Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1963—PAGE 3
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FLORIDA
Registrations Hint Major
Biracial Class Extension
MIAMI
S chool desegregation in Flori
da is expected to be greatly-
extended when classes reopen
this fall, according to indications
from advance registration and
pupil assignment by county
school boards.
Six counties under court orders to
desegregate announced that all prospec
tive first-graders will be given the
choice of the school nearest their home
regardless of race. They were Duval,
Volusia, Hillsborough, Orange, Escam
bia and Leon. All but Duval and Leon
already have some desegregated
schools.
Other counties which have some de
segregation—Dade, Broward, Palm
Beach, Monroe and Sarasota—planned
to assign additional Negro children to
predominantly white schools.
How extensive desegregation will be
is not certain. But some authorities
estimated that the number of Negroes
attending school with white children
will approach 4,000—a three-fold in
crease. It could go much higher.
Dade County, which was the first in
Florida to try desegregation, again will
set the pace.
The school board announced on May
22 that Negro children have been as
signed to 14 more schools, making a
total of 32 in metropolitan Miami that
will have some biracial classes.
The number of Negroes in these
dasses next fall probably will exceed
2,500, according to Dr. Joe Hall, super
intendent.
The newly-desegregated schools in
dude six senior highs, six junior highs
and two elementary schools. Two of
them, Coral City Senior High and
Glades Junior High—are new institu
tions and will open their doors as de
segregated units.
Dr. Hall said that assignment of Ne
groes was made by him in an admin
istrative capacity under the state as
signment law. The action conforms to
the board’s basic policy and requires
no specific approval.
Dr. Hall granted 92 applications for
transfer by Negro pupils to 19 pre
dominantly white schools. Eleven al
ready have some Negro pupils.
In each case, school officials said they
Florida Highlights
Beginning the assignment process
j or the fall term, Florida schools
orecast a large increase in the num-
,er of pupils attending desegregated
schools.
Dade County routinely assigned
■ 8 more Negroes to predominantly
"hite schools and will have 32 de-
‘egregated schools next fall.
_ counties announced plans to
Permit incoming first graders to at
tend the schools nearest their homes
regardless of race. At least 12 coun-
es will have some desegregation,
"o for the first time.
. ‘ NAACP official said Gov. Far-
f S a r ^ ant * s doing “a very poor job
desegregating schools.”
found the applicant wished to attend a
school nearer his home and otherwise
was qualified. Only three transfer re
quests involving desegregation were
denied.
Another 340 Negro pupils formerly
transported by bus to North Dade
Junior-Senior High School and Rain
bow Park Elementary were assigned to
six white schools nearer their homes.
This action was recommended after
a survey which found the transporta
tion cost out of proportion to the cost
for other students. Savings from the
elimination of school buses and fewer
drivers will be applied to the construc
tion of new classrooms.
Dr. Hall said the number of Negro
pupils seeking transfer to white schools
declined this year. The reassignment of
92 out of 95 compared with 189 out of
214 in 1962.
School administrators said they be
lieve the lessening pressure for trans
fers indicates the pattern of desegrega
tion is set in the county. Future assign
ments involving race will be based
largely on residence.
Some Negro leaders still feel, how
ever, that the pace has been too slow.
(See “What They Say.”)
★ ★ ★
White, Negro Teachers’
Organizations Combine
Dade’s white and Negro school
teacher organizations, which have been
engaged in merger talks for several
months, found a simple way to unite.
The all-white Classroom Teachers
Association invited all the comity’s Ne
gro teachers to become full members.
The move was made with approval
of the all-Negro Dade County Teach
ers Association.
“Because of the difference in struc
ture,” said Pat L. Tomillo Jr., CTA
president, “we decided the simplest
thing to do was to consolidate.
“It was just inconceivable to many
CTA members that we could be pro
ceeding with school integration, with
integrated faculties, and still have sepa
rate professional organizations.”
