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MARYLAND SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—NOVEMBER, 1962—PAGE 7 5Ult* at h. to a; istrit 5 as, on ; ve ft >illa? use ; ■ r e k sons, comt fferet fegro Tejc gre? istrit In i :ts, ; is es r tha whifc ScHOt )0 Nt wlit his f« e- 1? schoc m notsb oes r >ls a’ stima: id 251 whr 11 If regaft atter \ sut ti’s 1.1 ol w: regaf: ,n rati gro c: ona 3! l 85. A i962. A itin-' i he Wf a sing Georgia (Continued From Page 3) gyoes to Mercer University, a Baptist institution in Macon. Mercer trustees, on motion of Presi dent Rufus Harris, recently appointed a committee to consider a policy of admitting students without regard to race. Schoolmen 13 Private Schools Get State Approval For Tuition Grants Dr. Claude Purcell, Georgia superin tendent of schools, told the state board of education that 13 private schools had been ap proved for state tuition grants. Forty of 92 pri vate schools from which applications were received have been ruled on. He said 13 were definitely approved, four given tentative approval and one approved condi- purcell tionally. Grants approved by the State De partment of Education will cost Geor gia $186,544 and there are several hundred applications still awaiting a ruling. The tuition grant is part of the 1961 open schools legislation. Race is not mentioned in the law but the grants are designed for pupils who want to go to private schools to avoid desegregated schools. Several of the private schools ap proved for grants are outside of the state. ★ ★ ★ R. I. Grigsby, assistant commissioner of education and director of the Health, Education and Welfare Depart ment’s division of school assistance in federally impacted areas, said the Gov ernment is conducting surveys in the South to determine which federal prop erties contain 200 or more children who leave the reservation each day to at tend school in public—and racially seg regated—districts. Educators in Georgia, where only °ne school district is desegregated, are worried over whether public schools 2* survive without federal funds, /'ey are concerned because segrega tion policies may deny them such fi nancial support. The effect on Georgia’s 1 Participating county and city school systems, all of which are segregated, would be tremendous, it is agreed. ll ief s said loyed teacitf sident rtmeri San A pital f 330 be- and ' ;ases. i ' oni0 ,: Immunity Action the® Negroes in Albany Halt Demonstrations Ant’ ''Segregation demonstrations wer 1 : but n< ^ by Albany Negro leader: • i an 3 voter registration campaign an ^ white C ° n ° m ' C boycott of downtow: merchants was being continuec early 6 board had not replie to Rp 1S mon th to a formal reques * se §regate the schools. Dr. W. r it see^ person, white irt ofj t con*- „><= r > in V gra ‘5 nb king £ SSN, •Ptegr ,° n ' a Negro who heads the p: "W e if 10n , Albany Movement, ss a matt aVent bro ught suit, but it’s j the boa^ bme - We wanted to g the mff, a reas onable time to consii We’ll v er ’ bf the board doesn’t rej fj. ave no alternative.” t#issi 0 6te ^ n Negroes were denied ; 0 the white schools Sept. 4 pr0 t r the V oes V hr ee ms Criticizes ar Hett, Vandiver Ho ^ Nan^i ns ’ executive secret, freement ^ ssociat ion for tht feting 0 t ^Colored People, at s « ic bed n e or g an ization in R {?W and o Ross Ba rnett of R V ‘ e °rgia, Gov - Ernest Vandiv ^■iki ^° r tap 3 *^ ^ an diver criticized ; r ' s than t L ng tbe “wrong road,” C>or Z° y, ears ago the G in , y Predfp t C °i d J ng t0 Wilkins irJ he streets” ^ “ b i? od wouI r the TTr,- a Negro tri University 0 f Georgia. Teachers Of State’s BALTIMORE jl/l’ ARYLAND TEACHERS at their 95th annual convention called for “swift completion” of school desegregation and urged local white and Negro teachers associations to merge, as racial issues involving teachers became a dominant issue on the school front in October. Among the de velopments were these: • The Negro teachers association in Harford County was absorbed by the larger white association in a unifica tion move. • The principal of a Montgomery County elementary school brought suit in Federal District Court on the ground that he had been denied housing in a new development. Earlier, the Mont gomery County Education Association had declared it “impossible to find suit able housing” for Negro teachers. • The NAACP in Charles County declared that 80 per cent of the Negro teachers had to seek housing in Wash ington because of local restrictions. • The Anne Arundel County Board of Education was asked to study racial discrimination in teacher hiring. • Discrimination in teacher assign ment was charged against the Balti more school system. • A Southern School News survey found 1,454 Negro teachers in eight school districts serving on integrated school staffs. Reiterates Belief Meeting in Baltimore for their 95th annual convention, the Maryland State Teachers Association reiterated its be- Hef that “the ideals of human justice, individual liberty and democracy de- Call For ‘Swift Public School Completion’ Desegregation Maryland Highlights Maryland teachers in convention called for “swift completion” of school desegregation and urged mer ger of local white and Negro teach ers associations. White and Negro teacher organi zations in Harford County merged. Housing for Negro teachers be came an issue in Montgomery and Charles counties. Discrimination in teacher assign ment was claimed in Baltimore city and Anne Arundel County. A survey found 1,454 Negro teach ers in eight school districts serving on biracial staffs. An additional 60 Negro pupils in Anne Arundel County are to shift to a predominantly white school with closing of the Negro structure. mand the swift completion of desegre gation in our public schools.” The