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I
PAGE 8—SEPTEMBER, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
Three Counties Ordered To End
Discrimination in Assignments
(Continued From Page 1)
But he set no firm date for compliance
and withheld portions of his ruling
pending further developments.
“By entering the appropriate injunc
tive order,” he said, “but by delaying
the effective date for the time being
pending the submission of a complete
plan for total elimination of the biracial
aspects of the school systems, I am
hopeful that a reasonable start may
now be made at the end of the first
semester of the upcoming school year,
that is to say, about the end of Janu
ary, 1963.”
On Their Own
He suggested that without waiting for
his final order the counties might want
to go ahead on their own.
“At the opening of schools in early
September, 1962, and thereafter, inde
pendent of the submission and adoption
of the plan . . . (to be submitted by
the school board), the defendants will
be expected and required to examine,
assign, reassign and transfer pupils
throughout the system without racial
discrimination to the extent that such
pupils apply for and are found quali
fied for such transfer and reassignment
under the Florida Pupil Assignment
Law or any other standards to be
applied.”
Judge Simpson said that upon receipt
of detailed plans from the three coun
ties he would either except or reject
the proposals in whole or in part, and
“make such further dispositions as right
and justice require.”
Permanent Injunction
The court’s permanent injunction
specifically prohibits two of the school
boards—Duval and Volusia—of certain
acts, including:
• Operating a compulsory segregated
school system.
• Assigning teachers, principals or
supervisory, supporting or administra
tive personnel on the basis of race or
color, or on the basis of race or color of
the pupils attending the schools that
the personnel serve.
Although the Hillsborough ruling in
cluded no mention of teacher assign
ments or budgets, since these points
were not at issue in the case, Judge
Simpson said that if they were raised
by amendments to the original petition
they would be given consideration by
the court.
Long-Standing Cases
All three of the cases (Braxton et al
v. Board of Public Instruction of Duval
County; Mannings et al v. Board of
Public Instruction of Hillsborough
County; and Tillman et al v. Board of
Public Instruction of Volusia County)
are of long standing. Both the Duval
and Volusia cases have been to the U.S.
Court of Appeals on preliminary mat
ters. In the Duval case, a group of
white persons sought earlier to inter
vene on the grounds that the school
board would not sufficiently defend the
rights of their children who might be
harmed by desegregation. Their plead
ing was thrown out.
Reaction varied in the three counties.
In Tampa, Supt. Crockett Famell de
clined to make any statement. “I will
not comment on it until I talk with the
attorneys,” he said. “That is what we
are paying them for.”
Schoolmen
The Duval County school board said
in a statement: “As soon as an order
is entered from which we do have the
j right to appeal, we intend to do so.”
The statement added that the appeal
would be pursued to a final decision in
the U.S. Supreme Court.
Duval, with about 112,000 pupils, is
the 15th largest school district in the
U.S. and is the largest in the county
still completely segregated.
In Daytona Beach a majority of the
school board indicated that the order
would be complied with. “The federal
courts have made the decision and they
are going to do it (require desegrega
tion), said Monso Tatum, school board
member, in a typical reaction. “I don’t
know anything that can be done to
prevent it.”
Denied Permission
Eight Negro families whose children
were denied admission to a South Dade
white school near Miami were denied
permission to get their case into fed
eral court by intervening as plaintiffs
in a long-standing case.
They asked District Judge Emett
Choate to reopen the old Gibson case,
the first filed in Florida six years ago,
to give them a quick hearing. Judge
Choate declined, basing his decision on
a court policy not to reopen cases final
ly settled.
G. E. Graves, attorney for the par
ents, said he is considering other legal
I steps.
Florida Highlights
Federal Judge Bryan Simpson, in
the most sweeping court decision in
any of the Florida school cases, or
dered three county school boards to
desegregate at all levels. In two i
cases he ordered desegregation of
teaching personnel—the first ruling
for teacher desegregation by a fed
eral court.
