Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2—NOVEMBER, 1962—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
OKLAHOMA
Survey Planned
Of Oklahoma’s
X ’S
Desegregation
O O • v
to? £■»
OKLAHOMA CITY
far-reaching survey to de
termine the status of Ok*-
lahoma’s apparently successful
school desegregation program will
be undertaken before the end of
the year.
Questionnaires will be circulated,
probably in December, by the Okla
homa Advisory Committee to the
United States Commission on Civil
Rights.
Among other things, the survey
should give the first accurate account
ing of what has happened to Negro
teachers displaced by the desegrega
tion of Oklahoma’s public schools. Re
sults on this score may provide Negro
leaders a basis for launching a cam
paign for more biracial faculties. This
has long been a sore point with Negro
educators.
Savoie Lottinville, Norman, chairman
of the Oklahoma committee, said the
questionnaire would cover “the whole
question of integration in Oklahoma.”
'Broad Spectrum’
“We shaned it ourselves sociologically
and scientifically,” he explained. “It
deals with the broad spectrum of in
tegration.”
He said he was referring to the school
aspects of desegregation.
Lottinville, director of the University
of Oklahoma Press, succeeded John
Rogers, Tulsa attorney, in the civil
rights committee chairmanship. Rogers
remains on the committee, however.
The vice-chairman is F. D. Moon,
Oklahoma City, retired Negro educator.
Formerly he was principal of Oklahoma
City’s Douglass High School.
Lottinville said the questionnaire,
after it was drawn up by the com
mittee, had to be referred to the U.S.
commission headquarters in Washing
ton for approval. It has not been re
turned yet.
The Oklahoma Advisory Committee
will meet early in November and it is
hoped the commission will have re
turned the questionnaire by then. A
member of the U.S. commission is ex
pected to be on hand to discuss its
content with Oklahoma committeemen
Great Care
Lottinville explained the question
naire had to be devised with great
care in order to be effective.
Copies will be sent to the district
superintendents in all county seats of
Oklahoma. “That pretty well spots the
big population centers of the state,”
the committee chairman pointed out.
He said the 77 copies should go into
the mail in December if the question
naire can be approved at the Novem
ber meeting.
Lottinville pointedly avoided describ
ing the questionnaire as a survey of
the desegregation “problem” in Okla
homa. He used the term “program,”
observing that the state’s progress in
desegregation schools has been excel
lent.
He conceded, however, that the fate
of Negro teachers who lost their jobs
because of desegregation is a matter
of some concern and something should
be done about it. Although accurate
figures are not available, it is estimated
nearly 400 Negro teachers in Oklahoma
have been displaced for this reason
since schools were first desegregated
in 1955.
Biracial Faculties
The state may have as many as 27 or
28 Negro teachers employed on biracial
faculties. Nineteen of these are at two
schools in Tulsa. Burroughs, a former
desegregated elementary school that
now has an all-Negro student body,
has 15 Negro and 14 white teachers on
its staff. Emerson, an elementary school
with a 60 percent Neg’-o majority,
opened the fall term with four Negroes
among its 14 teachers.
As far as is known, Fay, Ponca City
and Arcadia are the only other school
districts with desegregated faculties.
Moon told Southern School News
there is less faculty desegregation in
Oklahoma now than there was in 1955.
When schools were desegregated, some
districts retained a few Negro teachers
with long se-vice and worked them
into the faculties of their white schools.
But this was done more to accommo
date individuals than to serve the cause
of desegregation, he maintained. Sub
sequently, these teachers have retired
or left and they have not been re
placed.
Lottinville said the civil rights com
mittee has no statistical evidence what-
Oklahoma Highlights
The Oklahoma civil rights advis
ory committee will survey the status
of school desegregation in Okla-
'hojna.
• Ah- Oklahoma City group from a
residential section that has become
biracial tried to establish a com-
^ munity wide committee to promote
“open housing” throughout the city.
