About Southern school news. (Nashville, Tenn.) 1954-1965 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1963)
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS-JULY, 1963—PAGE 19 MARYLAND Baltimore School Board’s Racial Policy Is Attacked BRAIN (Continued From Page 18) menting the school board’s original de segregation policy, with a short sum mary of desegregation results in terms of pupils and staff. As to pupils, Dr. Brain reported: “In 1962 (as of October 31) 73.5 per cent of all white public school pupils at tended integrated schools. As of the same date, 58.7 per cent of all Negro public school pupils at tended integrated schools—a substantial increase over 1954 [when only eight per cent of Negro pupils had entered white schools]. This is dramatic evi dence of the effects of pupil desegrega tion in the student body of the Balti more public schools.” On the subject of staff desegregation, Dr. Brain reported: “So far as individual school staffing assignments were concerned, as of 1953 the faculties were still completely racially segregated. By 1961, however, 32.3 per cent of the faculties were integrated, and by 1962, 36.5 per cent. The effects of staff desegregation are more strikingly portrayed when ap plied to individual teachers and school- level administrators. By 1961, 50.9 per cent of all school faculty members had the privilege of working in in tegrated situations. “Within eight years’ time, despite all the difficulties of recruitment, com petition for personnel etc., Baltimore has made great progress in staff in tegration.” First Question The ad hoc committee of the school board was headed by Dr. William D. McElroy, a professor of biology at Johns Hopkins University, and includ- e d the two Negro members of the board. All five members of the ad hoc group signed the committee report which took up, first of all, the question °f whether the school board “unwit- tingly permitted” segregation to con tinue in areas over which the board exer cised control. The committee said: Although the citizens group has wade this general allegation, they have a vanced no proof either in their writ- en [‘seven-year”] report or in their conferences with this committee that ere has been deliberate or purposeful achon by the Board of School Com missioners or the school staff to main- ain racially segregated schools or to ^criminate between pupils on the oasis of race. of Sf h° c committee of the Board ***** Commissioners has found no jj. , ence that the board’s policies per- stH 11 *! 5 t0 Segregation have not been t; 0I ^ y adhered to by the administra- sjh , at . enrollment in some public iu °} s is Predominantly Negro and Pare tf 1 * prec * omin antly white is ap- t ern ^ ¥ the result of housing pat- “It * Ws ? u 6ar ’ therefore, to the mem- the n- e a< * hoc committee . . . that li es ■ wriate solution to this problem th e el- • ^ ee choice of residence and p atter “ nma tl° n of the present housing the „ S w hich obviously are beyond Co antr °l °t the Board of School ‘Paiissioners.” ^ ‘Free Choice' p°li c |l a ^ h° c committee next examined "free JL •* m *ght tend to restrict the Wore sc hools, which in Balti- °f p ar a ditionally has meant the right School en *~\ t° enroll children in any dudefi u, cit y- ddie committee con- Pr ac ti ce at one limiting factor was the Wound ° drawing district lines strict ?, n OVer crowded school to re- w-ithin 8 e ^ ance to children living Sc hool v c . h? na t e d distance. In the hafi dist e,ar ^. ust conc luded, Baltimore Pr °Xim=r?t Idles around 41 of its ap- Thg e y ffW schools, hstrictj^aahtee recommended that all 'hat tr g fa terminated on Oct. 31 and ^"orial S j FS h e permitted for edu- f r °Priat e and ,°'her reasons by the ap- ° dasse a *' s ' an t superintendent in- Pu Pils f a L having no more than 35 hav e t° U ' half of Baltimore’s clas- ; r Wisf er f Wer than 35). Up to now, a ^thout a T one sch ool to another ; J hed tb p Caange °f residence has re- .nvo, v ^ PProva l °f the two princi- ,i ^he a( j , 6 TUestio ° C comm ittee also took up n of deliberately seeking to achieve a racial blend in the schools. Its report said: “The citizens group in their desire to achieve greater racial heterogeneity recommended the establishment, where possible, of biracial attendance zones for all schools. The intent of such a policy would be to compel children to attend a particular school so that racial balances with quota limits of not less than 11 per cent nor more than 89 per cent Negro pupil population in a given school might be achieved and main tained. “Where a child attends a given school voluntarily as a result of the free choice of schools, the ad hoc committee concludes that any plan which would seek to move the child about involun tarily from one school to another for the purpose of