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JUNE, 1963—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—PAGE 19
VIRGINIA
Prince Edward Asks No Taxes For Schools
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RICHMOND
P rince Edward County’s su
pervisors on May 22 put in
line for final adoption in June a
tax program that would not pro
duce funds to operate public
schools.
Schools in the county have been
closed since 1959 to avoid racial de
segregation.
The supervisors voted to advertise
for public hearing June 7 the same
tax rates in effect during the current
fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Last year, federal District Judge Oren
R. Lewis of Richmond ruled (Griffin v.
Prince Edward School Board) that
public schools in the county can not re
main closed while schools elsewhere in
Virginia are open. This ruling was ap
pealed to the federal Fourth Circuit
Court. A decision from the appeals
court was anticipated in early June.
In its issue of May 7, the Farmville
Herald, whose editor J. B. Wall has
been closely associated with the anti
desegregation efforts in the county, de
clared editorially:
“The people of Prince Edward are
not ready to support public education
controlled by the federal government,
with forced racial integration by the
federal courts, or any other agency. The
people and the county legislative body
have made this plain since the summer
or fall of 1954. And they stand there
today.”
★ ★ ★
Team Studies Effects
Of Closing Schools
A Michigan State University research
team, operating with a $75,000 grant
from the U. S. Office of Education, ar
rived in Farmville during the week of
May 20 to begin a study of the effects
of closed public schools.
Heading the year-long study is Dr.
Robert L. Green, Negro faculty mem
ber of Michigan State, who conceived
the idea of the project.
Dr. Green said his report would be
completed by June 30, 1964.
We are conducting this as a piece
of pure academic research,” he told re
porters. He added that any conclusions
or use that any government agency
m ight make of the survey findings
would be outside the scope of the work
of the research team.
The team was expected to complete
its work in the county by about Aug. 1.
★ ★ ★
Remedial Program
Asked of President
The National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People an-
unced May 17 that it had requested
sbirff Kennedy to provide leader-
for N° r 3 r! r medial education program
County^ 0 C ^ dren * n Prince Edward
semSt of Kew York, executive
President m5* A**® t0 **
Would « y . 15 that the program
th e require
e co-operation
many govem-
e , ntal agencies,”
£? V “to be
effective, we
direction
yoT C0I ? e from
exe ^ the chief
executive.”
JWenclosed
2, the ktter a
Pehhon signed by
in j? ^t Negroes Wilkins
den t , e hp n y asking for the Presi
de knB Potition said, in part:
special;^ T that our country has sent
tr essed r^°i f lstan t lands to help dis-
Edward Cmf + Pke People of Prince
*01 tn at „. Unt y ne ed a program which
tty the social PUr .?° se ’ sc °P e ^ Q u al-
p r°iects • . an< l technical assistance
[provider!! Ch , 0ur government has
J anywhere in the world.”
★ ★ ★
*• ^:Z:L ah ° Ut 30 Queens College,
S 6y p£"d r°T d May 16 that
Ration nmerv c ° nduct a remedial
children T. f ° r Prince Edward’s
Ihe sturi . thm summer.
^he of Vir!? n tS ’ „ Wor king under the
^ed some g ‘ a Student Help Project,
j^hsoring a f!* ey , for the program by
f^e. They nkn CUl i y ' Student baseball
tds t0 raise additional
t efi tfeaturL n h , a Ca rnegie Hall
Jhedian, and 1 - 1Ck Gre gory, Negro
si« n Ma y 17 n '°y s Jazz stars.
execute; A ' MorselI > as -
said secret ary 0 f the
ms organization con
sidered the Queens students “well
meaning and intended,” but he added,
“it is our hope that intervention by the
federal government will make any
such other action unnecessary.”
★ ★ ★
Eighty-nine students from Virginia
Union University and Hampton Insti
tute, both Negro colleges, concluded a
survey in Prince Edward in which they
reported they found:
• There are 1,633 children of school
age (6-18 years) who constitute the
probable Negro enrollment if the coun
ty’s public schools are reopened.
• A total of 492 of these children
now attend schools outside the county,
including 129 who are in schools in
other states.
• An “overwhelming majority” of
parents questioned said they will bring
their children home when schools re
open.
The survey was conducted during
the weekend of April 17-18, and rep
resentatives of 902 of the county’s 909
Negro households were reached, it was
announced.
★ ★ ★
A group of about 50 Negroes, most
of them students taking a day off from
school, held a demonstration in front
of the Lynchburg City Hall May 17,
the ninth anniversary of the Supreme
Court’s school desegregation decision.
Under umbrellas because of a driv
ing rain, the demonstrators sang “free
dom songs” and held a brief prayer
session.
Then they marched to Dunbar High
School and serenaded Negro students
who had not joined in the “freedom
parade.”
The demonstration was planned by
Owen Cardwell Jr., a Negro student
who attends the predominantly white
E. C. Glass High School. The students
said they were taking the day off from
school in sympathy for the Negroes of
Prince Edward County who have had
no schools for four years.
Six days later, May 23, Henry E.
