About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1963)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JULY. 1963—PASE 15 LOUISIANA j f \ East Baton Rouge Board Offers Plan To Begin Biracial Classes in 1964 NEW ORLEANS D esegregation of the 12th grade of the East Baton Rouge Parish public schools in 1964 was proposed by the parish school board as its initial step toward court-ordered school de segregation, with the plan to proceed to the next lowest grade each year. The “reverse stairstep” plan was adopted by the board on a 7-4 vote June 27 and was presented to the U. S. district court the following day in com pliance with the court’s April 5 order to submit a proposal for desegregation by July 5. (Davis v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.) The p-oposal included precise rules for pupil assignment based on such factors as the availability of space, effect on academic programs, scholastic ability, psychological qualifications “for the type of teaching and association” best suited for the student, home en vironment, morals, conduct, health and personal standards. Separation by Sex The school board left open the pos sibility that pupils might be separated by sex in any grade or school. In presenting the plan to U. S. Judge E. Gordon West, Assistant District At torney John Ward asked, in the event the court sees fit to order the plan before the suggested date in 1984, “that the plan be implemented only with re spect to those persons who have re quested transfer in accordance with procedures set forth by the board.” This was a reference to the pre-regi stration pursued by the board in May when forms were sent to the parents of all children then in the public schools, assigning pupils to particular schools for the next school year. In a memo to the district attorney’s office, school officials said that no ob jections to the assignments had been received and that no applications had been received from Negro children re questing transfer to white schools. The court also had under advisement 80 alternate plan submitted by the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored Pe ople. It pro posed desegrega tion of three grades, beginning with the lowest !“ ree > each year 0r the next four ye , ars - It also wiled for deseg regation of all ex tracurricular and social functions and of the teach- »g staff. jj. tde memo, one school official said ls plan “would result in complete Oklahoma (Continued From Page 14) siDD^ vf at Univers ity Missis- Press ” aVe ^ >een exaggerated by the ^ ace Relations Unit Study Problems In Education Field a newly-created Ok- 4ose^l ems education will be among by ^rnittee. tee’ s or WaS in dieated in the commit - Th e ‘ ganiz ational meeting June 11. ( -oinmm_ < “ ity Community Relations ^av oo C ? rnrri 'ttee had been established -lay jo i naa Deen eslaoiisnea °P r eC n ^ *be Oklahoma City Council ^ilkes men< Iation of Mayor Jack S. ^1 omk?. J on g-range move to avoid j'egro !,T, ems * n the city. At the time, were demonstrating at grou P s Thr ee Vn restau rants and hotels. taUr ant ? a ' or business places—a res- >,JOr n-.. s j a ca teteria and a hotel dining ^r°es ' Ce nave agreed to serve Ne- Tli e j' aa br na ° rn 2 lun 'ty relations committee 6 Xecu t i * an b Carey Jr., appointed quioU Ve . comi nittee “for planning [.rttee will 3 ?* 011 ’” execut ive com- Said ar , , 6 a Policy-making group, S1 , , -HI appoint members to h °Usi n „ SUc b problems g > Public as education, L em pi< °yment. accommodations, health chaos . . . and in the immediate dis- solut on cf the public school system.” At the school board meeting, the seven members who endorsed the de- seg egation plan issued a statement saying they believed their proposal “will be less destructive of our school system, less harmful to both the Negro and white children who would be di rectly involved, and . . . will cause less concern and worry to the parents of those children, than would a plan de signed by the federal appellate courts.” The group also expressed hope that ‘the legislative, administrative and law enforcement branches of our local gov ernment will cooperate with us to the fullest extent in maintaining law and order without the demonstrations and violence which have accompanied de segregation at other schools in other cities and states in the South.” Opposition to the plan was voiced by board members Hubert Montgomery, John White and A. T. Furr. In a pre pared statement, Furr said, “The entire effort is purely political ... a vote getting gimmick. The Negro is being used as a pawn in a political power struggle.” Schoolmen 274 Negroes Apply For Biracial Classes In Orleans Parish Two hundred and seventy-four first and second grade Negro pupils have applied for enrollment next fall in 24 previously all-white New Orleans pub lic schools. The applicants included an unde termined number of the 107 Negro children who attended desegregated schools during the past school year; and the affected schools include the 20 de segregated last September. Applications were received May 29 to 31 under terms of a unitary, non- racial attendance district setup estab lished by the Orleans Parish School Board at the direction of the federal dis trict court. The report on the registration tabu lation was p re sented to the board June 17 by School Supt. O. Perry Walker. Walker pointed out that the enrollment figures can not be considered as complete. Other children may be expected to register at the beginning of the 1963-64 school term. Additional Negro children and schools may be involved in the court ordered desegregation process, he in dicated. WALKER The applicants for enrollment in de segregated schools were among the 10,578 Negro pupils who presented themselves for enrollment in the first and second grades for next fall. One white child applied for enroll ment in the first grade of the Moton elementary school, which heretofore has had an entirely Negro student body. The four schools not previously de segregated for which Negro children applied include Gayarra, which received one Negro application for the