maintaining racial bal ances would tend to violate the rights of the individual. “The ad hoc committee finds that the Board of School Commissioners in 1954 held that the utilization of race as a factor in the determination of school policies was improper then, as were the discriminatory educational practices based on racial considerations that existed prior to that date. “Thus, it is the feeling of members of the ad hoc committee that neither the Board of School Commissioners nor members of the administrative staff can provide a satisfactory definition of what constitutes the appropriate racial bal ance for a given school or for the school system. ...” Recommendation Adopted The school board on June 6 adopted the ad hoc committee’s recommendation on the elimination of districting and the change in transfer policies. The board also granted the parents’ request that detailed records of transfer ap plications be kept. But by then the “seven-year” report had become the “eight-year” report and had been join ed by the NAACP demands, so that, in the words of School Board President Frank, “This is very different from what we thought of before.” In concluding the meeting, President Frank promised consideration of the demands “with all hasty speed,” but added, “I do not think that it is within the realm of possibility that our re examination can be completed in any such time as seems to be visualized.” The changes that the board did make in districting and transfer policies were rejected by the NAACP. Mrs. Mitchell termed them “totally unacceptable” and took issue with the ad hoc committee’s premise that one-race schools were only the result of housing patterns. The parents group said it did not want the board to take action out of hand, because the board had only just received its “eight-year” report. The parents met the following week and drafted an eight-page letter to school officials in which they acknowledged the changes in districting and transfers as a “first step,” but reviewed their reasons for believing the board had to do more than that. School Supt. Brain announced on June 12 that he was seeking to arrange a conference with NAACP national leaders, including Miss Shagaloff, and school officials in other large cities facing the demand for full desegrega tion. “We’ve got a national issue with a local focus,” explained Brain, saying that he hoped a discussion of common problems with other school officials would lead to “educationally sound” policies acceptable to integrationists. By the end of June, Dr. Brain indi cated that half a dozen Northern school superintendents along with interested national civil rights groups had ex pressed a definite intention of attending the conference, expected to be held in Baltimore early in August. In an interview with the Balitmore Sun published June 14, Frank said that it was still board policy not to force “children or staff members unwillingly into integrated situations” but that it was inevitable that more attention would be given to the racial aspects of school operations. “Anybody who wasn’t affected by the whole spirit of the times and the re presentations that are being made in Baltimore and throughout Maryland,” he said, “would be some kind of clod.” He predicted a “sharp decrease” in the number of all-white teaching staffs as one early result of the discussions. Counterpoint The issue of alleged racial discrimin ation in staff promotions provided a running contrapuntal theme. Repre sentatives of the Interdenominational Ministers Alliance, a Negro association of about 200 Protestant ministers, were unable for lack of time to address the school board at its lengthy June 6 ses sion but conferred with Supt. Brain and Dr. Houston R. Jackson, as as sistant superintendent for staff services. Expressing disappointment with an swers to their questions about Negro promotions and with the lack of Negro representation in certain administra tive departments, the spokesmen told the press on June 7: “It was also disturbing to leam that there is not a single Negro principal and only three Negro vice principals serving in predominantly white schools. “We were critical of statements by the two officials revealing that they place so little emphasis on academic training and experience and so much on community participation in con sidering Negro teachers for promotion. We repeatedly took issue with the as sistant superintendent in his attempts to portray the Negro teacher as in ferior.” ‘So Many Factors’ Dr. Jackson himself a Negro, prompt ly denied saying Negro teachers were inferior. “I did tell them,” he explained in the Sun, “that we don’t have so many eminently qualified people as they say we have . . . Many persons feel that because a person has a de gree, he is immediately qualified to be an administrator, but