed to enter the
first two grades in September.
Caesar Rodney’s president, James R.
Bennett, took specific issue with para
graph 2, which set May 9-13 as regis
tration dates, and which states:
“In grade two all second-grade chil
dren who are entering grade two for the
first time in your school district and
those who wish to transfer from one to
another in your school district.”
Bennett held that the “orderly de
segregation program is threatened by
the capricious action which would al
low unregulated transfer of second
grade pupils in what appears to be an
effort to speed up the gradual process.”
SAYS LOCAL CONCERN
The regulation of the routine trans
fer of pupils between the schools of the
district is the concern only of the local
board and not the State Board of Edu
cation, Bennett said.
A Caesar Rodney regulation, he said,
states that “pupils may transfer from
one school to another within the dis
trict only with the express approval of
the Board of Education.”
The state board, Bennett said, should
take “immediate steps to bring its di
rective within reason and within the
legal limits of the state board’s author
ity.”
Vincent A. Theisen, the state board
president, struck back swiftly, not at
the Caesar Rodney president, but at the
Caesar Rodney superintendent of
schools.
Theisen was particularly irked that
the story broke in the Delaware State
News at Dover before the Caesar Rod
ney letter of protest was delivered to
the state board or to Dr. George R.
Miller, state superintendent.
WRITES BENNETT
Theisen wrote Bennett that “the prior
cooperative association that the state
board has had with your local board
leads me to believe that the charges
that appear in the paper are not of
your making.
“I am more inclined to believe that
you would have directed a letter to the
state board or to Dr. Miller before re
leasing such unfounded charges in the
newspaper. I must, therefore, assume
that this is another example of the un
cooperative and undermining tactics
which are constantly being resorted to
by your superintendent, William B.
Simpson.
“On prior occasions,” Theisen said, “I
have publicly admonished Dr. Simpson
in what I considered to be his un-co
operative attitude in other matters ...”
QUOTES ORDER
Theisen answered the charge that the
state board was trying to speed up de
segregation by issuance of the direc
tive by quoting the district court order
signed by Judge Caleb R. Layton HI.
“1) Commencing with the start of the
fall term 1959 and thereafter, all pupils
entering grade one in any public school
district in the state of Delaware which
has heretofore not admitted pupils un
der a plan of desegregation approved
by the State Board of Education shall
be admitted on a racially non-discrim-
inatory basis.
“2) At the beginning of each suc
ceeding school year pupils shall be ad-
DR. JOHN W. LETSON
New Atlanta Superintendent
mitted to such schools on a racially
non-discriminatory basis in the next
higher grade until complete desegre
gation has been effected at a time not
later than the school year beginning
in 1970.”
Theisen then told Bennett that in
compliance with the second paragraph
of Judge Layton’s order the state board
is required to admit pupils on a racial
ly non-discriminatory basis in the sec
ond grade beginning in September 1960.
The Delaware attorney general, Thei
sen said, “after carefully reviewing the
language of the directive, advised Dr.
Miller that in his opinion the language
adopted was in compliance with the
provisions of Judge Layton’s order.”
Therefore, Theisen concluded, “your
alleged charge, which I feel, under
the circumstances, must be attributed
to Dr. Simpson, that our directive is
‘capricious’ is completely unfounded.”
HOLDS FIRM
But Bennett held firm in his beliefs
in an answering letter to Theisen and
suggested “that you, even at this late
hour, call a meeting of the school
boards of the state which are concerned
in order to develop some reasonable
substitute for the directive issued.
“We suggest your directive confine
its scope to the incoming first grade and
let the second grade problem be dealt
with by each district concerned,” Ben
nett wrote.
Bennett noted that the state board
did not consult with Caesar Rodney
before issuing the directive, “which is
a matter of great public importance
and social significance.”
The Caesar Rodnev board, he said,
“sees no reason to change our position.
We believe it is our business to ad
minister transfers within the district
and our business in doing so to so pro
ceed as not to violate the court order.”
DEFENDS SIMPSON
Bennett strongly defended Dr. Simp
son.
“Mav we respectfully suggest that in
stead of condemning . . . Dr. Simpson,
for his vigorous disagreement with
some of vour dubious policies, that it
might be far more aoDropriate for vou
to seek and heed his counsel and there
by lend maturity to some of your deci
sions.
“Dr. Simpson is well trained and ex
perienced in the field of education. His
doctoral dissertation was on Negro
education in Delaware. The Caesar
Rodney Board of Education and Dr.
Simpson are usually in unanimous
agreement on matters of policy, espe-
ciallv in the area of integration.
“We regret vour frustration, but in
matters affecting race relations we be
lieve that gradualism is the key word
to successful oro<*ress.”