assembled teachers commended the Maryland Board Of Education for its desegregation policy statement of last January and also commended “those school systems which have made substantial progress in this area.” By formal resolution, the voting dele gates of local teachers’ organizations recommended that “complete integra tion in Maryland public schools should be lawfully, fairly and expeditiously effected.” Turning to their own associations, the teachers renewed their stated be lief that “unified effort will solve the problems facing the educational pro fession and its members more readily than will fragmented effort.” The ex perience “of those local associations which have integrated formerly sepa rate groups into one association” have borne this out, the delegates said. Unity Resolution With only a whisper of the floor fight that the same issue drew a year ago, the delegates rejected some more force ful wording proposed by the Mont gomery County unit and agreed to a resolution recommending that “in those counties where separate local associa tions still exist, these associations de segregate their membership in order to realize the advantages which would accrue to them by combining into a unified association.” The convention commended the teachers of Harford and Howard count ies “who during the past year have made it possible for all teachers to be long to a single professional organiza tion representing all the teachers of the county.” The mergers in Harford and Howard counties raised the num ber of school districts with a single teachers association to 13. Eleven counties continue to have separate white Negro teachers organizations. The merger in Howard County previ ously had been announced (SSN, Oc tober) . The Harford merger had its first public notice in the convention commendation, the unification having taken place just before the teachers met. Reached by telephone, Ronald S. Webb, president of the Harford County Teachers Association, said that his white membership had voted about 18 months ago to accept Negro members and that a committee since that time had been working on merger plans with the all-Negro Harford County Education Association. With agreement reached on Negro chairmanships of selected committees, the Negro organization was disbanded and its members absorbed in the Har ford County Teachers Association, Webb, a high school principal, ex plained. Previously elected white offi cers will preside until the next election in December, 1963, with an agreement that a Negro will be co-chairman of the next nominating committee. The full membership met for the first time on Oct. 15, and the first dinner meeting is scheduled for January. The issue of housing for Negro teach ers has arisen in two counties, but not in a third, similarly situated county. Early this past summer, the Mont gomery County Education Association registered its awareness of the fact that the county’s booming white sub urbs were substantially closed to Ne groes with the result that many Negro teachers employed in the county had to live in Washington. The association’s Delegate Assembly on June 7 adopted a resolution that said the association’s housing service “has found it impossible to find suit able housing for its Negro members and difficult to find housing for other minority groups.” The assembly pledg ed the support of the membership to fulfill housing requests from “all edu cators” in the comity. In Federal District Court in October, the Negro principal of a predominantly white Montgomery County elementary school charged that, after making a deposit, he was refused a house in a new development near the school. The principal, Roland E. Barnes, sued (See MARYLAND, Page 10) What They Say State School Official Pra ises Desegregation In Schools This Fall as ‘Splendid Progress The additional desegregation this fall in Maryland is seen as “splendid prog ress without incident” and “a natural course of events” by Dr. David W. Zimmerman, Deputy State School Su perintendent, who serves as an informal co-ordinator of desegregation develop ments for the Maryland Department of Education. “People are making desegregation moves on their own with a minimum of persuasion,” Dr. Zimmerman said in a recent interview. “The lack of fric tion or untoward incidents indicates a willingness to accept the Su preme Court de crees and the Maryland Board of Education’s state ments of policy. The gradual prog ress has been tak ing place in Maryland since 1955 and I would expect it to continue.” With five Maryland counties having some Negroes in classes with white pupils for the first time, Dr. Zimmer man was asked if he knew of any par ticular reason why desegregation had taken place where it had never taken place before. He replied that he knew of “nothing new” to explain the changes. “All we know is that when the climate is favorable, people do things. So we must conclude that the climate must have improved.” As to Demonstrations Reminded of the “freedom rides” and other integrationist activities on the Eastern Shore, where most of the new school desegregation has taken place, Dr. Zimmerman said, “It is hard to assess how the Negro movement gen erally is influencing the desegregation of schools. “The demonstrations and allied activ ities aimed at restaurant discrimination undoubtedly bring about a cohesion of group interests and could make people more conscious of their personal roles in desegregation. On the other hand, the resistance that the demonstrators have encountered in some communi ties could make parents reluctant to have their children in the forefront of changes in the school pattern. It is difficult to say what the effect on schools has been.” Turning to the development in Salis bury, largest city on the Eastern Shore, where 