there are so many factors to be taken into account. ...” (For Dr. Jackson’s views in full, see SSN, August, 1961). The promotion issue boiled over at the June 19 meeting of the school board when a list of staff assignments came up for approval. The list included the appointment of several Negroes as principals of predominantly white schools and also the appointment of Negroes to new administrative posi tions. Mrs. Elizabeth Murphy Phillips, one of the two Negro board members, read a mimeographed statement in which she referred to “six unprecedented as signments of colored personnel to jobs heretofore closed to them” as “token desegregation” and “not sufficient at this time when our entire methods of desegregation are under fire . . . and we face the threat of court action.” Although Mrs. Phillips had signed the report of the ad hoc committee which found no evidence of deliberate segregation, she spoke of “obvious seg- DELAWARE Three Negro High Schools Report Enrollment D ecline DOVER ach of Delaware’s three coun- ty Negro high schools, for the first time in at least a decade, graduated fewer seniors in June than during the previous year. The number of graduates, according to 10-year totals released to Southern School News by the State Department of Public Instruction, declined from 196 to 177. Dr. Howard Row, assistant superin tendent of public instruction in charge of secondary schools, declined com ment on the meaning of the decline. The number of graduates declined by a half-dozen at both Jason (Sussex County) and Redding (New Castle County) and seven at William Henry (Kent County). Figures Compared Jason, which has the largest enroll ment of the three, graduated 106, com pared with 112 last year, while Wil liam Henry graduated 59 compared to 66. The number of Redding graduates dropped from 18 to 12. According to the 10-year statistics, a total of 1,368 students have been grad uated at the three schools since the Supreme Court desegregation decision. The majority, 789, received diplomas from Jason, with 426 graduating from William Henry and 153 from Redding, which has never graduated a class of more than 25 during the past decade. Legislative Action Construction Bill Includes Additions To All-Negro Schools An amended school construction bill, in the amount of $57,641,245, was in troduced into the House during June. The amendment to HB 224 provides for additional construction at more than a dozen schools with all-Negro Delaware Highlights Enrollment declined at each of the three Negro county high schools for the first time in at least 10 years. A $57-million school construction bill includes funds for projects at more than a dozen schools with all- Negro enrollments. Consolidation of the three Negro county high schools with white schools is not considered feasible by a state school official. regation in pupil transportation and assignment.” The elimination of district lines as of Oct. 31, which the board did on the committee’s recommendation, Mrs. Phillips described as not a “suf ficient answer” to complaints: “We need to do more. And, it is my feeling that we can do it immediately, not next October after school opens.” Her remarks drew heated responses from white members of the board who asserted “we are doing all we possibly Biracial Teacher Association Formed Merger of the white and Negro teachers associations in Wicomico County, on the Eastern Shore, was an nounced in June. The announcement followed the ratification of a new con stitution and acceptance of a new slate of officers by the Wicomico County Teachers’ Association. The former all- white organization by that name had 300 members, and the former all-Negro Wicomico County Education Associa tion had 200 members. Foundations for the merger were described as being laid as long ago as 1961 when the two associations spon sored a joint legislative dinner. The merger was presented as “part of the continuing integration process in Wico mico County schools.” The county had some Negroes in formerly all-white schools for the first time last fall. Also in June, announcement was made of the merger of the white and Negro teachers associations in Wor cester County, also on the Eastern Shore. The reorganization of the Wor cester County Teachers Association as a biracial body had taken place in March, but the announcement had a- waited the first executive session of the new group. As of the last school year, Worcester had no Negro pupils in desegregated white schools. The mergers in Wicomico and Wor cester counties raised the number of Maryland school districts with a single teachers association to 15. Nine coun ties at last count continued to have separate white and Negro organiza tions. The Maryland State Teachers Association as the parent body annual ly urges the benefits of