/ A hearing on a motion to dismiss
/ a racial discrimination suit against
the Oklahoma City school board was
set for early November in federal
district court.
ever yet on which to base such a state
ment but this will be a point definitely
covered in the survey.
A group of Negro leaders, organized
a year or so ago as Oklahomans for
Progress, also has a committee dealing
with teacher desegregation but it has
not been active.
Survey Postponed
A survey, which will not be done
this year, is one usually conducted by
Dr. Oliver Hodge, state superintendent
of public instruction. Each September
for several years he has asked the 77
county superintendents and the district
superintendents of some of the larger
cities to report on the number of
schools with both Negro and white
children in attendance and the number
of Negroes involved.
Hodge said the survey has obtained
substantially the same information the
past two or three years and he could
see nothing to gain by repeating it this
year. He said he will probably send
out questionnaires next September and
ask the superintendents to make a com
parison for a two-year period (1963
with 1961).
Legal Action
Court Reschedules
School Suit Hearing
A hearing on a motion to dismiss a
racial discrimination suit against the
Oklahoma City school board was re
scheduled for early November.
The hearing was to have been held
Sept. 28 in U.S. District Court but was
postponed because the judge, Luther
Bohanon, was occupied in a jury trial
and later, in out-of-town assignments.
The court rescheduled the hearing
for Nov. 7.
The case is Dowell v. Board of Edu
cation in the U.S. District Court for
Western Oklahoma. Filed by Dr. A. L.
Dowell, Negro optometrist, in behalf of
his son, Robert, it seeks to have the
Oklahoma City school board declared
guilty of racial discrimination in opera
tion of its special transfer policy.
The motion to dismiss was filed Sept.
11 by W. A. Lybrand, attorney for the
school board. It seeks outright dismis
sal of the plaintiffs’ second amended
petition, more definite information re
garding the status of one of three in
tervening plaintiffs, dismissal of the pe
tition as to the intervenors, and striking
of a certain portion of the petition.
Community Action
Group Promotes
Biracial Housing
A northeast Oklahoma City group
that would like to see biracial housing
throughout the community tried in Oc
tober to set up a citywide committee
to promote the cause. The initial effort
appeared to meet with little success.
Residents of the northeast section,
into which Negro families have moved
in the past year or so, believe they are
carrying a burden the whole city
should bear. They maintain a policy of
“open housing” throughout the com
munity would relieve the pressure on
their area and end panic-selling of real
estate by white families there.
Achievement of their goal would
bring desegregation of a number of ad
ditional schools in the Oklahoma City
district. Only 11 have biracial student
bodies at present.
Kirby Conley, druggist and a leader
of the informally organized northeast
group, said he and his colleagues sought
to enlist the aid of several of the city’s
better-known citizens.
“What we need, instead of a localized
group that could be accused of petti
ness and a desire to protect the dollar,
is a citywide committee of reputable
men,” Conley explained.
“We visited with some of those peo
ple. But none was ready to go. They
want an already established group in
this field and that we don’t have.”
# # #
FLORIDA
Court Receives Desegregation
Plans from Three County Boards
MIAMI
T hree counties ordered to de
segregate their schools have
told the federal court how they
propose to do it.
Judge Bryan Simpson, who handed
down the orders Aug. 21 in three sepa
rate suits of long standing, took the
plans under study. He gave no indica
tion of when or whether he will ap
prove them. All three plans are simi
lar but not identical.
The Duval County (Jacksonville)
school board offered a five-point plan
beginning with the first grade next
September and extending to one addi
tional grade each year. Under this ar
rangement, new school districts would
be set up and all children within the
district limits would attend the nearest
school regardless of race but under
criteria of the state assignment law.
A number of conditions were includ
ed in the plan
Separation by Sex
“Nothing contained in this resolu
tion,” said the board in its formal state
ment for the court, “should be con
strued to prevent the separation of
boys and girls in any school or grade,
or to prevent the assignment of boys
and girls to separate schools.”
The board also ordered a last-ditch
court fight against Judge Simpson’s
order.