Sen. Walter J. Hoey, a “States
Rights” candidate for the Democratic
nomination in 1956, admits that he
would be receptive to the 1960 nomi
nation, but is not at this time actively
campaigning.
The term of Republican Gov. J.
Caleb Boggs expires this year and a
constitutional limitation prevents him
from seeking a third term.
The Hoey candidacy started at a
meeting of the Camden-Wyoming Ro
tary Club, where he was the guest
speaker. He was introduced by Magis
trate Maurice W. Carrow as a man
“eminently qualified to be the state’s
chief executive.”
Shortly thereafter, Hoey was en
dorsed by a Democratic club in Sussex
County, of which he is a native.
Hoey is an outspoken foe of inte
gration. # # #
Georgia
(Continued From 1)
close schools or re-nr>en tliom accord-
incr in +T»p dirtotp^ of a mairtrifrr of the
cniaHfi<vl motors in fho ofF*v>tp<! unit.
Now Towc rpcnmmpndod would:
1^ Pro^nde for tin'Hon grants or
Sohnlar^hms for rhfMron wiH^**awn
from intoar^tpd schools aod children
wV*r>co cnTarv-dc Tamrp hoon closed as 3
result of state laws or court orders.
21 toar»hpr rpHrppnprjt Tvmofifs
avoHnldo to fppehors in TYrmroto s^h'-wdq.
JO coTmnl Vrnardc to pct^Vdish
t>unil nhppmprit r*lor»c if +T10 T ^cHdatlTpe
appontod +h“freedom of choice” rec-
ommpndaHon.
\T A TOPTTV rrYVfT TTTWT)
TVio mpirvritv coid it fvmdndod fr-nm
its hpp^dnefs that an “o^or-nAiolwiinjj
JT)*-.-1/-.rvp nonprfiong WP’it +V|o r*aCPS
senaratpd in thp cphoolc and ta^-
Simnortpd cpcnv'cfnt^d mihlir* c^hools.
"But it said thorp is nn unornrr»?-Hr of
oni’H'vn oc to tho ronreo that should
be followpd if statewide segregation
is mitlawpd.
T\4ovio-mm froodom of choico t.o each
narent is nrnwdod th« maloriftr said,
tw a nroyrision no"rw?fti-ncf oaoh narpnt
to Tiic from on intorrrat-
ed sohool and to ha^rp tho oliild os-
siemod to o non-into rrr a t^>d school if
ono is mroiloKto or oleo rrixren a tuition
tU'ant for rvrwote schooling.
A nlan trnnne* to oaoti looal pommiin-
jtv thp rioVit to dotorroinp its own
ponreo of a of? on on nrnbloms of a np-
Cldiorlv looal naturp. tVip maiorit^r said,
grmoirtj to nfFoy tbo 1-voct and most dpm-
ocratio nmoodiiro for solving these T>e-
culforlv local nrohlpms.
<<r TVio conolncion is inoscpn^blo .” the
rnoiorit-v rpnnrt said “tViat to maintain
total sPcn*pvation PTrprvwhore in thp
state, the statp will almost cprtoinlv
ba^p to withdraw from the operation
of mihlic schools.”
TWTVnpiTV PFPOPT
Thp minoritv rpnort said thp 19^1
Legislaturp chonld pfFootnatP indnddii;d
or°ots in aid for coboolincr in accord
ance with a oonstitiitional amendment
adontod in 10^4 Tt aerrood fro adorn of
choiop should bp cmarartood but re-
ipetpd rytmil nbpompnt tolron integra
tion or eontrollod dpspcrrpcraHon.
Tt recommpndpd that “thp nuhl?c
school cwstpm hp nrpcprvpd on a seg-
rp^atod b^cis as far as it is nocciblo f 0
do so unloss plosod bv unnrpopdontod
fodoral court doorop and that a Svstom
of errants be instituted only as a last
resort.”
Tho nremice of the maioritv that all
Gporcria nuhlip sehoolc orp in da^cfpr
of bmng clospd was disnuted bv the
minority, which said “The consHtuHon
and laws of (Georgia clo^rlv do not en
vision. nermit. nrovide or authorize
total school closings in Georgia in any
circumstance . . .”
The minoritv oroun s«id the oeonle
had snoVen in “unmistakable lanoua<*e”
on the sido of conHnuing seerre^ation
in the schools no matter what han-
pened. Enforced integration could cause
serious civil turmoil, bitterness, rancor
and internal strife ” it said.
SCHOOL BOARDS
AND SCHOOLMIN
Even as Atlanta awaited its school
crisis, the public education system in
Georgia’s capital city got a new boss.
