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PAGE 6—AUGUST I960—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
FLORIDA
Negroes Assigned to Two More Dade Schools
MIAMI, Fla.
D ade County, which began
token integration at two
schools last year, assigned two
Negro pupils to other white
schools. A number of other re
quests for transfer were turned
down. (See “School Boards and
Schoolmen.”)
In Tampa, 107 Negroes were
among 476 children applying for
transfers. Officials of the National
Assn, for the Advancement of
Colored People said this was part
of a massive effort to end the pat
tern of school segregation in sev
eral larger counties. (See “School
Boards and Schoolmen.”)
Arguments and motions were
made in two of the five school in
tegration suits pending in the
state. (See “Legal Action.”)
School integration in Dade County—
so far the only county in Florida to
try it—will present a different picture
in the new year. The school board,
acting under the pupil assignment law,
admitted two Negro girls to previously
all-white schools.
The children are sisters, Rosetta and
Barbara Pearson. Rosetta, the older,
was assigned to North Miami Beach
Junior High, where she will be the
only Negro in a student body of about
1,200. It is the first school above the
elementary level to be opened to Ne
groes in Florida. Barbara will attend
the 35-year-old Fulford Elementary
School, which has a capacity of 600,
but was only half filled last year.
Mrs. Doll Pearson, mother of the
girls and seven other children, had
been trying for two years to get them
into white schools. The family moved
to Miami five years ago from Green
ville, Miss.
When she received notice the trans
fer had been approved, Mrs. Pearson
said, “I got down on my knees and
thanked the Lord.”
DENIED 12 REQUESTS
In making the new assignments, the
school board denied the requests of
12 other Negroes for transfer. One was
a brother of the Pearson girls, who
will continue to attend the all-Negro
North Dade High. Another passed over
was Theodore Gibson Jr., son of the
Rev. Theodore R. Gibson, Dade County
NAACP chairman. Young Gibson is the
plaintiff in the long-pending suit that
seeks to end segregation in the Dade
schools.
The board acted without explana
tion. It was pointed out unofficially,
however, that the Pearson home in a
small Negro section in North Dade is
within walking distance of both schools
involved in the assignments. Formerly
the children were transported by bus
to Bunche Park Elementary School,
several miles away.
In the Gibson case, it was explained,
the youth fives nearer the Booker T.
Washington High, which he presently
attends, than the Miami Jackson High
to which he asked transfer.
2 WHITE TRANSFERS
At the same session the school board
approved the transfer of two white
pupils from the Orchard Villa Ele
mentary School, which last year be
came the first school in Florida to de
segregate. Orchard Villa closed the
year with eight white and 490 Negro
pupils. It now seems likely that it will
be all-Negro next year.
The Air Base Elementary School,
which serves primarily the families of
personnel at the SAC base near Home
stead, will continue as the county’s
other integrated school. At June’s clos
ing, it had 745 white and 22 Negro
children. Enrollment and the propor
tional racial makeup is expected to re
main about the same.
Some school officials considered the
assignments to Fulford and North Mi
ami Beach Junior High the first gen
uine school integration in Florida. Both
schools integrated last year were faced
with unusual circumstances.
In the case of Orchard Villa, it is lo
cated in a district rapidly changing
from white to Negro, and was faced
with standing idle through loss of its
white students. The area is now al
most totally Negro.
The Air Base school was following a
pattern set in other schools on or near
a military installation.
PARTIAL SATISFACTION
Miami Negro leaders, while express
ing partial satisfaction, said they will
continue to press for complete desegre
gation. Six of the Negro pupils whose
transfer applications were denied asked
for public hearings as the first step
toward eventual court action. Decisions
in the other cases were accepted.
Five all-white schools were involved
in the decisions.
The school board said the transfers
were routine. They were made in the
course of passing on 621 requests, of
which 358 were denied. No integration
was involved in the others.
