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PAGE 8—JUNE I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
MARYLAND
Three Negro Schools To
Desegregation Timetables
BALTIMORE, Md.
T hree Negro schools in three
different Maryland counties
will close permanently this month
in desegregation moves. Pupils
and teachers will be reassigned
to predominantly white schools
next fall.
Decisions to accelerate deseg
regation schedules were reported
in two other counties. (See
“School Boards and School
men.”)
“Signs of further progress” in de
segregation, pointing to “a solution in
part of the problem,” were reported
by Dr. Thomas G. Pullen Jr., state
school superintendent, to the annual
Maryland Conference of the National
Assn, for the Advancement of Colored
People. (See “What They Say.”)
Chief U.S. District Judge Roszel
C. Thomsen ordered that a Negro boy
be admitted to a predominantly white
high school in Harford County under
the same conditions that would apply
to a white child. Critical of the position
taken by the Maryland Board of Edu
cation in the case, Judge Thomsen in
his May 25 decision said that if the
board is not willing in the future to
pass on administrative and educational
questions, “it would be futile for this
court to continue to insist that appli
cants appeal to the state board before
seeking relief in this court.” (See
“Legal Action.”)
Desegregation will be extended next
fall to additional grades or schools in
several counties, under recently adopt
ed policies.
where he would normally register . . .”
The deadline for admission requests
is June 15. In the 1959-60 year Charles
had two Negroes enrolled at one for
merly all-white school.
• Frederick County (nine per cent
Negro enrollment) closes out yet an
other small Negro school this June.
This time it is the two-room Hopeland
School.
A year ago Frederick ended classes
at two small Negro schools, and prior
to that at least one other was closed.
As part of its gradual elimination of
separate classes for Negro pupils, the
county also is dropping ninth-grade
classes at Lincoln High School, where
the seventh and eighth grades previ
ously have been eliminated. The effect
of this move will be the termination
of all separate classes for Negroes in
the county at the junior-high level.
In the school year just concluding,
Frederick has had 582 Negroes attend
ing 18 formerly all-white schools. The
policies adopted for 1960-61 will in
crease the number to about 740, leav
ing 540 in all-Negro schools.
• Montgomery County (four per
cent Negro enrollment) in the heavily
suburbanized section of Maryland ad
joining Washington, D. C., is ending
instruction this June at Carver High
School, the only all-Negro secondary
school still functioning in the county.
The building will be converted this
summer to administrative quarters for
the County Board of Education.
Delayed somewhat by a lag in its
construction program, Montgomery has
not kept fully up to the desegregation
schedule projected in late 1958, a
schedule aimed at the complete elimi
nation of separate classes for Negroes.
But the county is well on the road
toward that goal. The outlook for
1960-61 is described as follows by Dor
othy B. Waleski, an information spe-
Be Closed;
Moved Up
cialist in the office of county school
superintendent:
“1) All formerly all-white schools,
both elementary and secondary, may
be considered as being desegregated in
that they will have enrolled some or
all of the Negro children who live in
their areas.
“2) Only three schools, Rock Ter
race, Sandy Spring and Taylor Ele
mentary, will open with all-Negro en
rollments. One of these, Taylor, is
scheduled for desegregation and en
rollment of both white and Negro chil
dren during school year 1960-61.
“3) School year 1960-61 should see
the desegregation of between 80 and
90 per cent of the total Negro enroll
ment. This is an increase of about 20
per cent over the percentage of Ne
groes desegregated in 1959-60.
“4) All of the necessary plans have
been approved and funds provided for
the completion of desegregation in
Montgomery County public schools.
Time will be required, however, to
complete the contemplated building
program. The year 1960-61 should pro
vide the time necessary, and, if all goes
well, 1961-62 should see the comple
tion of desegregation.
“5) The desegregation of the teach
ing staff has closely paralleled that of
the student body. It is anticipated that
this will continue during school year
1960-61.”
To make necessary arrangements un
der voluntary desegregation programs,
some Maryland counties have definite
periods during which Negroes may ap
ply for transfers to white schools, or
white pupils to Negro schools (al
though the latter is not commonly an
ticipated). Some of the application
periods for 1960-61 were reported in
May to be:
Carroll County—June 1 to 3.
Cecil County—any time prior to Aug.
1.
Charles County—on or before June
15.
Harford County—between July 1 and
15.
Howard County—June 20 to July 1.
Queen Anne’s County—June 1 dead
line.
Progress toward desegregation has
been made in Maryland, Dr. Thomas
G. Pullen Jr., state superintendent of
schools, told the 20th annual Maryland
State Conference of the National Assn,
for the Advancement of Colored Peo
ple, although, he added, “it has not
been as great as some would wish.”
The Maryland superintendent said:
“I see signs of further progress. I see
signs pointing to a solution in part of
the problem.”
