Newspaper Page Text
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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY, 1964—PAGE 13
Alabama
(Continued From Page 12)
member of the board of stewards.
The Macon County school board
agreed, on advice of state Attorney
General Richmond Flowers, not to re
sume bus service for boycotting whites
despite the insistence of Gov. Wallace.
Tfcey feared they would be held in
contempt of federal court orders, since
^ transportation was a form of evad
ing the desegregation injunction.
Pruitt said Judge Johnson had been
■‘rather reasonable” and had asked the
' board to discontinue service as soon as
nossible without any specific deadline.
•We transported them as long as we
L c0U ld but we reached the limit. We just
felt like we had to stop it.”
★ ★ ★
Gov. Wallace made a personal ap
pearance Jan. 23 before the Macon
Academy, all-white private school
formed after the white walk-out from
Tuskegee High.
He said there was no way the state
as a whole could support the school
but that “help can be made available . .
through individual state officials.”
He told the 140-member student
body:
“Your high school was taken by un
warranted and illegal action from peo
ple who have no interest in education
in this state—black or white.”
He urged the members of the private
school foundation to take heart: “We
are going to make our mark yet on the
American scene . . . The question is:
Can people in Washington a thousand
miles away take over and run a local
school system . . . We can’t win all of
the battles, but we can awaken the
i American citizens to the dangers of an
omnipotent centralized government.”
★ ★ ★
’ U.S. District Judge Seyboum H.
Lynne overruled on Jan. 27 objections
to the present school desegregation
plan of the Birmingham Board of Edu
cation (SSN, January).
e The ruling apparently meant there
would be no expansion of desegrega-
n bon in Birmingham at mid-term. Five
Negroes are now attending three form
erly all-white schools in the state’s
' largest city. They were admitted under
court order in September, after Gov.
Wallace attempted to block their entry,
> as he did in Huntsville, Tuskegee and
ie i Mobile.
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Lynne said the evidence introduced
during the hearing on the objections by
lawyers for Negro parents “over
whelmingly demonstrates the imprac-
hcability of mid-term transfer of pupils
°f either race.”
Lynne pointed out that the court ex-
^'ts a decision from the U.S. Fifth
mcuit Court of Appeals before the
nd of the 1963-64 school year, in-
ructing the school board as to plans
. °r further desegregation next fall.
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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
House Debates Administration’s Rights Bill
(Continued From Page 1)
the bill. He said:
“Americans of all races stand side
by side in Berlin and Viet-Nam. They
died side by side in Korea. Surely they
can work and eat and travel side by
side in America.”
Johnson said he wanted this session
of Congress to be known as “the ses
sion that did more for civil rights
than the last hundred sessions com
bined.”
“As far as the writ of federal law
will rim,” he added, “we must abolish
not some but all racial discrimination.”
Russell Conceded Odds
Commenting on the President’s
State of the Union address, Sen.
Richard B. Russell (D-Ga.), leader of
the Senate opposition to the civil-
rights bill, said he would make an all-
out fight against the measure. But he
conceded that “under the existing
circumstances, the odds in favor of
this shortsighted and disastrous legisl
ation are very great.”
“We can only tighen our belts with
increased determination to fight the
good fight for reason and the Con
stitution with every weapon at our
disposal,” Russell said.
As reported to the House, the bill’s
Title IV contains the following provi
sions affecting school desegregation:
Survey—Within two years of pas
sage, the U.S. Commissioner of Edu
cation would make a survey and re
port to the President and Congress on
“the lack of availability of equal edu
cational opportunities for individuals
by reason of race, color, religion or
national origin in public educational
institutions at all levels in the United
States, its territories and possessions
and the District of Columbia.”
Technical Aid—At the request of
local school officials or other govern
mental agencies, the U.S. Commis
sioner of Education would offer tech
nical assistance, including information
and advisory staff, to help “in the pre
paration, adoption and implementation
of plans for the desegregation of public
schools.”
Training Institutes—Through grants
or contracts, the government would
set up special training institutes “de
signed to improve the ability of
teachers, supervisors, counselors and
other elementary or secondary school
personnel to deal effectively with spec
ial educational problems occasioned by
desegregation.”
Grants—On application from a school
board, the Commissioner of Education
would be authorized to make grants
covering in whole or part the costs
of “(1) giving to teachers and other
school personnel in-service training in
dealing with problems incident to de
segregation, and (2) employing spe
cialists to advise in problems incident
to desegregation.”
