About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1963)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1963—PAGE 3 l I A | ocfc i in lor Ire Mo Ire ) to 1 ide spe- de- the 1 rec- the i of dis- :on- lake en- item ree- s of, e is fa- • 'era! that dis* s in itter the the, sec- ions iters ates jner has anc hooi • ivith s in said al- de- lca- !od , S M ices iod iool , re sits be ll [ar- ers* ■es- jial ,of Ians ties I* £ ools iO»' tba 1 d <&' fid 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.