first grade; McDonogh No. 7, one Negro application for the second grade; Mc Donogh No. 14, two for the first grade; and McDonogh No. 31, seven for the first grade and four for the second. Applicants Listed by Schools The number of Negro applicants for the first and second grades in the 20 schools previously desegregated was as follows: Allen, six for the first grade, nine for the second; Audubon, 12 for the first, 11 for the second; Bradley, 11 for the first, four for the second; Davis, nine for the first, six for the second; Frantz; seven for the first, five for the second; Jackson, 11 for the first, nine for the second; Lafayette, three for the first, seven for the second; Laurel-McDonogh No. 1, one for the second. Lee, eight for the first, seven for the second; Lusher, 13 for the first, 11 for the second; McDonogh No. 10, 16 for the first, 12 for the second; Mc Donogh No. 11, one for the first, two for the second; McDonogh No. 16, 11 for the first, three for the second; Mc Donogh No. 39, two for the second; McDonogh No. 45, four for the first, five for the second; Palmer, four for the first, six for the second; Semmes, one for the first, three for the second; ohaw, 10 for the first, 11 for the second; Washington, four for the first; Wilson, four for the first, 10 for the second. Figures were not compiled to show how many of the 107 Negroes who at tended desegregated schools last year were among the 274 who applied for desegregated schools next year. It is known, however, that 96 of the 107 were first graders and under the single district registration procedure they were required to apply again. Pre-registration First Step Pre-registration on the single, non- racial district basis marked the first step toward ending the traditional school system here under which sepa rate and distinct attendance zones were established for white and Negro schools. Louisiana Highlights The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board adopted a plan for grade-a-year desegregation to begin at the 12th grade in 1964 and pre sented it to the federal district court for approval. A total of 274 Negro children ap plied for enrollment next fall in the first and second grades of 24 New Orleans public schools. The U. S. Department of Justice asked the federal district court to cite state school officials for civil contempt for failure to desegregate the Southwest Louisiana Vocational- Technical School at Lake Charles. A federal district court ordered a Nigerian student admitted to Lou isiana State University at New Or leans where his application had been turned down on grounds that he is a nonresident Negro. Overcrowding in Negro public schools while desks are unused in the white schools was pinpointed in an NAACP study of the Orleans Pa rish public school system. attendance recorded in them prior to the first desegregation in the school system in 1960, when 12 Negro children enrolled at six all-white schools. In 1959, the last year of complete segregation here, 11,968 children at tended 19 of the 20 now desegregated schools. One of the 20, McDonogh 45, has been built since desegregation be gan. Vocational School The new attendance areas for the first two grades were drawn around the Parish’s (county’s) 45 white and 43 Negro elementary schools, taking into consideration the capacity and location of each school building in relation to the school-age population in the vi cinity, traffic arteries and other natural barriers that affect access to each building, and “general characteristics of the neighborhood,” but not race. The attendance district layout was approved by the school board March 11 and by U. S. District Judge Frank B. Ellis April 26. (SSN, April and May.) Negro plaintiffs in the case of Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board, whose legal action since 1956 has pursued the goal of desegregation, challenged the plan in court. They charged it was discriminatory and an unduly slow ap proach to desegregation. But they had not filed an appeal to Judge Ellis’ de cision approving the plan by the June 17 deadline for making such a move. 107 Negroes End Term In 20 Orleans Schools At the close of the 1962-63 school term, a total of 107 Negro pupils and 8,936 white pupils were attending classes together in 20 New Orleans public schools. The Negro enrollment had remained constant throughout the school year, but the white enrollment represented an increase of almost 32 per cent since last September when the first wide spread desegregation occurred in the Orleans Parish public schools. Total enrollment in those 20 schools, however, remained well below the peak Head Faces Court Contempt Hearing Rex H. Smelser, director of the Southwest Louisiana Vocational-Tech nical School at Lake Charles, has been ordered by federal district court to show cause why he should not be cited for civil contempt for failure to obey a court order directing that the school be desegregated. Smelser, State School Supt. Shelby M. Jackson and the State Board of Education were named in a petition, filed by the U. S. Justice Department June 26, alleging that Negroes still are being “wilfully discriminated against” in enrollment at the school, generally called the Sowela Trade School. The director, however, was the only one named in the court order to appear before the federal court in Baton Rouge July 5. The order was signed by Judge E. Gordon West. It was issued in re sponse to a petition submitted by Burke Marshall, assistant U. S. attorney general; Louis C. La Cour, U.S. attorney in New Orleans, and St. John Barrett, an attorney for the Justice Department. The motion charged that from Sept. 21, 1962, when a previous petition for a contempt citation was dismissed, un til the filing of the present petition, Smelser has “wilfully discriminated against Negro applicants and prevented them from enrolling legally.” It also charged that 11 specific means had been used to prevent Negro enroll ment, including limitations as to time and place for filing applications, refusal to provide necessary information to prospective Negro applicants and ar- bitary