Newspaper Page Text
1
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY, 1964—PAGE 3
DELAWARE
parents Urged to Learn
To Live With Integration
DOVER
yVT ilmington^ s superintendent
W of schools has urged parents
to learn to live with integration.
Dr. Paul E. Smith, in an address Jan.
5 to the Adas Kodesch Shel Emeth sis
terhood, cited the benefits of the het
erogeneous school, and warned of the
consequences if the trend continues
away from the city’s school system,
which has a predominantly Negro en
rollment.
One result, he said, would be reseg
regation, in which the city would be
come a Negro ghetto ringed by a white
community. This would probably lead,
he said, to a breakdown in separation
of municipal and suburban control—at
least of schools—and substitution of a
metropolitan type of control that would
lead eventually to desegregation any
way.
A second result, Dr. Smith said, would
be to deny children an opportunity to
gain experience in desegregated situa
tions, in which they will find them
selves in later years. Unlike their par
ents, Dr. Smith said, “these children
won’t have the choice of accepting or
rejecting people in their environment”
on a racial basis.
Dr. Smith, who recalled that public
schools have long assimilated minority
groups into the society, predicted full
desegregation.
“It will not be next year or even the
year after. But in 10 years we’ll see
some terrific changes. Look what’s hap
pened in the last 10 years.”
Rehabilitation of cities may stop the
flight to the suburbs, he said, adding
that the Wilmington “downtown dis
trict must remain vital—as much for the
tax base as for living accommodations.”
* ¥ *
A lack of communications may have
helped complicate the problem of plac-
Delaware Highlights
Parents were urged by the super
intendent of schools in Wilmington
to learn to live with integration.
Difficulty in placing Negro practice
teachers from Delaware State College
in white schools was attributed partly
to a lack of communication.
Most of the able Negroes and some
white pupils have transferred from a
predominantly Negro school in Wilm
ington, according to its principal,
to attend other schools of their
choice.
™ 1 64*wmr
ing Negro student teachers from Dela
ware State College in white districts in
the public school system. That was one
supposition advanced by Dr. Elizabeth
C. Lloyd in a discussion before the
January meeting of the Delaware
School Boards Association in Dover.
Dr. Lloyd, who heads the state’s
teacher certification department, and
Dr. Howard C. Row, assistant superin
tendent in charge of secondary educa
tion for the state, were designated by
the State Board of Education to present
the problem to the school boards in an
effort to place more Negro teachers.
The state board, at its December
meeting, had received a formal com
plaint from Dr. Lima I. Mishoe, presi
dent of Delaware State College, con
cerning his inability to place Negro
student teachers in white schools. The
board subsequently named a 16-mem
ber committee, which then appealed for
a place on the agenda at the meeting of
the Delaware School Boards Associa
tion.
Dr. Lloyd cited significant progress
from the meeting, including the fact
Louisiana
(Continued From Page 2)
opened during the 1962-63 school year.
However, the tuition grant program
has not assured the financial success
°f all the new schools. One of them,
the Junior University of New Orleans,
■a in deep financial trouble. Twenty-
three teachers sued for $9,200 in over
flue wages on Dec. 31, causing a delay
m re-opening the school after the
Christmas holidays. The school con
tinued to operate throughout January
a her property of Mr. and Mrs. James
Sharpe, valued at $11,500, was used as
a surety bond.
On Jan. 21, James W. Spencer Jr.,
President of the school corporation,
announced that a new source of income
ad been arranged that will enable
UNO to retain its building on St.
hades Street in New Orleans. The
Kho °l also operates across the river
m Algiers.
★ ★ ★
o ? Ur Lady of Good Harbor Catholic
hool at Buras remains closed. The
r °°i has been boycotted in a deseg-
^Sation controversy since 1962 and it
as damaged by a gas line explosion
are last fall prior to its re-opening.
Spokesmen for the archdiocese of
r * Orleans said that although the
tir ^ lrs have been completed for some
1). ’ necessary building permits
been granted by Plaquemines
said u au thorities. Parish authorities
h safe ^ * S ^ ou kt that the building
Th
Iqg, e , sc h°°l, ordered desegregated in
of th on ® w tth other parochial schools
ctw? ^chdiocese, was subjected to a
^ctkd 6 k°Ncott after the first few
but uays. The school remained open,
Jear^ttended, throughout the school
Opening Set
!ot gp j ’ a school opening date was set
^ofu 3 with an undisclosed num-
cials a 'jjldren registered. School offi-
to say if any of the reg-
were Negroes. But on
V Sev °f Aug. 27, the explosion and
R ereJ y damaged the structure.