Suits—The Attorney General would
be empowered to file and maintain
civil suits in behalf of complaints
charging segregation or discrimination
on the basis of race in public schools
and colleges. The Attorney General’s
intervention would, however, be con
fined to cases where he certifies “that
the signer or signers of such com
plaint are unable, in his judgment,
to initiate and maintain appropriate
legal proceedings for relief, and that
the institution of an action will mater
ially further the public policy of the
United States favoring the orderly
achievement of desegregation in public
education.”
In addition to these provisions under
Title IV, the bill’s Title VI would af
fect some schools by providing that
no racial lines could be drawn “under
any program or activity receiving
federal financial assistance.”
Federal agencies disbursing funds
bama, were formally charged with
“setting off dynamite or other explosive
dangerously near an inhabited dwel
ling house.”
There were no injuries and little dam
age. One of the accused (SSN, Janu
ary) was quoted by the Tuscaloosa
News as saying they were bitter about
remaining in federalized service, but
were not trying to hurt anyone.
Four Auburn University students
were place on probation for pulling
down “off Limits” signs erected as part
of the security measures taken during
the registration of the school’s first
Negro student, Harold Franklin of
Montgomery.
Franklin was generally ignored by
students, though some talked to him
and joked about having their picture
made in class with him.
D. C. Highlights
The House of Representatives be
gan voting on amendments to the
administration’s civil-rights bill, with
a final vote scheduled for no later
than Feb. 11. President Johnson
said he expected a Southern fili
buster against the measure in the
Senate, but did not think it would
become necessary to soften the bill.
The President in his State of the
Union message renewed his appeal
for passage of the legislation, but
a Southern leader called for a fight
against the bill “with every weapon
at our disposal.”
The Supreme Court agreed to hear
arguments March 30 on the Atlanta
desegregation plan. Coupled with
the court’s intention to hear the
Prince Edward County, Va., case,
this could result in the most far-
reaching judicial pronouncements
on school desegregation since the
under various aid programs—such as
the “impacted areas” program for
schools accommodating large numbers
of military dependents—would be re
quired to advise grant recipients to
drop racial bars, and then would have
the right to withhold funds for non-
compliance. Recipients whose aid is
cut off would have recourse to the
courts for review.
★ ★ ★
Compliance Review
Seen as Arguments
Slated for Atlanta
The Supreme Court of the United
States decided Jan. 13 that it will hear
arguments next month on the grade-
a-year desegregation plan in effect in
Atlanta.
The court’s decision pointed to a
comprehensive review this spring of
the pace and scope of compliance with
its 1954 school desegregation decision.
The Atlanta school case was set
down for argument March 30—im
mediately after the hearing previously
granted on the closed-school situation
\ . . Burned Right, It Hurts!’
Baldy, Atlanta Constitution
court handed down its 1954 and 1955
rulings.
A boycott of D.C. public schools
was proposed by a CORE official,
subject to support of other organiza
tions.
D.C. School Supt. Carl F. Hansen
defended the “track system” of
ability grouping as an effective and
fair way of coping with individual
differences among pupils. In a 42-
page report to the school board, he
upheld the system’s performance in
the face of recent criticism from in
side and outside the board.
A school board member suggested
some closed-door meetings of board
committees to deal with such sensi
tive topics as race relations, and
another board member charged that
racial discrimination might account
for school assignment patterns in
two zones.
in Prince Edward County, Va. The
two cases will give the Supreme Court
its first opportunity in several years
for a broad look at school desegrega
tion. The agreement to hear the Prince
Edward case was announced Jan. 6.
(SSN, January.)
Not since 1955, when it suggested a
pace of “all deliberate speed” for school
desegregation, has the Supreme Court
issued any general directive on im
plementation of its 1954 decision. How
ever, last spring the court commented
that progress which might have satis
fied the deliberate speed formula in
1955 would not necessarily be re
garded as adequate now.
Atlanta schools are desegregating
under an inverted stairstep plan also
adopted by a number of other South
ern cities. Negro students in the top
four grades are not eligible to apply for
transfers to formerly all-white schools,
with one grade being added to the plan
each year.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
refused an NAACP request to strike
down the city’s dual school system and
speed up the grade-a-year schedule.