handling of standardized exami nations administered Negroes. The petition noted that of the 70 Negroes who had applied at Sowela since September, 1962, 65 had been rejected. It was reported by other sources that of those not rejected, most were accepted for a nursing course that has not yet been scheduled. During the same period, the petition said, 772 white persons applied at the school and only 150 were rejected. The government’s petition noted the rejection rate was 93 per cent for Negro applicants and 19 per cent for whites. The government’s action was taken in the case of Angel v. the State Board of Education which has been in the courts since 1959. Desegregation “with all deliberate speed” was ordered on May 24, 1960. When the board of education did not act by July 27, 1962, the court ordered the defendants to show cause why they should not be cited for con tempt. Hearing was set for Sept. 22,1962. The board on Sept. 21 adopted a resolution directing that applications for all state trades schools, including Sowela, hence forth would be received without regard to race. The court ordered the board’s resolution made a part of the record in the case and dismissed the contempt proceeding. Court Orders Nigerian Admitted to LSUNO A Nigerian student has been ordered admitted to Louisiana State University at New Orleans by federal Judge Her bert W. Christenberry. In his petition for a temporary re straining order and preliminary in junction, Emmanuel Nwafor Nweze explained that he is an undergraduate student at Southern University at New Orleans, but said unless he is per mitted to take a particular summer course offered at LSUNO he will be delayed a year in receiving his bache lor’s degree. Nweze’s petition specified that he is a nonresident alien holding a student visa to the United States. He claimed his application to LSUNO was rejected and that Kenneth J. Byrne, admissions counselor, explained that LSUNO does not admit nonresident Negroes. Nweze contended this is a denial of equal protection of the law under the 14th amendment. (See EAST, Page 17) Miscellaneous School Space Criticized in NAACP Study White elementary public schools in Orleans Parish had a total of 10 053 empty seats last fall while Negro ele mentary schools had 5,763 more pupils than they had seats, a survey by the National Association for the Advance ment of Colored People indicated. Similarly, at the high school level, most Negro schools had enrollments in excess of their designed capacity, while some white schools had fewer pupils than they were built to accommodate, the NAACP said. The study results contended that 3,343 Negro children were attending classes on shifts at five elementary schools; hundreds of Negro high school pupils were being transported daily by bus to overcrowded high schools while white schools near their homes had empty desks. The effects were being felt, a study report said, in uneconomical use of school facilities, in unequal class load of teachers, in the denial to many Negro children of the opportunity to attend kindergarten and other special school programs. The findings were presented by Dr. Georg G. Iggers, chairman of the edu cation committee of the New Orleans B anch of the NAACP, at a community relations council meeting June 11 at Loyola University. The study was en titled “A Study of Some Tangible In equalities in the New Orleans Public Schools: 1. A Report on Overcrowding and Some of Its Consequences.” The survey updated a similar study made three years ago and said that despite new facilities, Negro schools re main as overcrowded in general as they were in 1957, although some indi vidual schools had been relieved. Based largely on official school board statistics, the report noted that in Oc tober, 1957, Negro elementary schools had enrollments totaling 119.8 per cent of capacity and by October, 1962 this had been reduced to 115.7 per cent. During the same period, the report said, white elementary school enrollments dropped from 79.7 per cent of capacity to 66.9 per cent. Negro high schools in October, 1957, were operating with enrollments at 119.2 per cent of capacity and the figure was reduced to 115.4 per cent by 1962 while white school utilization during the same period rose from 82.5 per cent to 91.3 per cent, the report showed. In conclusion, the report said: “We shall not predict the future space utilization, as we did in our last report. The school board will presumably begin to replace the dual system of school districts with single districts. Over crowding in the schools will depend on the manner in which these districts are drawn. “If the districts are drawn on a purely geographic, nonracial basis with the most rational use of space as the aim, space problems would be solved com pletely on the elementary school level and almost so on the secondary level. At the end of the first semester, there was a surplus of 4,988 elementary school seats and a shortage of 603 sec ondary school places. “On the other hand if the school dis tricts follow racial lines (as the boun daries in the map released recently by the school board of proposed school districts for the first and second grade for this coming September seem to in dicate) and an inequitable transfer sys tem is adopted, the schools may be al most as effectively segregated as they were under the dual system and the problems of overcrowding in the pre dominantly or all-Negro schools may continue to be as severe as before. “As a matter of fact, it is conceivable that a single system of school districts which closely observes racial rather than geographical boundaries may ex clude Negro children from attending previously all white schools who are now doing so. “It is our plea that in drawing the lines of the new school districts, the school board will be guided by a con cern for the welfare of all children re gardless of race and will draw the boundaries of the districts on the basis of the most rational utilization of the available space. It is a shame that some children should suffer the consequences of overcrowding while school rooms stand empty.”