Apparently the community generally
approved the assignments. The Miami
Daily News ran a spot check of the
areas directly involved and reported 56
per cent of the families contacted fa
vored dropping the color line in schools.
Opposed was 38 per cent and the oth
ers had no opinion, the paper said.
State school officials would not dis
cuss the Dade decision. Ralph Odum,
assistant attorney general who special
izes in segregation matters, said it
would be improper to comment.
“I do not have any information on
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Pupil Achievement Levels Improving, Tests Show
WASHINGTON, D. C.
C ity-wide standardized testing
of Washington’s elementary-
pupils showed continued gains in
average achievement levels in the
1959-60 school year. (See “Dis
trict Schools.”)
A “manpower utilization” sur
vey of the District government
showed that the school system
leads all other municipal depart
ments in the number of Negroes
assigned to positions of high sal
ary and responsibility. (See “Dis
trict Schools.”)
James M. Nabrit Jr., a former
attorney for the National Assn,
for the Advancement of Colored
People, was named president of
Howard University. (See “Na
tional Affairs.”)
The 700,000-member National
Education Assn, searched for a
policy statement on school deseg
regation which would satisfy its
southern and northern members.
(See “National Affairs.”)
A summary of test results for grades
one, three, five and six, released by
school officials July 7, indicated across-
the-board gains in most subjects tested.
Median achievement levels for Dis
trict pupils continued to lag several
months behind national norms. But
Supt. Carl F. Hansen and Irene C.
Hypps, assistant superintendent in
charge of pupil appraisal, commented
that cities with heavy concentrations
of underprivileged children cannot
meet medians based on a normal popu
lation distribution.
MAKING PROGRESS
Though the average intelligence level
of Washington youngsters falls some
what below the national standard, pu
pils here are making normal or bet-
ter-than-normal progress, Hansen said.
Pupils who could have been expected
to make normal gains of 3.4 years be
tween grades three and six showed ac
tual improvement of 3.5 to 3.9 years.
Against a national norm of 6.6, the
sixth graders had median scores of 6.0
ui paragraph meaning, 6.5 in word
meaning, arithmetic reasoning and
arithmetic computation, 6.6 in spelling,
and 6.4 in language.
Five years ago, Washington sixth
grade median scores in the same sub
jects were, respectively, 5.4, 6.1, 5.8,
6.0, 6.1 and 6.0. Test scores showed
similar gains for pupils in the other
elementary grades. District schools have
been desegregated five years.
As in previous years, the testing pro
gram did not include some 3,000 se
verely retarded pupils receiving special
instruction. Such pupils are also ex
cluded from the nationwide testing
which establishes the norms.
EXPECTS IMPROVEMENTS
Hansen told reporters that the test
results showed the District schools “are
doing a magnificent job,” and added:
“We expect to do better.”
He stressed that despite the fact that
District median scores trail national
norms, many Washington students are
scoring far above normal levels on the
tests. In the third grade, for example,
about 1,000 of the 11,000 tested scored
at the fifth grade level or higher in
several subjects. Several hundred made
the highest possible score in each sub
ject.
A “readiness” test administered to
entering first graders demonstrated—as
have previous testing programs—the
impact of kindergarten training on
school performance.
8.000 TESTED
Some 8,000 kindergarten pupils tested
in May 1959 achieved a median score
of 63 on the “readiness” test—just short
of the national median of 66. About
3,000 first graders without kindergar
ten experience made a median score
of only 56 when they were tested last
September.
The report suggested that kindergar
ten opportunities may be “too limited
in neighborhoods where such pre-first
grade stimulation is most needed,” and
called for extension of kindergarten fa
cilities.
At the beginning of the last school
year, about 1,000 children were on kin
dergarten waiting fists. The number
was reduced to about 500 during the
year, as new schools opened. Hansen
said he did not know yet whether kin
dergarten applications would exceed
capacity next fall.