The letter of invitation was sent out
on May 3 and the response was im
mediate. “Negro teachers are joining
CTA in droves,” said Tomillo. He pre
dicted that acceptance would be almost
100 per cent.
DCTA President Emanuel Fryar Jr.
called the merger good for both groups.
His organization will not disband, how
ever, but will maintain a skeleton
structure for tactical reasons until con
solidation is achieved on a statewide
basis. Meanwhile, DCTA will work with
Negro teachers in other counties to
ward that objective.
Some differences had arisen during
the negotiations. DCTA includes Negro
administration personnel as well as
teachers and also owns property in its
name.
CTA, on the other hand, had no con
stitutional ban on Negro members but
simply had barred them “by custom
and tradition.”
The decision to offer CTA member
ship to all qualified teachers was made
on the basis of straw votes among the
two memberships. It was approved
overwhelmingly.
Officials In Broward County
Review Racial Experiences
term p^istration began for next fall
<h] e \’ f° w ard County (Fort Lauder
-’'Perie 0 °°^ ?® c * a ^ s looked back on ii
they f. nc ® w 'lh desegregation and sai
eXce Ption° ^ S en erally good with a fe’
bodimf Negro children are at
hr Predominantly white schools.
'' e groe s Cent wee k- s > almost as man
tr ansf er f* 3 whites have asked fc
^hen u rom desegregated school;
school administration noti
m n - ’ J"™” 1 administration
e Dgihi e “ an ^ Negroes they
V 0r w °, attend Deerfield Beat
v 5 th 0nly 10 applied. The off
''agro school ^ re ^ 6rre ^ 3 P re d° m i n ant!
yea I r 1 wil Elem ° ntar - v Sch ° o1 bog'
?°Ut 3o a a student body of 43
? Cent N °g ro - By the er
'vithdrawi^ 1 ° nt ^ 1 ’ every w h' te P U P
J^ses renlw a sc B°°h with biraci;
^beiice p, e !r a m ore satisfactory e>
. t>ei 'intenri r . yron Ashmore, couni
c Hl ems en » said that academ
W pr oblem re more serious than sc
•Tost - s '
,i4in ‘aii l ^® gr ° students had trout
B the average grade lev
according to reports. But teachers said
this difference rapidly disappeared.
Negro parents said they preferred to
keep their children in desegregated
classes, despite low grades at first, be
cause improvement was fast.
“The trouble,” said a teacher in one
of these schools, “seems to be a long
standing cultural lag caused by eco
nomics. In mixed classes this tends to
disappear. The Broward school system
is aware of this lag and is taking what
steps it can to end it.”
The school board’s desegregation
policy has the support of both races.
“I think at the beginning some Negro
patrons were skeptical of our good
faith,” Dr. Ashmore continued, “I think
they are convinced now that we are
acting as we said we would.”
Other moves toward desegregation
included the assignment of 20 Negroes
to the new experimental Nova High
School, which opens next fall with un
graded classes and no geographical
boundaries. The school is designed to
allow each student to seek his own
level and progress as fast as his abili
ties permit.
Dr. Joe Hall
More desegregation.
Schoolmen
Duval School Board
Approves Policy
For First-Graders
Duval County School Board on May
23 adopted an official policy for the
registration of next year’s first-graders.
The policy was drawn by Elliott
Adams, attorney for the school board,
which is fighting a federal court order
to desegregate on a grade-a-year basis.
A statement on the policy said:
“For the school year 1963-64 each
pupil is to be reassigned to the same
school except (1) pupils who are pro
moted to a higher school and (2) pu
pils who reside in an area that is being
annexed to the attendance area of an
other school as the result of a change
of boundary.”
Reporters who asked for an explana
tion of the policy were invited to “draw
your own conclusions,”
Prospective first-graders began reg
istering May 8. Under the plan ap
proved by the federal district court,
they were permitted to apply to the
nearest school regardless of race. They
were not limited, however, to that
choice.
The school board specifically reserved
the right to “ask any information that
may he relevant for consideration in
connection with this applicant and to
utilize tests, examinations and inter
views with the child, parents, guardian
or other persons to aid in determining
the proper assignment.”