Five Florida counties desegregated j
some of their schools for the first'
time as the new term began. Five
other counties, which had some de- j
segregation last year, assigned ad
ditional pupils and desegregated]
additional schools.
Four more junior colleges will
accept Negro students and one took;
steps toward a totally desegregated]
operation.
The petition was brought by families
living in Richmond Heights, a Negrc
subdivision, whose children were as.
signed to a neighboring junior higl
attended by Negroes. They charged
racial bias in the assignment and asket
transfer to the Palmetto Junior Higl
School.
The school board said Palmetto i
already badly overcrowded.
Five Districts Begin First Desegregation of Schools
Desegregation took a spurt as Florida
counties began opening their schools
for the 1962-63 session. Four counties
assigned Negroes to white schools for
the first time. Five that have had some
desegregation increased the number of
assignments and added to the number
of schools. A tenth county school board
had under advisement several requests
for transfer of Negroes to white schools
with prospects that some may be
granted early in the school term.
As classes begin, the tentative count
showed 1,076 Negroes attending with
white children at 56 schools in nine
counties.
Summing up progress in Florida, At
torney General Richard W. Ervin said: |
“Our people have not reacted violent- |
ly but have realistically tried at the |
community level to solve the problems j
in keeping with community attitudes J
and the requirements of court decisions, j
The outlook is that Florida will work [
out the solutions at the community
level without extreme difficulty.”
The breakdown by counties follows:
Escambia
Escambia County opened its schools
Aug. 27 with 21 Negroes attending nine
white schools. Another boy failed to
show up at the tenth school to which
he had been assigned.
With the exception of a telephoned
bomb threat hoax, which caused Jpensa-
cola High School to be evacuated, the
day went quietly. “We never had a
better opening day,” said Dr. W. B.
Woodham Jr., county school superin
tendent.
Precautions had been taken to pre
vent any disturbances. But Police
Chief Dexter Caldwell said they were
unnecessary. “No one was stopped and
no one was driving up and down gawk
ing,” he said. “It shows that Pensacola
is a law-abiding community.”
Desegregation began under an order
by Federal Judge G. Harrold Carswell
handed down over a year ago. It has
since been reversed by the U.S. Fifth j
Circuit Court of Appeals, which or
dered the desegregation process speed
ed. But the school board had already
assigned Negro children under the orig- I
inal order.
Much preparatory work was done
after the assignments were announced.
As a result, white and Negro citizens
were prepared to accept the situation.
Just before the school doors were
opened, Supt. Woodham said:
“I don’t recall a time when we have
had more enthusiasm or when teachers
have been more desirous of getting into
their job or specialty.
“While some of our schools are being
integrated, we are confident that within
the school itself we shall be able to
make a satisfactory adjustment so that
the educational progress of no child in i
the school will be impaired.
“We have had assurances of cooper
ation from all the law enforcement
agencies so that we have no reason not
to expect a normal opening.
“Likewise we have had words of as
surance and cooperation from many of
the citizens and the community in this
regard.”
After the first day, many of the Ne
gro pupils and their parents expressed
pleasure at the outcome. The mother of
a junior high school girl said: “It was
lovely. My little girl made many friends
and I am thrilled.”
A Negro high school senior said: “The
other kids were wonderful to me. There
were no complications.”
Although Judge Carswell’s order re
quired that only two grades be deseg
regated the first year, Escambia County
assigned Negroes at all age levels and
in all parts of the county. Five of the
desegregated schools are in Pensacola.
There were 29 children assigned orig
inally, but some were reassigned or
moved away. The 21 who are attending
classes are at Pensacola and Navy Point
High; Chubbs Junior High; and E. J.
Wilson, Weis, Warren, Brownsville, P.
H. Yonge, Annie McMillan and N. B.
Cook elementary schools.
This was the first desegregation in
Florida’s Northwest Panhandle.