MANPOWER SURVEY
A “manpower survey” released July
9 by the District government showed
that almost half the city employes are
Negroes, but they are grouped chiefly
in lower-paying jobs. The school sys
tem was an exception.
The survey showed Negroes holding
46.8 percent of the 23,180 municipal jobs
as of March 31. Of the 10,843 Negro
jobholders, only 11 earned more than
$10,000 a year (compared to 195 whites)
and 581 earned more than $5,000 (com
pared to 3,611 whites).
District Commissioner Robert E.
McLaughlin said the study showed
progress toward carrying out the city’s
non-discrimination policy.
For the school system, the survey
showed that of 4,731 “professional and
administrative” positions, 3,004—63.5
per cent—were filled by Negroes. Ne
groes held 109 of the 245 positions in
the school system’s top 10 salary-
classes. In class 18, which includes
classroom teachers, Negroes held 65
per cent of the 4,385 positions.
James M. Nabrit Jr., the newly ap
pointed president of Howard Univer
sity, announced
July 21 that he
would withdraw
from active per
sonal participation
in Negro civil
rights campaigns.
Nabrit, a former
attorney for the
National Assn, for
the Advancement
of Colored People
and a major
strategist in the legal battle to break
down racial barriers, said he would
sever those ties “for the best interests
of Howard University.”
Nabrit, who argued the District’s
school desegregation case before the
Supreme Court while serving on the
Howard faculty, said he favored par
ticipation in civil rights activities by
students and faculty members.
But as the university president, who
speaks for Howard as an institution,
he said he felt it was “wise” to stay
out of court battles.
TO TRAIN LEADERS
Earlier in the month, Nabrit told an
interviewer that Howard would direct
its program to the training of leaders
who can carry on the campaign for
Negro rights. The university’s role, he
said, would be to give the nation the
best possible Negro leadership.
Ideally, he said, Negroes should go to
any college they choose and Howard
should be a university like any other,
without racial orientation. But such a
situation may be 20 or 25 years off, he
suggested.
A major obligation of the university,
Nabrit said, is to help students who
come from segregated southern school
systems with inferior educational back
grounds. He said the university is ob
ligated to give them the learning to
compensate for their handicaps.
Nabrit said he planned a stepped-up
campaign for scholarship funds to give
qualified students without money ac
cess to Howard’s classrooms.
He also argued expanded remedial
programs at the university so that it
becomes more selective in accepting
the students with “the greatest poten
tial.”
Nabrit said he was confident that his
NAACP background would not hurt
the university in its relations with
Congress, on which it depends for much
of its financial support.
“I have dealt with southern con
gressmen all my life. When it comes
to campaigning, they say nasty things.
When it comes to basic rights and
helping the Negro, they often feel like
me,” he said.
“I feel that the position of the south
ern politicians is forced upon them
by electoral considerations. They are
tied down by their system. It frequent
ly embarrasses them.”
TO DRAFT STATEMENT
The board of directors of the Na
tional Education Assn., a 700,000-mem
ber professional group with headquar
ters here, authorized its resolutions
committee July 2 to call together Negro
and white southern leaders in an at
tempt to draft a policy statement on
school desegregation which would be
acceptable to all segments of the NEA
membership.
The action followed a bitter three-
hour debate at the NEA’s recent Los
Angeles convention over the wording
of a desegregation resolution.
In several previous conventions the
delegates had settled foi a mildly word
ed resolution calling on all citizens to
“approach this matter of integration
with the spirit of fair play, good will
and respect for law.” But there has
been sentiment for a stronger stand by
the teachers’ and school administrators’
organization.
RESOLUTION PASSAGE
The resolution passed in July after
a floor fight included this passage:
“The association commends the com
munities which have handled their
problems concerning desegregation in
such a manner as to assume their re
sponsibility to maintain the public
schools and their obligation to recog
nize the professional rights of teachers.”