Citing the integration of 324 out of
Maryland’s 1,001 public schools since
1955, Pullen told NAACP members that
desegregation has not occurred yet in
eight counties (out of 22 having bi-
racial enrollments) and that desegre
gation is only “technical” in some other
areas, since only a handful of Negroes
attend schools that are virtually all-
white.
ir-
J
f-
LEGAL ACTION
i-' V's
In ruling that “the infant plaintiff is
entitled to the chance to make good in
the tenth grade of the academic curri
culum at the Aberdeen High School if
he wishes to take that chance,” Chief
U.S. District Judge Roszel C. Thomsen
cut through the question of proper or
improper screening procedure in the
case of Pettit v. Harford County Board
of Education. (Southern School News
April, March, January 1960 and pre
vious.)
Judge Thomsen went back to the
separate-but-equal doctrine and to the
time in 1958 when the Pettit family
first moved to Harford County. They
(See MARYLAND, Page 9)
With some replies yet to come, the
responses of county superintendents
to a Southern School News question
naire show that some of the major
changes will be these:
• In Anne Arundel County (16 per
cent Negro enrollment) desegregation
will advance to the eighth grade of all
secondary schools, with one exception.
In one junior high the program will be
accelerated to include the ninth grade.
Formerly all-white schools in Anne
Arundel have been opened to Negro
transfers under the following time
table:
SCHOOL YEAR
1956- 57
1957- 58
1958- 59
1959- 60
1960- 61
GRADES
1 to 3
4
5 and 6
7
8
In the school year just coming to a
close, Anne Arundel had 568 Negroes
in 28 formerly all-white schools. Those
integrated represented a little less than
10 per cent of the Negro enrollment.
• Baltimore County (five per cent
Negro enrollment) is closing out a two-
room Negro school this month as part
of its consolidation program, under
way since the 1930s. The 39 children
remaining in the Bengies Elementary
School will be reassigned to other, pre
dominantly white schools, and their
teachers also will be reassigned.
NEW SCHOOLS
The county is opening eight new
schools in the fall, all on a desegregated
basis. During the 1959-60 school year
the county had a third of its 4,056
Negro pupils in formerly all-white
schools.
• Charles County in southern Mary
land has stepped up its desegregation
schedule. With the second highest pro
portion of Negroes (45 per cent) among
county school systems, Charles began
desegregation at the first-grade level
in 1956 under a grade-a-year plan.
By normal stages the program would
extend to the fifth grade this fall. But
the county has opened all elementary
grades to Negro transfers in the 1960-
61 school year. The notice reads:
“Parents who wish to enroll their
child in the first, second, third, fourth,
fifth or sixth grade for the school year
1960-61 in a school other than the one
in which he would normally be en
rolled may procure ‘Request For Ad
mission’ blanks ... at the Charles
County Board of Education office, La
Plata, Md., or at the elementary school
MISSOURI
St. Louis Bond Issue Defeated Again
ST. LOUIS, Mo.
or the second time this year,
the St. Louis electorate on
May 17 defeated a $29,535,000
bond issue proposal for school
construction and fire safety in
schools.
Much of the construction
money was sought in order to
provide expanded school facilities
in areas where the Negro popula
tion has greatly increased in re
cent years.
The vote was 35,764 for the
bond issue proposal submitted by
the St. Louis Board of Education,
and 21.424 against. This was 2,362
favorable votes short of the re
quired majority of two-thirds of
those voting. At a special election
last March 22 (Southern School
News, April 1960) the proposals
were considered separately rath
er than combined as in the May
vote.
In the earlier defeat, both the
school construction and the fire-
safety proposals got substantial
majorities but not the required
two-thirds. The earlier vote was
much heavier. For example, the
school construction bonds pro
posal—calling for $24,297,000—re
ceived 62,101 favorable votes and
35,784 against. In the May bal
loting, the total vote was only
57,272.
The point that a great deal of the
construction funds would go for new
schools and additions in the west cen
tral part of the city, where Negro resi
dential expansion has been most mark
ed in recent years, was made clear in
newspaper publicity concerning crowd
ed school conditions, although the racial
factor was in no way emphasized.
About a week before the second bond
issue election went down to defeat,
Supt. of Instruction Philip J. Hickey
announced that children now using
inadequate school facilities in their own
neighborhoods would be transported
by bus to all parts of the city having
classroom space available—if the bond
issue failed.
RACE NOT MENTIONED
There was no mention of race—the
St. Louis public schools no longer keep
records as to race of pupils—but as a
practical matter the transporting of
children by bus meant sending a great
many Negro children from the crowded
central and west central areas where
they live to schools on the far South
Side and in north St. Louis, areas that
are predominantly white and in some
cases all white.
In the first bond issue defeat, as was
reported in SSN, the defeat was caused
by lack of enthusiasm among voters
in predominantly white south St. Louis
and the big majorities were in the Ne
gro wards, where the school improve
ments were badly needed.
Hickey pointed out that only 1,200
children were being transported out of
their own neighborhoods at present,
because use is being made of basement
classrooms, space rented from churches,
and space obtained by permitting
crowding in classrooms.
It was Hickey’s warning that if the
bond issue failed the expedients that
‘I’m Not Playing Hooky,
I Fell Out.’
had kept the transportation problem
within rather narrow limits would be
eliminated, and the 5,000 children would
be sent each day to sections of the city
having ample space.
