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PAGE 14—MAY, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
MARYLAND
Carroll County to Review Its Desegregation Program
BALTIMORE
he Carroll County Board of
Education has agreed to re
study its desegregation program,
following a request by a biracial
citizens group that the county
produce a plan of complete de
segregation. The board’s action is
the first indirect response so far
reported to the Maryland Board
of Education’s recommendation
that all county school systems re
appraise and, if necessary, revise
their desegregation policies.
The request for a plan was made by
countians who have formed a human
relations committee, representatives of
which met with the county school
board to urge the gradual elimination
of Negro schools in the light of the
state board’s Jan, 30 declaration of
Maryland educational policy.
The state board called upon county
school systems “to guarantee that pro
cedures respecting transfer, bus trans
portation and assignment shall apply
without regard to race” and “to provide
that all future educational programs
be made in expectation of and in the
furtherance of desegregated schools.”
The Rev. M. Nevin Kirk, a spokes
man for the citizens group, which was
organized last December, says that his
goal is “truly integrated public schools.”
He says that the county’s current
“open-door” policy permits parents of
Negro children to apply to have them
attend white schools and that such re
quests have never been denied. But
his group, he explains, seeks the event-
Maryland Highlights
The Carroll County Board of
Education has agreed to restudy its
desegregation program as the first
indirect response to the Maryland
Board of Education’s call upon
county school districts to reappraise
their policies. The restudy in Car-
roll was stimulated by a biracial
citizens committee seeking the elim
ination of Negro schools.
Nine counties report no changes
in desegregation policies, while one
—Cecil County—has eased Negro
transfer requirements.
Enrollment data released in April
indicates that more than 40 per cent
of Negro pupils in Maryland are in
schools with white pupils. Outside of
Baltimore, however, fewer than 20
per cent are in biracial schools.
Organized medicine in Maryland
has recorded itself in favor of equal
opportunities for Negroes in medi
cal training, and a Negro has been
elected president of the Maryland
Association of Future Teachers of
America.
ual elimination of the two all-Negro
schools in the county.
“We hope to do this by supporting
and working with school officials,” the
Rev. Mr. Kirk says, and he adds, “As
a starter—just a suggestion—we pro
pose integrating all first-grade pupils
in September.”
Negro Ratio Small
Carroll County lies in the central
western part of Maryland where the
proportion of Negroes is low and where
some neighboring counties are far
along the road toward abolition of sep
arate Negro schools.
Carroll was one of the first counties
in 1955 to adopt a desegregation pol
icy, permitting Negroes to transfer by
their own request to white schools. In
the current year, there are 51 in five
formerly all-white schools, while 462
remain in two all-Negro schools. Car-
roll has 10,417 white pupils.
Robert A. Scott, who, along with the
Rev. Mr. Kirk, is one of the white
members of the human relations com
mittee’s steering group, says the com
mittee is concerned with all aspects
of racial or religious discrimination and
feels that problems “can best be han
dled at the local level by local people.”
“The Salisbury example was before
us,” he explains, referring to the suc
cess of a biracial committee in Salis
bury, Md., in getting restaurants,
movies and some motels desegregated
without demonstrations by students at
a nearby Negro college.
‘It Would Be Chaos’
“Our concern with the schools,” Scott
says, “is that there is no real desegre
gation plan and no time set for the
elimination of segregation. As it is
now, Negroes may apply for transfers,
and the applications are granted. But
if they all exercised the right, it would
be chaos. Our group seeks a plan for
a complete change and it should have
a time element.”
Pointing to nearby Frederick Coun
ty, which has gradually eliminated all
but one of its Negro schools, Scott says
that Negro parents in Carroll are dis
satisfied and do not think it is right
that they should have to make individ
ual moves to bring about desegregation.
Taking issue with the “stock answer”
that Negroes have the opportunity to
go to white schools and are not inter
ested, Scott declares: “Lots of Negroes
are interested. They turn out at our
meetings; they want the change.”
Scott cites the fact that Negroes are
transported from Sykesville to the one
large Negro school in Westminster, the
county seat, when they could be going
to a school in their own town without
the 20-mile ride. He also says Negroes
are hauled from one end of Westmin
ster to the other when their residential
area is near a predominantly white
school.
Asked about opposition, Scott re
plied, “There is not any determined
opposition that we know of, but there
are many, of course, who would rather
Under Survey
Maryland Desegregation
District
Enrollment
Negroes
Brel.