unification. Board Calls for Study Of Desegregation Issues The Harford County Board of Edu cation in June requested its profes sional staff to “make an intensive study of the problems involved in the further desegregation of Harford County schools.” The county has completed a seven- year transition program which by last fall had brought 417 Negroes into 17 formerly all-white schools. The county has about 2,100 Negroes in a school enrollment of 16,000. The Baltimore Evening Sun reported Dr. Charles W. Willis, Harford’s school superintendent, as saying that the use of the word “problems” in the board’s statement was unfortunate. Dr. Willis said that the board had not been ap proached by any groups, either for or against desegregation, and was having the study made as a result of “trouble all over the state.” Dr. Willis said he did not want Har ford caught off balance in the midst of desegregation controversy. The study is to include desegregation factors re lated to pupils, teachers, transporta tion and buildings, with the staff mak ing periodic progress reports. Dr. Willis said he did not expect any reports from the staff for at least three months. enrollment, for which the state pays all construction costs. At white schools, the state pays 60 per cent of the construction cost, with the remainder raised by real estate and capitation taxes in the local districts. Major projects are planned for all three counties, with many exceeding a quarter-million dollars. The General Assembly, however, went into recess on June 28 without action on the school bond bill. What They Say Program to Increase Civic Responsibility Of Negroes Outlined A prominent Negro educator was among more than 100 members of his race in the Wilmington area who have outlined a program to increase Ne groes’ civic responsibility and improve the public image of their teen-agers. Dr. Early C. Jackson, principal of Bancroft School, said, “The Negro is beginning to study himself, his weak nesses as well as his strengths.” Negroes, he said, “are frightened be cause the weaknesses of our people are becoming more conspicuous as we penetrate the wall and become more distributed into the larger community. “The time has come when the Negro race no longer wants to sweep its weaknesses underneath the rug. Per sonal pride and self-respect are neces sary to the attainment of respect and acceptance by others,” Dr. Jackson said. ★ ★ ★ White-Negro High School Consolidation Discussed Consolidation of Delaware’s three county Negro high schools with white schools would result in reduced enroll ment and loss of jobs by at least 50 per cent of the teachers, in the opinion of a state school official. Such a merger, Dr. John G. Parres told the League of Women Voters of Wilmington, is “economically and edu cationally unsound.” Dr. Parres, director of research and publications for the State Department of Public Instruction, said this is the reason the consolidation bill sponsored by the State Board of Education omits the Negro schools. Louis L. Redding, leader of the Ne groes’ fight to desegregate Delaware schools, has called omission of the county high schools an attempt to per- (See DELAWARE, Page 20) can” or urged “due recognition” of Baltimore’s desegregation accomplish ments. Mrs. Phillips drew some support from J. Percy Bond, the other Negro board member, who said, “I think we’re moving in the right direction, though not as rapidly as we could and should move.” “When Bond referred to the number of Negro pupils on double shifts as “discriminatory,” John R. Sherwood, the board member who had made the original desegregation motion in 1954 shouted, “It is not discriminatory.” In the end, all board members except Mrs. Phillips voted for the adoption of the personnel appointment list. The board also voted, this time unanimous ly, to buy 100 temporary classrooms to “provide immediate relief” at over crowded schools, most of which are in Negro areas, and to lease or buy additional buses to transport children to vacant classrooms in distant schools. Bond urged the board to “make no transportation” arrangements without taking race into account. “We must consider race as a justifiable education al motive for moving from one school to another,” he said. He, too, signed the ad hoc committee report which says that neither the board nor admin istrative staff “can provide a satisfac tory definition of what constitutes the appropriate racial balance for a given school ...” At a meeting on June 26, the school board heard a charge by the Interde nominational Ministers Alliance that Negroes were held to “absurd” stand ards for promotion. The board also received a telegraphed request by the Baltimore NAACP for a conference to discuss NAACP demands. President Frank said the board would meet with the NAACP in July.