There was no announcement of the
number of Negro children seeking to
enter predominantly white schools.
Under the court order, the school
board has until July 1 to complete as
signments.
★ ★ ★
Three Negroes Admitted
To Tallahassee School
The Leon County school board voted
May 22 to admit three Negroes to Leon
High School in Tallahassee this fall.
It will be the first public school de
segregation in the state capital and the
first in the north-central part of the
state.
The county is under a court order to
begin grade-a-year desegregation in
September. Prospective first-graders
began registering May 8 with the op
tion of attending the school nearest
their homes.
The assignment of the high school
students was on the basis of applica
tions for transfer. They were the only
Negroes asking to attend white schools
next fall.
The board’s approval of the transfers
saw no dissenting votes. One member
(See FLORIDA, Page 15)
They Go Together
THE REGION
Courts Render Decisions
On 14 Cases In 8 States
(Continued from Page 1)
Another federal district judge re
fused to order the Birmingham Board
of Education to begin desegregation
immediately, but warned he would not
tolerate racial discrimination under the
Alabama pupil assignment law.
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Ap
peals denied a Negro request for an
immediate order requiring the school
commissioners of Mobile County to
submit a desegregation plan within 30
days. The court said, however, it
“must require prompt and reasonable
starts” toward compliance with the
1954 Supreme Court decision.
In other cases, Judge Grooms ruled
that the Justice Department was “with
out authority” to bring desegregattion
suits in federally “impacted” Hunts
ville and Madison County.
Other Developments
There were other legal developments
in Alabama. Gov. Wallace filed suit in
the U.S. Supreme Court challenging
President Kennedy’s authority to dis
patch troops to Alabama for possible
use in connection with racial troubles,
but the high tribunal rejected the case.
Chief Judge Elbert P. Tuttle of the
U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
struck down the Birmingham Board of
Education’s order to expel or suspend
1,081 Negro students arrested during
racial demonstrations.
In Louisiana, a district court ap
proved a single-zone procedure for
registration of first- and second-
graders in Orleans Parish and ordered
desegregation of a high school for su
perior students this fall.
U.S. District Judge S. C. Mize dis
missed a Justice Department suit for
desegregation of the Gulfport, Miss.,
Municipal Separate School District,
also an “impacted” area, on grounds
that the United States “has no cause
of action.” In another case, Judge Mize
ordered the admission of a second Ne
gro student at the University of Mis
sissippi.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to
review a lower court decision that a
pending desegregation suit against
South Carolina’s Clarendon County
School District No. 1 could he brought
as a class action.
Pupil Transfers
In two Tennessee cases heard jointly,
the Supreme Court struck down as
unconstitutional the pupil transfer pro
visions included in the Davidson Coun
ty and Knoxville desegregation plans
because they were based on race.
U.S. District Judge Marion S. Boyd
approved a grade-a-year plan proposed
by the Memphis Board of Education,
which will begin its third year of bi
racial classes in September, while a
similar plan for Hillsborough County,
Fla., was ordered into effect by a fed
eral judge at Tampa.
In a ruling at Savannah, Ga., U.S.
District Judge Frank M. Scarlett dis
missed a Negro petition for school
desegregation in Savannah and Chat
ham County. His ruling, declaring that
“white and Negro school children have
equivalent rights before this court,”
was taken to the U.S. Fifth Circuit
Court of Appeals which ordered the
district judge to require desegregation
of at least one grade this fall.
The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals, in a Virginia case, ordered
the Richmond school board to elimi
nate “discriminatory” school assign
ment procedures.
Virginia Cases
In other legal developments, the ap
peals court set a hearing for June 10
on an appeal from a district court or
der which enjoined Powhatan County,
Va., school authorities from closing
public schools. Officials meanwhile
awaited an appeals court decision ex
pected in June on whether Prince Ed
ward County, Va., schools can remain
closed while those in other parts of the
state are open.