Total
Negroes
w/Whites Schls.
Grades
Deseg.
Allegany
... 16,242
295
295
15
all
1955
Anne Arundel ...
... 44,613
6,845
1,156
37
1-9
1956*
Baltimore City .
...175,037
93,265
51,347
102
all
1954
Baltimore Co. ...
... 91,238
4,010
1,744
68
all
1955
Calvert
... 4,577
2,375
0
0
all
Caroline
... 4,496
1,103
0
0
all
Carroll
... 10,930
513
51
5
all
1955
Cecil
... 9,777
627
153
12
all
1955
Charles
... 7,754
3,488
21
1
1-8
1956
Dorchester
... 6,168
2,280
0
0
7-12
Frederick
... 14,661
1,330
954
21
all
1956
Garrett
... 4,803
0
0
0
Harford
... 17,406
1,995
287
16
1-10
1956
Howard
... 8,313
1,131
42
8
1-10
1956
Kent
... 3,393
898
0
0
all
Montgomery
... 77,636
3,034
3,034
75
all
1955
Prince George’s .
... 74,574
9,136
432
36
all
1955
Queen Anne’s ..
... 3,872
1,155
0
0
all
St. Mary’s
. .. 5,921
1,509
8
2
all
1958
Somerset
... 4,376
1,950
0
0
all
Talbot
... 4,239
1,399
25
3
1-8
1956
Washington
... 18,880
384
180
18
all
1955
Wicomico
... 10,720
2,931
0
0
all
Worcester
... 5,529
2,226
0
0
all
—
Totals
. .625,155
143,879
59,729
419
*Anne Arundel admitted a few Negroes to white classes during the
1955-56 school year in advance of formal desegregation in fall of 1956.
Predominantly White
Senior Colleges
Frostburg .. 1,274
538
1,725
Total Date
Enrollment Negroes Deseg.ff
3
0t
30*
400 plus*
1955-V
1955-V
1955-V
1936-c
St. Teachers,
St. Teachers, Salisbury
St. Teachers, Towson .
Univ. of Md 24,172
Junior Colleges
Allegany Comm 102 5 1961-v
Anne Arundel Comm. ... 264 4-6* 1961-y
Baltimore Jr 1,798 200* 1954-v
Catonsville Comm 281 3 1957-y
Charles Co. Jr 229 11 1958-V
Essex Comm 320 1 1957-y
Frederick Comm 207 4 1957-y
Hagerstown Jr 515 Of 1946-V
Harford Jr 351 4 1957-y
Montgomery Jr 2,023 12-15* 1955-V
Prince George’s Comm. .. 486 25-30* 1958-y
St. Mary’s Sem 249 0 1955-y
Total 34,534 702-712 plus
Predominantly Negro Total Date
Senior Colleges Enrollment Whites Deseg.
Coppin St. Teachers 357 l 1955-y
Maryland St 545 17 1886-V
Morgan St 2,602 NA** 1867-V
St. Teachers, Bowie 360 0 1955-y
Total 3,864 18 plus
"Official estimates in lieu of actual count. Records are
not kept on racial basis at most institutions. The
University of Maryland reports more than 300 Negro
graduate students and more than 100 undergraduates.
**Morgan is known to have some white students but
the number is not released.
tSome Negroes in previous years; none in fall, 1961,
ft V—Voluntary C—Court ordered
-
I
j
:
:
:
have the status quo, because they know
what that is.” Back in 1955-56, Carroll
had some vocal opposition to school
desegregation, including an unsuccess
ful court suit by 38 white countians
who sought to invalidate county policy.
The Carroll County Board of Educa
tion agreed that “study be given to the
problem and that time be devoted for
further discussion at a future meeting.”
Previously, no county group had
sought to have the board do anything
more to further desegregation than it
was then doing.
Under the existing policy in Carroll
County, Negroes make individual ap
plications to attend white schools. The
dates upon which transfer requests
may be made this year are June 4, 5
and 6. Under the policy, which was
last enunciated in March of 1960, the
school board proposed (1) “to continue
to maintain and operate existing
schools in present locations for as long
as need for such facilities exists,” and
(2) “to continue school transportation
on present routes to existing schools
for as long a period as need for such
transportation continues to exist.”