Monroe
School desegregation came quietly to
this southernmost county in the United
States, where there had been no talk
of such action until the federal govern
ment entered the picture. Thirty Ne
groes began studies at four white
schools on Aug. 27 and the transition
was “quiet and without incident,” the
school board announced.
Until the last moment it was not
known whether the extent of desegre
gation ordered by the school board
would be satisfactory to the federal
government.
Monroe County, with 48 per cent of
its school enrollment from families of
military personnel at Navy installa
tions, had been singled out for a test
of new federal policy to file suit to
end segregation in impacted areas re
ceiving federal aid. Negotiations have
been under way for several weeks, with
a petition prepared for filing if the
outcome were unsatisfactory.
Shortly after the schools opened
without incident, County Superinten
dent Horace O’Bryant received word
that the suit would not be filed, at least
for this year.
“We have concluded,” wrote Assist
ant U.S. Attorney General Burke Mar
shall, “that steps you have taken and
plan to take for the coming school year
are sufficient and we do not have an
obligation to bring this matter to court.”
O’Bryant said the announcement was
most gratifying. “Now we can get back
to running a school system,” he com
mented. He said:
“The fact that the four desegregated
schools opened without incident is a
credit to Monroe County.
“We have done more on our own
than the federal courts are forcing most
school districts to do. The school board
has acted in cool-headed good faith. I
hope it will be allowed to continue on
its own.”
There were indications, however, that
pressure may be exerted from other
sources. At a stormy hearing on appeals
from some of the 35 whose applica
tions for transfer had been denied, G. E.
Graves, an NAACP attorney from
Miami, threatened to take the cases
to court.
Graves questioned the board’s au
thority to set rules of procedure at the
hearing. As a result of this argument
no Negro parent was allowed to state
his case because the board refused
Graves’ demand that they testify under
oath as if in court.
The desegregated schools are Sigs-
bee Park and Harris Elementary in Key
West, Marathon High School in Mara
thon, and Coral Shores Elementary
School at Tavernier.
The Convent of Mary Immaculate at
Key West, the parochial high school,
also opened with some Negro students.
School officials said enrollment was not
complete and figures are not available.
The 30 Negroes attending public
white schools are only a fraction of
the 990 enrolled. Total enrollment is
7,500.
Sarasota
Without fanfare, school officials of
Sarasota County have quietly worked
out a voluntary start toward operation
of a desegregated system by assigning
about 50 Negro children to attend white
schools.
Dr. Russell Wiley, county school su
perintendent, said the extent of deseg
regation would not be fully known
until the first few days of the term. It
appeared likely, however, that about 40
Negro children would attend one white
school, seven another and possibly two
more at a third.
Dr. Wiley said assignments followed
studies of all areas in which Negroes
lived near white schools. The move ap
peared to have wide acceptance in this
rapidly growing county on Florida’s
lower west coast. The district expected
enrollment of 14,500 this year.
A school desegregation suit was filed
against the Sarasota school board sev
eral weeks ago. Pre-trial conferences
were scheduled in federal district court
early in September.
Orange
Orange County decided to begin de
segregation without waiting for the
outcome of a suit pending in federal
court. In an affidavit prepared for a
hearing on the case brought by a group
of Negro parents, R. Earl Kitts, school
superintendent, said 13 Negro children
have been assigned to Durrance Ele
mentary School, at Pinecastle just south
of Orlando.
The school chiefly serves children of
servicemen stationed at McCoy Air
Base. The 13 were among 23 who asked
In the Colleges
School Accepts Negro Undergraduates
The University of Florida, which has
had Negro graduate students for three
years, accepted its first Negro under
graduates this year.
Five were accepted as members of
the freshman class and two others were
allowed to transfer—one from Florida
A&M University at Tallahassee and
another from Bethune-Cookman Col
lege at Daytona Beach.
The University of Florida expected
its final enrollment figures to exceed
14,000, considerably above earlier esti
mates. To care for the rush, the uni
versity, along with others in the state
system, will begin trimester operations
this year.