In Mississippi, State Attorney Gen
eral Joe Patterson filed a federal court
suit seeking removal of federal troops
from the University of Mississippi
campus at Oxford.
In South Carolina, Clemson College
asked the Supreme Court to overturn
a lower court decision that Harvey B.
Gantt’s suit for admission was a class
action.
A federal judge in Oklahoma City
took under advisement a suit by the
father of a Negro student who sought
to transfer to a desegregated high
school.
New desegregation suits were filed
against two Virginia districts, Greene
County and Charlottesville-Albermarle
County school boards, the latter seek
ing to bar construction of a junior high
school on grounds that the building
would delay desegregation.
Other suits asked desegregation of
Deering Consolidated School District
in Pemiscot County, Mo., and the ad
mission of a Negro girl to a vocational
training school in Houston, Texas.
Requests Made
Negroes requested new or acceler
ated desegregation in other districts
including Hot Springs, Ark., Cam
bridge, Md., Durham, Raleigh, Eden-
ton and Chowan County, all in North
Carolina.
At least six districts took steps to
begin or step up biracial classes this
fall They included Putnam County in
Tennessee, where five Negro teachers
were assigned voluntarily by the
school board to predominantly white
schools and plans were announced for
the enrollment of an additional 105
Negro students in biracial classes.
In Little Rock, school officials said
they had assigned 38 additional Ne
groes to desegregated junior and senior
high schools for next September.
Plans to close a district’s only Negro
high school were revealed in Cecil
County, Md., while another Maryland
district, Howard County, announced
that Negro students in all grades will
be permitted to attend biracial schools
nearest their homes.
Dade County, Fla., schools assigned
an additional 438 Negroes to predomi
nantly white schools for this fall.
In Texas, the Union Independent
District in Terry County voluntarily
adopted a policy of desegregation.
New College Policies
George Peabody College for Teach
ers, a private institution at Nashville,
announced it will admit Negro under
graduate students this fall and Wake
Forest College, a Baptist-affiliated col
lege at Winston-Salem, N.C., approved
a fellowship for its first Negro gradu
ate student. Randolph-Macon Woman's
College, a Methodist institution at
Lynchburg, Va., announced that race
will not be a factor in considering fu
ture applications.
Six Florida districts under court
orders to desegregate announced that
all first-grade students would be given
a choice of the schools nearest their
homes.
In North Carolina, a pupil assign
ment plan which could result in de
segregation of all 18 schools in High
Point was approved by the school
board. The Charlotte-Mecklenberg dis
trict expanded its geographical assign
ment program and the Greensboro
school board approved an assignment
policy excluding race as a factor to be
considered in reassignment procedures.
The Fredericksburg, Va., district
amended its grade-a-year plan to per
mit students to apply for admission
to schools of their choice without re
gard to geographical zones.
E. J. Oglesby, chairman of the Vir
ginia Pupil Assignment Board, said the
board no longer would consider aca
demic qualifications of Negro children
seeking transfers to white or predomi-
nantly white schools.
In Louisiana, the Orleans Parish dis
trict began registering pupils for first
and second grades this fall under a
“unitary, nonracial” zone plan ap
proved by federal court. The East
Baton Rouge district adopted an as
signment procedure based on pre-reg
istration.
Legislative Action
Highlighting legislative action during
the month was passage by the South
Carolina General Assembly of a tui
tion-grant bill to allow the use of
state and local funds in private schools.
The Louisiana House of Representa
tives approved a 50 per cent increase
in state appropriations to support that
state’s grant-in-aid private school pro
gram. It also adopted a resolution con
demning “government by bayonet.”
In Oklahoma, the State Senate
passed a bill to create a human rights
commission which would hear protests
of Negro teachers who lose their jobs
when school districts desegregate.
In Washington, a school aid bill that
would cut off federal funds to segre
gated districts including “impacted
areas” was approved by the House
Education and Labor Committee. Fed
eral funds would be withheld unless
such districts adopted desegregation
plans in June to become effective ner*
year.