Dr. John W. Letson, 48-year-old
superintendent of Chattanooga public
schools, was elected unanimously to a
four-year term as superintendent of
Atlanta schools beginning July 1. He
will succeed Miss Ira Jarrell, who is
retiring.
The Atlanta Journal noted the event
with a cartoon showing Letson climb
ing from the “frying pan” of Chatta
nooga schools, where a desegregation
suit has been filed, to the “fire” of
Atlanta schools, where desegregation
has been ordered by a federal court.
GREATER STRAIN
Indications that Georgia’s already-
bulging classrooms may be subjected to
even greater strain were contained in
a U.S. Department of Commerce report
that there were 456,000 children under
five years of age in the state in 1958.
This is the 13th largest under-five
group in the nation and an increase of
34,000 over the number reported in the
1950 census.
Former Mayor Roy LeCraw proposed
that Atlanta segregate its schools by
sex. President A. C. Latimer of the
board of education said active consid
eration had not been given to the idea
but the possibility had been left open
by inclusion of a provision in the At
lanta pupil placement plan authorizing
segregation by sex. The city maintained
separate schools for boys and girls until
1947.
A suit was filed to test whether At
lanta still has power to levy school
taxes under Georgia school closing
laws, in the light of a federal court
desegregation order.
Moreton Rolleston Jr., attorney for
the plaintiff, an Atlanta corporation,
contends that the city lost its right to
levy school taxes under provisions of
a 1959 st=te law. The l~w was amend’d
by the Legislature in 1960 but the suit
seeks to prevent the municipality from
collecting 1959 taxes on the corporation.
The path for a U.S. Supreme Court
decision on Georgia’s new anti-sit-
down law has apparently been cleared
on an appeal from Savannah. Sol. Gen.
Andrew J. Ryan said the appeal prob
ably will arise from the trial of 25
lunch counter sitdowners in Savannah
City Court late in April.
SPECIFIC PURPOSE
The law, passed by the 1960 Legisla
ture, is for the specific purpose of
dealing with sit-down demonstrations.
It provides up to 18 months imprison
ment and a $1,000 fine for persons who
fail to leave a business premise when
asked twice to do so, once in the pres
ence of an officer.
In Tifton, the city commission passed
an anti-sit-down strike ordinance.
In Columbus, three white soldiers
from the North who are stationed at
Fort Benning, attempted to get service
in a Negro grill. They were sentenced
to 30 days in jail or a $100 fine.
COMMUNITY ACTION
An increase of interest in private
schools outside of the Atlanta area was
noted and believed to be a result of
the nearing showdown on the desegre
gation issue. Atlanta has a number of
private schools, all reportedly crowded.
Efforts now are being made to establish
new private schools in Macon, Savan
nah, Tifton, Dublin and Waynesboro.
Dr. Nat Long, leader of North Geor
gia delegates to the General Confer
ence of the Methodist Church, said ef
forts would be made to maintain the
present jurisdictional structure of the
church, which provides a separate jur
isdiction for all Negro Methodists.
MINISTERS VOTE
Columbus area ministers voted 51 to
one in favor of local option on school
desegregation in a secret ballot con
ducted by the Ministerial Alliance.
A national Episcopal Church advis
ory supporting Negro demonstrations
against segregation was criticized by
Bishop C. C. J. Carpenter of Birming
ham but defended by the Episcopal
Society for Cultural and Racial Unity,
which has set up headquarters in At
lanta. The group’s purpose is to foster
racial unitv.
Mayor William Hartsfield told an At
lanta Negro civic club that if sitdown
demonstrations or boycotts were “car
ried on in excess, you are going to en
danger the progress Atlanta has made
in maintaining good racial relations.”
Atlanta has had no further demon
stration since the initial outbreak in
March (See Southern School News,
April 1960).
MISCELLANEOUS
The Southern Sociologists Society,
meeting in Atlanta, voted to meet in
the future only in cities where inte
grated hotel and dining facilities will
be available to its Negro members.
Earlier, the association was told by
Dr. Ralph Minard of Morristown Col
lege that integration is not working in
the South and will not work until a
federal commission is established and
armed with broad, sweeping powers.
A dynamite blast the night of April
13 damaged a house recently occupied
by a Negro family in an all-white At
lanta neighborhood. The family, which
had moved in the home the previous
night, was away at the time of the ex
plosion.
IN THE COLLEGES
Admissions Director William S. Pat
rick of Georgia State College in At
lanta said several Negroes have ob
tained application blanks.
The all-white school, a unit in the
University System, is under federal
court order not to bar Negro students
because of their color. # # #