“We still haven’t relinquished our
position that implementation of the as
signment law was not a means of en
forcing racial segregation,” said Charles
W. Johnson Jr., school board member.
Johnson said the stand would be de
fended on appeal.
Ask More Time
On the question of desegregating
teachers and administrative personnel,
which was included in Judge Simp
son’s order in this case, the school board
asked for more time:
“A system-wide study must be made
to determine available spaces for stu
dents, the availability and assignment
of teachers, the creation of single school j
districts based upon the location and
capacity of school buildings, and for
the institution of a program of non-
racial testing for determination of their
qualification for assignment, placement
and transfer in the public schools.”
The decision to submit a plan, as re
quired by Judge Simpson, was not
made until the last moment. The school
board took opinion samples and con
ferred with civic leaders in the course
it should take. Fred H. Kent, special
attorney for the school board, said four
plans were considered before the final
form was approved by the board.
Hillsborough County
Offers Similar Plan
The Hillsborough County school
board (Tampa) asked approval for a
similar progressive desegregation pro
gram starting with the first grade next |
September. All children could attend
the school nearest their home regard- !
less of race.
Volusia County (Daytona Beach) also
said it would desegregate one grade
each year, starting with the first. The j
school board added, however, that the j
process would be voluntary and each j
child would be given the choice of
attending a predominantly white or
Negro school.
The Volusia proposal said the county I
will continue to assign children under
the placement law. Pupils not satisfied
with their assignment could apply for !
transfer and receive a public hearing j
on request if their application was de- j
nied.
There was no mention in either of
these proposals of the desegregation of
teaching or supervisory personnel.
Unsuccessful Attempt
The three plans were filed after an |
unsuccessful attempt to have the origi- j
nal order modified. A petition asked
that the wording of the order be j
changed from “required” to “requested”
to submit desegregation plans.
Judge Simpson declined, stating that
it would “be beneath the dignity of the
court” to request a plan in a situation
that obviously called for a direct order, j
He declared that evidence indicated
outright discrimination against Negroes \
in the schools of the defendant coun- j
ties.
David Kerr, attorney for the Hills
borough school board, challenged the
court’s finding that no attempt had been
made to desegregate schools in that
county until the suit was filed. Negroes I
Florida Highlights
Three county school boards, sub
mitting desegregation plans to a fed
eral court, proposed progressive de
segregation beginning with the first
grade next year. There were no pro
posals for desegregating teaching and
administrative personnel, which had
been included in the court’s order.
Preliminary argument in the Leon
County school case turned on the con
tention that pupils may not legally
sue for the desegregation of teachers.
A suit in Lee County questioning
use of bond money to build a Negro
high school was tagged a “back door”
move for desegregation.
Florida Presbyterian College re
versed its segregation policy and an
nounced it will accept qualified stu
dents regardless of race.
had always had opportunities to seek
admission to white schools, he said but
had failed to use the avenues open
under the placement law.
Kerr added that Hillsborough had
begun desegregation and cited one
school which now has 64 Negro and
172 white pupils. Desegregation of one
school does not constitute desegrega
tion of an entire school system, Judge
Simpson said in rejecting this argu
ment.
Volusia County attorneys asked elim
ination from the order of the notation
that two Negro children attending a
white school in Daytona Beach were
not plaintiffs in the suit. They said this
was detrimental to their plans for an
appeal.
★ ★ ★
Teacher Desegregation
Becomes a Major Issue
Desegregation of teachers quickly
became a major issue in the Leon
County school suit, which is pending
before U.S. District Judge G. Harrold
Carswell at Tallahassee. School board
attorneys attacked a portion of the suit
that asked that teaching and adminis
trative personnel be included in any
final order.
The plaintiffs in this case, all parents
of Negro school children, have failed to
show there are grounds for injunctive
relief, contended attorney William A.
O’Bryan.
“They have no right to assert in
this action any alleged inferiority of
their present teachers, principals and
other Negro school personnel because
of the race and color of these persons,”
the school board’s motion declared. The
board said:
“Plaintiffs are not authorized by law
or rules of practice to attack the dis
cretion exercised by a school board in
employment and assignment of its
school personnel.