40 Negro children have been received in white schools for the first time without incident, Dr. Zimmerman thinks the reason for the change is more apparent: “Salisbury has moved as a commun ity. A biracial committee appointed by the mayor was successful more than a year ago in bringing about the deseg regation of restaurants, movies and motels. A favorable climate was fos tered, and the schools were a natural next step.” Dorchester Retransfers Asked if he knew why three Negro girls had transferred back to a Negro school in Dorchester County after complaining of the “silent treatment” they received in a white high s’hool, Dr. Zimmerman said that he had neen surprised and did not know the reason. He added that he did know that one of the five county superintendents hav ing mixed situations for the first time had done “a lot of preliminary ground work preparing pupils, parents, teach ers and the community for the change." Some preparation is necessary. Dr. Zimmerman believes: “Younesters b' ing to school the reactions of adults. We s hod administrators have a re sponsibility to prepare pupils who may or may not play with Negro children outside of school. If youngsters have not had any previous experience with members of another race and have heard inflammatory statements in their own community, some groundwork is needed.” Types of Preparation In response to questions as to what types of preparation he has in mind, Dr. Zimmerman said, “At the high school level a constructive step is to meet with leaders of student govern ment and student organizations, explain that new students are coming into the school, as is their legal right, and throw the question out to them: How are we going to receive them? Let the students pick up the ball from there, and if a smooth transition becomes their own program, they will work as a unit to bring it about. “On the elementary level, the situa tion is different. There cannot be too much explaining to young children in advance of the change. Rather, much depends on the way a teacher intro duces the new children and gets the class working together without being too obvious about it. If the teacher treats the colored child naturally as one of the group, the other children will follow along. By and large, young chil dren react naturally on their own, al though the type of community of course makes some difference. Games and the playground are common ‘lev- elers.’” Statewide Picture Looking over the desegregation pic ture in Maryland, Dr. Zimmerman noted that of the 23 biracial school dis tricts, Montgomery and Allegany coun ties had assimilated all their Negro pupils in white schools; Frederick and Washington counties were close to that goal, and Carroll County is “moving in that direction.” Carroll, he explains, “has announced that next year there wi'l be no first grade at the consolidated colored school, which means that Negroes en tering school for the first time will have to go to the school in their geo graphic area.” In these five counties, Dr. Zimmer man explained, “the Negro school population not onlv is a small fraction of the white population but also it is scattered, in the past requiring either scattered small schools or long bus runs. It is relatively easy to absorb the children in the white schools of their areas. The trend is one that might be seen as the elimination ®f inefficient school units. “Some other counties have small per centages of Negro pupils, but they are concentrated rather than scattered. Baltimore County, for example, has de segregated all of its schools but has a large Negro concentration at Sollers Point in the eastern, industrialized part of the county. It may be a long time before the schools serving that section are closed or changed. “Still other counties pose a different problem in that their Negro population is as large or nearly as large as the white population. There are too many Negro children to be assimilated in the white schools, and too many substantial Negro schools simply to abandon them. So, the changes in these counties come more slowly. As we have seen in Bal timore city, the racial composition of the schools depends to a large extent on where people live.” Turning to the counties that have stairstep plans, Dr. Zimmerman noted that desegregation had moved upward this fall to the ninth grade in Talbot County, the 10th grade in Anne Arun del, the 11th grade in Harford and Howard and the 12th grade in Charles, while it had moved from the top down ward to the sixth grade in Dorchester County. “All of these counties are nearing the end of the transition,” Dr. Zimmerman says, “and that will be that. Some large Negro schools will continue in opera tion, unless their pupils drift away. No body can predict what eventually may happen to the good, strong Negro schools in which Negro communities take pride. They may become stronger rather than wither away. We can’t tell yet what will happen.” ‘All Schools Are Not Equal’ Asked whether Negro pupils have more of a choice of schools than white pupils in that they can stay where they are or transfer, Dr. Zimmerman said no: “We are seeing an extension of an old transfer right. In Maryland we have tended to allow students to attend ‘the big high school in town’ rather than a more local school, if that has been what they wanted. All schools are not equal, you know.” The one remaining unknown factor in Maryland desegregation is the ex tent to which Negroes in some counties may be assigned initially to all-Negro schools and then given the opportunity to transfer to desegregated schools, if they so desire. Asked whether he knew how many counties based their original assign ments on race, Dr. Zimmerman said, “No county follows this practice be cause that would not be legal.” ZIMMERMAN