Opponents of a stronger resolution
contended that it could hurt white
teachers in the South who were trying
to keep the public schools open in the
face of strong anti-integration pres
sures. # # #
NABRIT
these cases,” he said, “while the scho
board is thoroughly familiar with ft
facts and conditions that exist.”
TAMPA REQUESTS
In Tampa, school officials discloss
that 476 pupils have applied for trail;
fer under the pupil assignment la:
Of these 107 are Negroes. How mat
of these sought admission to whi
schools was not known but the Tamj
Tribune said it was “unlikely” tR
this number of transfers was the n
suit of normal changes of address (
advancement in grades.
Supt. Crockett Famell of the Hill,
borough system said that each ca
would be considered on its merits ut
der the assignment law. Decisions w
be announced early in August, in tin
to permit appeals before school se<
sions start.
These developments in the state’s ti
largest counties led to an estimate tb
perhaps 2,000 Negroes in all parts of ft
state will seek assignment to whil
schools, in a massive test of segregatio:
Many, if denied, will ask public heat
ings, setting the administrative basis f(
ultimate court action. Thus the patter
of attacks on school segregation, pledge
by NAACP leaders, begins to appear.
CHARGES HARRASSMENT
In Palm Beach County, attorney Wi
liam Holland, who has been trying f;
four years to have his son accept;
in a white school, charged the scho
officials with harassment.
Holland said school officials requin
parents wishing to transfer their chi
dren to apply personally for applie
tion blanks. He was turned down whf
he applied for 50 applications in h
half of parents who wish to join in 1
long legal fight. A recent federal con
ruling made Holland’s suit a class ai
tion, opening it to others who wish:
become co-plaintiffs.
“Our law office has the right as coui
sel for these people to secure the a]
plication forms for them,” said Ho
land. “The purpose of the scho
board’s action is to harass the peop
and put a stumbling block in the
way.”
School Supt. Howell Watkins di
dared his decision was to give transfi
application blanks to any who came:
person or made their request by le:
ter.
“I didn’t feel I should give them oi
in large amounts,” he said. At the sug
gestion of their attorney, the schoi
board confirmed Watkins’ decision <
official policy.
LEGAL ACTION
For the first time in the two yea
that a court fight on segregation i
Hillsborough County has been pent
ing, attorneys for the school boa:
were required to file an answer.
Upon first hearing of motions, tl
suit was dismissed by Federal Judf
George W. Whitehurst on grounds th
the eight plaintiffs had not exhaust*
administrative remedies. The Circt
Court of Appeals said this made t
difference to the basic issues and suS
gested that Judge Whitehurst proce*
with the trial.
The school board’s answer said int*
gration of schools is not mandator
school administrators being requir*
only not to maintain segregated schoo'
Under the assignment law, they co<
tended, there is no segregation by rat
The Volusia County suit, consider*
by NAACP attorneys to be the m 5
sweeping yet filed in Florida, came b
fore Federal Judge Bryant Simpson 1
Jacksonville on a motion for abat
ment.
The school board asked that acti<
be withheld for the present. Attorn?
pointed out the school board has ask*
the state Circuit Court for a declak
tory decree interpreting the pupil *
signment law and questioning the ri?
of a group of petitioners who asked ‘
integration.
FEDERAL ACTION
These petitioners, generally, are ^
same group of parents who filed ^
federal court action.
Without questioning the jurisdicti
of the federal court, Warren Ball J
representing the school board, said $
under a general policy of law the co"
first obtaining jurisdiction retains
Ball also said the decision of the sb
court might make federal litigate
unnecessary.
Constance Motley, New York att?
ney for the NAACP, said there
no conflict in the two actions. J u ^f
Simpson, she argued, may grant
to the petitioners in federal court V--'
out passing on the validity of the P u ^
assignment law.
“I don’t think who won the race
the courthouse has anything to do v,1 i
the case,” said Judge Simpson as
took the matter under advisement.
# *