“Legal relationships between a school
board and its teachers, principals and
other school personnel is a matter of
contract not governed by the legal prin
ciples applicable to pupils enrolled in
the public school system.
“The plaintiffs have no legal right to
be taught or supervised by teachers,
principals and other school personnel of
any particular race or color . . . and
the court is without jurisdiction in this
suit to a degree touching the matter of
employment and assignment of school
personnel.”
Judge Carswell declined to strike that
portion of the plaintiff’s petition but
said that should the case come to tria;
he would not hear evidence on this
point. In his motion to dismiss, O’Bryan
contended that the plaintiffs had nevet
been denied the right to attend any
specific white school and therefore had
no standing in court. To allow them to
plead violation of rights without hav
ing been specifically denied those
rights, he said, would mean that future
school cases could be brought without
the need to prove direct discrimination
“This is an attempt to carry integra-
tion one step further,” he said.
Judge Carswell denied the motion
No date has been set for the taking of
testimony.
★ ★ ★
St. Johns County Seeks
Early Trial of Lawsuit
The St. Johns County school suit
moved toward an early trial after a
motion to dismiss was rejected by U.S,
District Judge Bryan Simpson. School
board attorneys attacked the petition
on several counts.
Adam G. Adams said some individual
defendants had been incorrectly identi
fied in the petition. He also contended
the school board has abided by terms
of the state placement law and that
plaintiffs had failed to exhaust other
remedies.
Denying the motion, Judge Simpson
commented that application of the
placement law “in cases where you
have segregation is discrimination of
the rankest sort.”
The St. Johns case is the first in
Florida involving a smaller county'
without a large population center.
★ ★ ★
A suit filed in the Lee County Cir
cuit Court at Fort Myers has attracted
the attention of school officials
throughout Florida as a “back door
approach” to school desegregation. The
case (Sears et al v. Board of Public
Instruction of Lee County) alleged mis
application of public funds by using
bond money voted for a Negro ele
mentary school to build a Negro high
school.
There is no need for the new Negro
high school, the suit contends, since
existing white schools have facilities to
care for Negro students.
The plaintiffs also objected to a sep
arate Negro branch of the newly
opened Edison Junior High School as
unnecessary for the same reason. They
said the new high school was being
used by the junior college, which the
school board denied.
Community Action
Advisory Committee
Holds Conference
The Florida Advisory Committee to
the U. S. Commission on Civil Right- 5
scheduled a conference with civic lead'
ers and public officials in the Tamp 8 '
St. Petersburg area to discuss P r0 ^'
lems of segregation. ,
Of the 50 or more invited to atten
only six appeared. Most of these we 1 *
spokesmen for the minority viewpo* 8
Commission members said they wet*
concerned by the lack of represent 8
tion. Most of those who received inv*'
tations failed to respond or stated the.
had previous commitments. This g r ° u ’.
included school superintendents
Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
In the Colleges
Florida Presbyterian College
Trustees \ ote To Desegregate
Trustees of Florida Presbyterian
College, which opened its doors in
September, 1960, have adopted a policy
of desegregation in the future.
Action was taken by unanimous vote
on a new admissions policy, which
stated:
“Applications for admission to Flor
ida Presbyterian College are considered
on the basis of the following evidences:
Academic ability and interest, readiness
for effective participation in the life of
our Christian college community and
personality characteristics which lead
toward wholesome identification in the
community life. Applicants being
qualified on the consideration of t" ■,
factors will be admitted without reg 3 *
to race, creed or color.” ^
The unanimous vote was a rove
of the action last March denying^,
application of Howard Eugene ^ enI V; 0 i-
a Negro students at Gibbs Junior ^
lege at St. Petersburg. At that time tll .
board decided not to accept Negro ((
dents until the college move
permanent quarters in 1963. ^ -,e
This resulted in a protest by iff,
faculty members. Talks among & . jj
administrate s and trustees resu __ '
the new policy.