The Appeals Court said, in an opinion
by Judge Griffin Bell, that “good faith
and substantial progress are the in
dispensable ingredients” of school de
segregation plans, and that Atlanta’s
plan met the test.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge
Richard T. Rives held that the courts
lad refused to sustain similar pro
grams in New Orleans and Pensacola,
and that the Supreme Court’s com
ments of last spring were a mandate
for a faster desegregation pace.
★ ★ ★
Boardman Suggests
Closed Meetings
Dr. Preston A. McLendon, a member
of the D.C. Board of Education, sug
gested Jan. 15 that it might be advis
able for committees of the board to
conduct some of their business in
closed session—especially when sensi
tive topics such as race relations are
involved.
McLendon said conclusions reached
in closed meetings could then be
brought to the full board at public
sessions, or reported by the committee
at open meetings.
A D.C. statute requires the school
board and all its committees to conduct
all business in public except that re
lating to personnel decisions. However,
School Board President Wesley S. Wil
liams agreed to refer McLendon’s sug
gestion to the D.C. Corporations
Counsel for a legal opinion.
★ ★ ★
School board member Mordecai W.
Johnson, former president of Howard
University, complained that de facto
segregation exists in two D.C. school
zones that appear to be evenly popu
lated by Negro and white pupils.
Johnson said the school assignments
about which he complained might have
come about accidentally rather than by
design. He declined to identify the
school areas to which he referred, but
stressed that he thought the board had
a responsibility to guard against seg
regation.
-*■¥■-¥■
CORE Leader Says
School Boycott
Backing Sought
Local and national civil-rights or
ganizations are being asked to support
a boycott of D.C. public schools, an
official of the Congress of Racial Equ
ality (CORE) announced Feb. 5.
Julius W. Hobson, regional director
of CORE, said plans called for a boy
cott late in March, provided the or
ganizations agree to back the demon
stration.
Hobson said the protest would be
aimed primarily at “inadequate facili
ties” in the school system, rather than
at de facto segregation, though he said
the latter also in a problem in Wash
ington.
(See D. C., Page 14)
Makes It Tricky To Handle
Knox, Nashville Banner
Hansen Defends Grouping by Ability
The “track system” of grouping
pupils by academic ability in the D.C.
public schools “has stimulated the
establishment and maintenance of
high academic standards,” School Supt.
Carl F. Hansen said Jan. 13.
Hansen, principal architect of the
track system which was adopted short
ly after Washington schools desegre
gated, defended
the plan vigor
ously in a 42-
page report sub
mitted to the
Board of Educa
tion. The system
has been sharply
criticized recent
ly by some board
members and
others as unfair
to students in the
lowest, or remed-
“Equal opportunity is not putting all
pupils together in the same classes,”
Hansen said. “Pupils are not the same
because natural endowments and back
grounds differ and accidents of en
vironment may cause differences, such
as brain damage or other physical
handicaps.”
“Many who philosophically oppose
ability grouping and specifically the
track system often overlook the fact
that grouping will take place either by
plan or accident, no matter what policy
steps are taken to avoid this,” Hansen
said.
“The issue is whether it is better to
group by plan and to make education
challenging to everyone or to group
informally and even unwittingly.”
This year, 3.7 per cent of the ele
mentary pupils, 15.5 per cent in junior
high school and 10.8 per cent in senior
high school are in the remedial basic
track, Hansen reported. In 1958, he
noted, 22.6 of the senior high students
were enrolled in the basic track.
Since 1958, Hansen said, the percent
age of pupils in the general track has
increased from 41.7 to 48, and in the
college preparatory track from 29 to
34.6. The percentage in the top honors
track has declined slightly, from 6.7 to
6.6.
Standardized tests administered to
D.C. students “show that gifted stu
dents achieve at very high levels in
the same schools attended by the slow
students,” Hansen said. “Differentia
tion of curriculums is meeting the
needs of both groups.”
Pupils of average ability generally
are measuring up to national stand
ards, Hansen said.
“Considering the typical socio-econ
omic context within which our schools
operate, this may he regarded as a
highly successful level of achievement,”
he told the school board.
But the superintendent cautioned
that the track system should not be
regarded as a cure-all either for the
handicaps of students or for the in
adequacies of the school system.
“It does not prevent the effects of
proverty,” he noted. “It does not take
the place of other needed services.
Care should be taken to avoid ex
pecting more than is reasonable.”
HANSEN
ial, basic track.