McWane, co-chairman of the Lynch
burg Interracial Commission, an
nounced that lunch counters of all
drugstores in the city and one in adja
cent Campbell county had been deseg
regated. Several sit-in demonstrations
had been conducted in one of the stores.
And on May 28, owners of 12 Lynch
burg restaurants agreed to desegregate
their facilities.
Schoolmen
Geographical Zone
Dropped As Basis
For School Choice
The Fredericksburg School Board on
May 27 amended its grade-a-year de
segregation plan to permit students to
apply to attend schools of their choice
without regard to geographical zones.
In the event of overcrowding or other
factors which make it impossible to as
sign a child to the school he prefers,
zones then will be considered, and the
applicant will be assigned to a school
in the zone in which he lives, accord
ing to the revised plan.
An earlier plan submitted to the
United States District Court in Rich
mond on April 2 provided for assign
ments on the basis of zones. (Scott v.
Fredericksburg School Board.)
★ ★ ★
The Culpeper County School Board
on May 13 formally adopted a policy
prohibiting racially desegregated con
tests in county schools.
The policy already had been in ef
fect, though not formally stated. Last
winter Culpeper’s high school refused
to play in a district basketball tourna
ment because one of the players on
another team was a Negro.
★ ★ ★
Patrons of the private Langley School
at McLean, in northern Virginia, ap
proved a resolution providing that pu
pils will be admitted without regard to
race, it was announced May 25. Among
the prominent persons whose children
attend the school is Supreme Court
Justice Byron R. White.
Political Action
Almond Approved
For Court Post
After a 13-month delay, a United
States Senate judiciary subcommittee
on May 28 held a hearing on President
Kennedy’s nomination of former Vir
ginia Gov. J. Lindsay Almond Jr. to
be a judge of the U. S. Court of Cus
toms and Patent Appeals.
ALMOND
It is generally accepted in Virginia
that the delay was due to opposition to
Gov. Almond in some quarters because
of his actions in the school segrega
tion controversy.
Almond originally supported “massive
resistance,” but in 1959 he recom
mended, and the General Assembly ap
proved, a free
dom - of - choice
program which
permits desegre
gation. His accept
ance of freedom-
of-choice resulted
in a sharp break
between him and
forces led by U. S.
Sen. Hairy Flood
Byrd of Virginia.
An array of
prominent Virgin
ians appeared at the hearing to sup
port Almond’s appointment. There was
no word from Sen. Byrd.
Almond has served in the judicial
post since last Oct. 30, having been
given an interim appointment by the
President after Congress failed to act
on the nomination at its last session.
What They Say
Patrons Support
School Program
A group of about 75 white school
patrons of Powhatan County met May
6 to discuss ways of keeping public
schools open. They adopted a statement
which said, in part:
“We believe that the public schools
are the backbone of a democracy. We
know that we already have the neces
sary buildings, equipment and teachers.
We believe it is our duty and responsi
bility to support our superintendent and
school board in their effort to preserve
the public school system in Powhatan.”
On May 15 the school board issued a
statement taking issue with a letter dis
tributed by public school proponents.
The board said, in part:
“The statement that ‘every effort is
being made by our school board and
its legal adviser to keep integration to
a minimum’ is not accurate and is mis
leading.
“The school board and its counsel
have no power to keep integration to
a minimum and have never purported
that they would be able to keep down
the volume of integration. That volume
Virginia Highlights
The Prince Edward County Board
of Supervisors put in line for final
passage a 1963-64 budget containing
no funds for public schools, while
both sides in the segregation dispute
awaited a court ruling on whether
schools would be ordered reopened.
The chairman of the state Pupil
Placement Board announced a policy
which, if carried out, would virtually
eliminate racial considerations in
school assignments in Virginia.
In Powhatan County, public school
advocates and private school advo
cates worked in behalf of their goals,
as county and Negro lawyers pre
pared for what could be a crucial
case in the school segregation con
troversy.
will depend primarily on the number of
applications filed by Negroes, the ac
tions of the State Pupil Placement
Board, and the actions of the federal
court.”
The public school group, calling it
self Citizens for Public Education, and
backers of a private school have been
competing for the support of the coun
ty’s white parents and their children.
Each side feels that it needs a sub
stantial number of the children, espe
cially those of high school age, in order
to conduct an effective educational pro
gram next year.
In the Colleges
Randolph-Macon
Desegregated
Randolph-Macon Woman’s College,
Lynchburg, announced May 10 that race
will not be a factor in the considera
tion of future applications for admis
sion to the school.
The board of trustees of the Meth
odist-related college issued a statement
saying:
“The charter of Randolph-Macon
Woman’s College does not limit enroll
ment on the basis of race, creed or
color. The charter will be interpreted
in its broadest sense and students will
be admitted wholly on the basis of
academic and personal qualifications.”
Applications for the 1963-64 year al
ready have been processed. A college
spokesman said he knew of no applica
tions from Negroes.
tegaZ Action
Ability, Distance Dropped As Qualifications
Speaking from the witness stand in
federal District Court at Richmond,
Chairman E. J. Oglesby of the State
Pupil Placement Board said May 14
that the board no longer would con
sider the academic qualifications of
Negro children seeking transfers to
white or predominantly white schools.