Superintendents Queried
On Changes Of Policies
Early in April, letters were sent to
county school superintendents, on be
half of Southern School News, asking
whether policy changes had occurred
in response to the Maryland Board of
Education’s restatement of desegrega
tion policy on Jan. 30. Carroll’s school
superintendent, Samuel M. Jenness,
replied: “Our board has not acted to
establish different policies as yet, but
there may be one forthcoming.”
In reply to the same question, the
superintendent in Cecil County, Robert
A. Gibson, revealed that his board had
made one change in advance of the
state board’s call for a re-examination
of desegregation policy.
Under a ruling adopted on Jan. 9:
“Children who are entering a Cecil
County public school for the first time
are not required to apply for transfer
approval. They may attend the school
located in the area in which they re
side. This includes children who are
attending school for the first time and
those who have been enrolled in a
school that is not a part of the Cecil
County public school system.”
Like Carroll, Cecil has a small per
centage of Negroes and a voluntary
transfer program that dates from 1955.
But there has been more movement
from Negro to white schools in Cecil:
153 of its 627 Negro pupils are now en
rolled in predominantly white schools.
The change in policy regarding chil
dren entering Cecil schools for the
first time means that Negro children
need not enroll initially in Negro
schools before seeking admission to de
segregated schools.
Dr. David S. Jenkins, the school su
perintendent of Anne Arundel County,
replied to the question by writing:
“Our desegregation plans continue to
be in line with the policy originally
established by the [Anne Arundel]
Board of Education. This coming year
we will have colored youngsters in all
of our 10th grades, which you will
realize is the first year of senior high
school. [Anne Arundel previously has
desegregated the first nine grades in
six annual steps. ] This is true in all ex
cept one school, Arundel High School,
where colored youngsters will enter the
11th grade.
“We require no special transfer re.
quests. We have already made a check
on numbers, which is necessary in or
der that we may know the individual
school enrollments for the coming
school year for teacher-placement pur
poses.”
Lying immediately south of Balti
more, Anne Arundel has 6,845 Negroes
in a school population of 44,613. In the
desegregation moves to date, 1,156 of
the Negroes have entered 37 predomi
nantly white schools.
No Changes
Replying from Baltimore County,
Supt. William S. Sartorius says, “On
May 18, 1961 the Baltimore Coun
ty Board of Education declared that all
public schools in Baltimore County are
desegregated, as of Sept. 1, 1961. Since
this action of the board was taken prior
to the State Board of Education policy
statement of Jan. 30, 1962, we have
not found it necessary to make any
changes in our policies or procedures.
Of the 4,010 Negro pupils in Balti
more County, less than half attend
the predominantly white schools and
the remainder are in the dwindling
number of all-Negro schools. A vast
suburban area of Baltimore, the metro
politan county has a total school en
rollment of more than 90,000.
From Calvert County, where Negro
pupils slightly outnumber white ones
in the public school enrollment, Supt-
Maurice A. Dunkle reports that the
county board “has issued no further
statements in elaboration of its ‘com'
59,729 Negroes Attending Schools with Whites
More than 40 per cent of all Negro
pupils in Maryland are attending
schools with white pupils, according
to enrollment data released by the
Maryland Department of Education in
April.
With a racial breakdown of the
school population available for the first
time in the current school year, the
figures show that Maryland has 481,-
276 white and 143,879 Negro pupils,
59,729 of the latter of whom are in
biracial schools, or 41.5 per cent.
As is usually the case, the Baltimore
figures bulk large in the totals and
distort the statewide picture. Of the
59,729 Negroes in schools with whites,
51,347 are in Baltimore city, where 55
per cent of the Negro enrollment is in
biracial schools .In the 22 county school
systems which have children of both
races (one Maryland county does not),
8,382 Negroes of 50,614 are in formerly
all-white schools, or 16.6 per cent.
City Concentration
Nearly two-thirds of all the Negro
pupils in Maryland are in Baltimore
city, and most of the increase has oc
curred there. The enrollment data re
cords a Negro gain of 6,977 in Maryland
since the last school year, and
5,631 of the additional Negroes are en
rolled in city schools while 1,366 are in
county schools.
Because of the heavy city concentra
tion, the proportion of Negroes in
Maryland schools as a whole has in
creased only slightly—from 22.9 to 23
per cent.