The Florida State University at Tal
lahassee enrolled three Negroes—one a
member of the freshman class and the
others as graduate students. They are
the first at FSU during regular ses
sions although a number of Negroes at
tended summer courses this year.
The University of South Florida said
it would probably have seven or eight
Negroes in its student body this year.
Dade Junior College Moves
Toward Full Desegregation
When Dade County Junior College ]
opens its fall term in mid-September,
the sophomore class and most of the
freshman courses will be fully deseg
regated. It was another step toward the
goal of complete desegregation by 1965, \
with all operations on a single campus. :
The sophomore class of approximate
ly 1,200 will include about 100 Negroes,
according to Dr. Jack Netcher, dean
of administration.
Larger Freshman Class
The freshman class was expected to J
be considerably larger and in about j
the same racial proportions. The old
Negro campus will continue in opera
tion for a while to serve Negroes in
the “gifted studies” field.
The growth of this college has been
phenomenal. Since starting three years
ago, the student body has risen to
about 5,000 this year, including grad- j
uate and part-time enrollments. This, j
college officials estimate, is equivalent
to a caseload of about 4,000 regular
students.
Other of the state’s junior colleges
will have some desegregation.
At least seven Negroes will attend
the Palm Beach Junior College, which
had token desegregation last year. The
applications of three others are being
processed.
Manatee Junior College
Manatee Junior College at Bradenton
has accepted three Negro students for
the fall term, along with 362 white.
“They have met all requirements,” said
Walter Council, chairman of the Mana
tee County school board. The three
were graduated with honors from their
high schools and their applications were
accepted by a 3-1 vote of the board.
They are the first Negroes to attend this
college.
St. Petersburg Junior College, the
state’s largest, expects at least one
Negro student. The situation at Pensa
cola Junior College, which has had
some desegregation in the past, is not
yet known.
for transfer to white schools under thi
assignment law. Kitts said all wen
given full consideration on the basis d
criteria in the law. Those who qualifiet
were reassigned as requested, he said.
Several of those turned down an
considering appeals.
Pinellas
Three Negroes were registered ii
Pinellas County white schools on open
ing day—one each at two junior am
one senior high school. School official
said others would probably be accept®
as a number of applications were re
ceived.
Palm Beach
The scope of desegregation in Pain
Beach County was not fully known be
fore classes began on Sept. 4 but i
was expected to be extensive.
Howell L. Watkins, school superin
tendent, said about 230 Negroes had re
quested assignment to white senior an
junior high schools. These have beei
under study for some time and a num
ber “have merit,” the superintenden
declared. It was indicated unofficiall]
that about 87 transfers would be ap
proved.
Watkins said 12 more high school
may have mixed classes, in addition 1
the three which had some desegrega * 1
tion last year. He added, however, thi
no detailed information would be give;
in advance, in keeping with a polic
established last year.
The school board’s denial of transfe
requests was said to be largely bt
cause other schools were nearer or be
cause overcrowding might result.
The federal district court at Mian
ordered full desegregation of secondar
schools, leaving the question of the elf
mentary schools for later determine
tion.
Under this ruling, the school boat
was told by its attorney, Marshall 5
Criser, racial grounds may not be use
to deny transfer petitions.
Volusia
Volusia County, which began desef
regation at one school last year,
signed a third Negro to a second wW
school in August. The action precede
by a few days a federal district cotf
order to the school board to submit 1
Oct. 30 a plan to desegregate at 1
levels. (See “Legal Action.”)
The new assignment was to MainlaJ
Junior High where a lone Negro f-
will begin classes in September,
two Negro girls attending Volusia A v ' f
nue Elementary School in DayW 1
Beach will continue there.
The school board, in making th*
assignments, rejected four other apP'
cations from Negroes to attend Ma#
land.
Hillsborough
Only two Negro children attend*
white schools in Hillsborough CouP'
last year. This year, under an expand*
program, approximately 70 were a
signed to the V. M. Ybor School 1
(See FLORIDA, Page 11)
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