(United States of America v. Prince
George County School Board.)
Also he said, the distance a Negro
lives from a white school generally
will cease to be a factor in making
assignments.
“If a Negro child wants to attend a
school on the opposite side of the
county, he will be assigned to that
school if a white
child in his area is
entitled to attend
the same school,”
Oglesby testified.
Under the pre
vious policy a Ne
gro’s application
to attend a white
school was reject
ed if the applicant
lived closer to a
Negro school.
The new policy
provides that the Negro will be admit
ted to the white school if he lives with
in the geographic zone served by the
school, even though he may he closer
to a Negro school.
Standardized test scores had been
used by the board in determining the
academic qualifications of Negro appli
cants. If a Negro applicant’s did not
equal the medium score of the child
ren in the white school, the application
was turned down. Such scores will not
be considered under the new policy,
Oglesby said.
The board chairman told reporters
the new policy was evolved as a result
of federal court decisions outlawing
OGLESBY
“dual attendance zones” and academic
criteria in assignment of Negroes to
schools.
Oglesby was testifying in the case in
which the Justice Department is seeking
a court order for desegregation of
schools in Prince George County. The
Ft. Lee military installation is located
in Prince George.
Several Negro army officers and en
listed men testified they tried to avoid
assignment to Ft. Lee because of the
segregated situation.
Maj. Sherman S. Marble said that if
his two children are returned to seg
regated schools next year, he will have
“no alternative but to resign from the
military service.”
Sgt. Bobby J. Chase said he was con
sidering sending his three children
home to Colorado so they would not
have to attend segregated schools next
year.
Mrs. Viola L. Bressant, wife of an
Army captain, testified that conditions
at the Bessie H. Mason School for Ne
groes are deplorable and filthy.
Government Stand
On the following day, May 15, during
argument of the case, St. John Barrett,
a Justice Department attorney, con
tended that the United States has
authority under its war powers to seek
a desegregated education for the child
ren of its civilian and military per
sonnel.
He also argued that “assurances”
given by the county in applying for
federal impact area aid for education
should be construed to mean the coun
ty would admit Negro children from
Ft. Lee to schools on a nondiscrimina-
tory basis.
John S. Battle Jr., council for the
Prince George School Board, told Judge
John D. Butzner Jr., that there was no
evidence that the efficiency of Negro
troops at Ft. Lee has been impaired by
the practice of sending their children
to segregated schools.
He and Robert D. McIIwaine III, an
assistant Virginia attorney general, ar
gued that the Justice Department was
seeking to accomplish through litigation
what Congress has expressly refused
to authorize through legislation. They
said Congress has refused to authorize
the Justice Department to initiate civil
rights suits in the name of the United
States.
★ ★ ★
Hearing Scheduled
On Shutdown Appeal
The U. S. Fourth Circuit Court
scheduled a June 10 hearing on an ap
peal from a District Court order en
joining Powhatan authorities from clos
ing public schools. District Judge John
D. Butzner Jr. also had directed that
three Negro children be admitted to
the county’s white schools, and this, too,
was being appealed. (Bell v. Powhatan
County School Board.)
The fact that the Appeals Court con
sidered the case of unusual significance
was indicated by the announcement
that all five members of the court
would hear the case. The court usually
hears litigation in panels of three
judges.
In a brief filed with the court May
20, the school board argued that Judge
Butzner had no right to issue the in
junction against closing schools, since
there had been no evidence or testi
mony to suggest even a threat of such
action.
In a Richmond Circuit Court pro
ceeding May 20, Judge E. W. Hening
Jr. held that both the Powhatan school
board and the State Pupil Placement
Board could ignore 34 applications from
Negroes to attend white schools—be
cause the applications had been im
properly filed. (Powhatan School Board
v. State Pupil Placement Board.) The
three students which the federal judge
had ordered admitted were not among
the 37.
★ ★ ★
Two new desegregation suits were
filed in Virginia in May, both in the
Federal District Court at Charlottes
ville.
One (Buckner v. Greene County
School Board) seeks desegregation of
county schools.
The other (Williams v. Charlottes-
ville-Albermarle County School
Boards) seeks to bar construction of a
junior high school at the present Bur
ley High School, which serves Negroes
of the city and the county. The plain
tiffs allege that erection of the new
building would delay desegregation.
★ ★ ★
The U. S. Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals on May 10 ordered the Rich
mond School Board to eliminate “dis
criminatory” school assignment pro
cedures. (Bradley v. Richmond School
Board.)
District Judge Butzner on July 25,
1962, directed the admission of 11 Ne
groes to white schools in Richmond,
but he declined to grant an injunction
prohibiting discriminatory practices in
school assignments in the city. The
appeals court, in its decision last
month, said that the district judge
should issue the injunction unless the
city moved promptly to end the pro
tested practices.
Actually, the board already had
acted. In March, it threw out the geo
graphical district assignment system
which Judge Butzner had found ob
jectionable.