Decrease in Five Counties
Five Maryland counties registered a
numerical decrease in the number of
Negro pupils. These were Allegany,
Baltimore County, Kent, Montgomery
and St. Mary’s. These same five plus
an additional five comities (Anne
Arundel, Harford, Howard, Prince
George’s and Anne Arundel) had pro
portionately fewer Negroes in relation
to white pupils. In most instances the
percentage of Negroes dropped as the
number of white pupils swelled in
areas experiencing suburban growth.
The Baltimore city figures also dis
tort the desegregation picture. Of the
recorded gain of 13,786 Negroes in
schools with white children, 12,141 of
the increase occurred in Baltimore.
Elsewhere in the state, the combined
gain was 1,645, and most of it occurred
in the suburbanized counties outside
Baltimore and Washington.
Leaving Baltimore out of the picture,
Maryland is divided racially into two
roughly equal parts. Of the 22 biracial
county school systems, 11 have less than
16 per cent Negro enrollments, while 11
have above that figure.
Almost all the actual desegregation
has taken place in the counties where
the percentages of Negroes are low. In
the 11 counties where the percentages of
Negroes are from medium to high, eight
have no actual desegregation and the
other three together have 54 Negroes in
biracial schools.
To put the figures another way: Of
the 8,382 county Negro children in
schools with whites, 8,328 of them are
in counties where the percentage of Ne
gro pupils runs from 2 per cent to no
more than 15 per cent. In the other 11
counties, where the percentage of Ne
groes range from 25 to 52 per cent, little
or no actual desegregation has taken
place.
Other Counties
The three counties that have relative
ly high percentages of Negroes and
some actual desegregation are Charles,
St. Mary’s and Talbot. The first two are
in southern Maryland and have 45 and
26 per cent Negro enrollments respec
tively. Charles has 21 of its 3,488 Ne
groes in one biracial school, while St.
Mary’s has eight of 1,509 in two schools.
Talbot County is on the Eastern Shore
with a 33 per cent Negro enrollment.
Of its 1,399 Negro pupils, 25 are in
schools with white children.
The counties with no actual desegre
gation and their Negro percentages are:
Calvert, 51.9 per cent; Caroline, 24.5;
Dorchester, 37; Kent, 26.5; Queen
Anne’s, 29.8; Somerset, 44.6; Wicomico,
27.3 and Worcester, 40.3.
In the 11 counties with small percent
ages of Negroes, desegregation moves
relatively swiftly in some and slowly in
others. The ones that in the past year
have shown significantly large increases
in the percentage of Negroes in schools
with whites are these:
County Per cent Negroes
District Desegregated
’59 ’60 ’61
Anne Arundel .... 9 13 17
Baltimore 34 37 44
Cecil 9 17 24
Frederick 45 61 72
Montgomery 53 76 100
Total Desegregation
Montgomery and Allegany counties,
each with less than five per cent Negro
enrollments, have achieved 100 per cent
desegregation. Baltimore and Washing
ton counties, also with less than five per
cent Negro enrollment, have completed
their desegregation programs with just
under half of their Negroes in formerly
all-white schools.
Frederick County with a nine per
cent Negro enrollment has obtained
over 70 per cent desegregation and is
headed for 100 per cent. The other
counties trail behind these five leaders,
all of whom have closed some or all
separate Negro schools to speed the
transition.
pliance’ position concerning the Su
preme Court decisions affecting deseg
regation.” In Calvert County, schools
remain either all-white or all-Negr°
in the absence of Negro moves to ® od '
ify the segregation pattern.
‘Open for All’
In Caroline County, which also has
no actual desegregation, Supt. Wi®
S. Hoopengardner writes, “Since
1955
our schools have been open for
all
children who apply for admiss>° n j
Therefore, our plans for the next scho®
year are no different than in for®
years. The month of April has b®^
set aside for all registration in kind® ^
garten, first grade, and requests
transfers from one school to an°th er .
Caroline lies on the Eastern Sh°
with about a 25 per cent Negro ®
rollment. ,
Wicomico County’s superintend
Royd A. Mahaffey, reports that
school board “has not changed its P° ^
icy regarding integration,” as of AP
and that “this subject has been a 11 ® -
still being discussed by the bo®®
Wicomico is another of the
Shore counties in which no actual
segregation has taken place. . .i gr
Two other ’Shore counties in si® ^
positions also report a continuation
present policies: u ^
Queen Anne’s County Supt. H ^
C. Rhodes reports that registration ^
first-graders will take place on t
8, seventh graders on May 16, and
“application for transfer fro® ^
school to another must be sub® 1
(See MARYLAND, Page 15)