“It is our intention,” said Hickey, “to
see that every child gets a reasonable
opportunity for a good education in the
proper classroom environment.
FACILITIES AVAILABLE
“There are facilities available, but
transportation, even at some distance,
would be necessary to make full use of
them. If the bond issue fails, we will
make use of them.
“If it passes, we will construct facil
ities in the areas in which the children
live.”
A survey of the city’s elementary
schools indicated that there were 164
vacant classrooms scattered over the
city, in 29 schools. The overcrowded
schools were for the most part in the
central area west of Grand Boulevard
to the city limits—the area into which
Negroes have moved in increasing
numbers.
Hickey’s announcement was a clear
statement of intention to use whatever
facilities the Board of Education had
available, rather than permit over
crowding in one section and empty
classrooms in another. Cost of trans
porting the 5,000 children was estimated
at not less than $213,000 a year.
50 PER CENT NEGRO
Most of the vacant classrooms are in
south St. Louis, which has been a
comparatively stable residential area
for some years and has not been pene
trated to any extent by Negro resi
dents. The city’s elementary school
population is now about 50 per cent
Negro.
In response to a question, Hickey
said some Negro children would prob
ably have to be taken to certain south
St. Louis schools that have no Negroes.
He said the bus system was a last
resort. The St. Louis policy, he said, is
that “every pupil should go to school
in his own neighborhood.”
Nevertheless the bond issue proposal
was beaten. There was every expecta
tion that it would be submitted to vot
ers again. # # #
Oklahoma
(Continued From Page 7)
ago their average daily attendance
probably wouldn’t meet the minimum
of 40 required for operating a high
school next year. The last check by
state depprtment auditors revealed an
ADA of 35.15 for Langston.
District electors voted to transfer
their high school pupils to other dis
tricts and to operate only an elemen
tary school, Dr. Hodge said. Most of
the Langston high school students
probably will attend the integrated
Coyle school, located two miles away.
Some may go to Guthrie, however.
Langston still has a substantial elemen
tary enrollment; the 1958-59 ADA was
117 for all eight grades.
As many as five Negro teachers
could lose their jobs as a result of the
closing of Langston High. The closing
also will reduce the number of Negro
high schools in Oklahoma to 30. The
present total is 33 but Wewoka and
Enid also have announced plans for
closing their Negro senior highs after
the current term. In 1954 Oklahoma
had 96 Negro high schools.
RURAL DISTRICT
Sams, a rural district operating the
only segregated school in Seminole
County outside of Wewoka, was threat
ened with loss of its “wing” building
by a merger of three other districts. A
series of annexation moves this spring
combined Excelsior, Butner and Crom
well.
Butner has a number of Negroes
within its boundaries but under a lib
eral transfer policy by both school
boards and the courts, most of the Ne
gro pupils have transferred to the
Johnson Grove School in the Sams
District and to Wewoka’s Douglass
High School. Only a few Negroes at
tended the Butner school.
“We haven’t cared whether they came
to school here or not,” explained But
ner Supt. Paul Martin.
BOARDS FRIENDLY
Because the two boards have been
quite friendly, Butner has not protest
ed the transfer of its Negroes to Sams.
The transfers account for most of the
enrollment in the Johnson Grove
School. Sams has kept the “wing”
building in operation because, as a
former separate school with county
wide boundaries, it was entitled to
state aid for transportation. Through a
statutory provision this continued even
after desegregation. However, the white
school in Sams, a dependent elementary
unit, was not eligible for such aid.
“So the whites want to keep John
son Grove because of the state aid
they get on the bus,” Curtis Christian,
Seminole County superintendent of
schools, pointed out, “and the Negroes
like it because they have their own
school.”
Whether this setup will continue aft
er the present year was still a question
at month’s end. Christian said it’s pos
sible the expanded Butner district may
want to keep its Negroes at home to
utilize their average daily attendance.
However, the Negro children involved
—about 25 in the elementary grades
and eight or 10 in high school—have
already applied for transfers.
SET DEADLINE
Martin, who talked as if he, person
ally, would have preferred having the
Negroes attend his school all along,
was unable to say whether the Butner
board would protest the transfers.
Christian set a deadline of June 3 for
hearing protests.
If the Butner board should protest
and succeed in blocking the transfers,
the Negro children will have to attend
school in their own district and the
Johnson Grove “wing” building pre
sumably will have to be closed. This
would send the few Negro pupils in the
Sams District into the white school for
the first time.
F. D. Moon, principal of Oklahoma
City’s Douglass High School and a vet
eran Negro leader, commented on the
Negro teacher’s plight before Gov. J.
Howard Edmondson’s Committee on
Human Relations, of which he is a
member.
Moon said Oklahoma has received
more criticism nationally over its
treatment of Negro teachers under in
tegration than any one other thing. De
segregation has cost 360 Negroes their
teaching jobs.
Expanding on his remarks later for a
Southern School News correspondent,
Moon explained:
“Most people give Oklahoma credit
for doing a good job on integration.
But we just look good by comparison
with other states in the South. We
haven’t done quite so well in one re
spect and that’s dismissal of Negro
teachers.” # # #
MAuibta
St. Louis Post Dispatch