-Orleans building contractor
t6 Pair s ®^ r °t contracted to make the
splits "^ en the required building
^Vera] ^ ere not forthcoming after
aid, attempts to obtain them, he
Pti ® Work was started without
Las been completed. The
building has been inspected
but certificates of occupancy have not
been issued.
Luke Petrovich, member of the Pla
quemines Parish Commission Council,
whose job it is to issue building per
mits, said Favrot’s firm had applied for
a permit but “just what he was apply
ing for, we never were told.” Petrovich
said his inspectors toured the building
shortly before the work was completed.
He said:
“The electrical wiring had been cov
ered up and so had the plumbing. And
the walls seemed to be only painted
over—we don’t know if they are safe.”
★ ★ ★
The East Baton Rouge Parish School
Board will make its first plea for addi
tional financial support since it began
desegregation of the schools last fall.
The board on Jan. 17 decided to sub
mit a three-part tax proposal to the
voters on March 17.
To be voted upon by property own
ers of the parish are the following
propositions:
• Renewal of the five-mill tax for
general operation. (The tax expires
this year.)
• Authorization for the board to
levy up to five mills for capital im
provements, to put the school system
on a pay-as-you-go basis.
• Authorization for the board to levy
up to two mills additional tax for gen
eral operations.
The East Baton Rouge school system
is growing rapidly, and became the
second public school district in the
state to begin desegregation. The 12th
grade of four formerly all-white
schools received a total of 28 Negro
students last fall. The next lowest
grade will begin desegregation in each
subsequent year.
★ ★ ★
Avoyelles Parish School Board has
authorized a comprehensive survey as
the first step toward assuring equal
educational opportunities for all pu
pils in the parish public schools.
A resolution calling for the study
was unanimously adopted Jan. 14. It
requested that physical facilities as
well as curriculum be evaluated by
the executive committee of the board,
for a report by June 2.
Avoyelles Parish, in central Louisi
ana, is essentially rural in character.
In 1961-62 its public schools enrolled
5,928 white pupils and 2,642 Negroes.
KENTUCKY
State Completes Survey
Of All-Negro Schools
Spare That Tree!
Jurden, Wilmington Evening Journal
that more districts are now aware that
the problem exists. And she warned
that local districts hold the key to the
solution.
“It is the responsibility of all the dis
tricts, for without their cooperation
there will be no program.”
At the present time, Negro student
teachers from Delaware State College,
located in Dover, must travel to Wil
mington or the three county Negro
high schools to practice teach.
While one Negro high school is lo
cated in Dover, the others are located
in Georgetown and Middletown, each
more than 25 miles from the college.
This has resulted in transportation costs
of $1,500 n year.
Districts Willing
Dr. Lloyd, in citing the lack of com
munication, said the meeting revealed
that more districts are willing to take
Negro practice teachers than was
realized. The problem is further com
plicated, Dr. Lloyd said, by the fact
that Dr. Milford Caldwell, director of
student teaching at Delaware State, has
been here only since last summer and
may not be aware of white schools that
would be willing to accept Negro
teachers.
Some schools, Dr. Lloyd said, have
not been approached, and were not
aware of the conditions under which
Negro student teachers are available.
Placement of student teachers in sec
ondary education positions poses the
biggest problem, according to Dr. Lloyd.
Delaware State College has approxi
mately 75 practice teachers available,
the majority of whom have been placed
in schools with a predominantly Negro
enrollment.
★ ★ ★
Whites and ‘Able Negroes’
Transfer from Junior High
A number of white pupils and “most
of our able Negroes” have been lost by
the predominantly Negro Bancroft Jun
ior High School in Wilmington, accord
ing to its principal. He blamed a policy
that allows students to transfer out of
their neighborhood schools into the
school of their choice, if space is avail
able.
Dr. Earl C. Jackson, the principal, told
the Wilmington Board of Education on
Jan. 27 that the permissive transfers
have affected adversely the academic
quality of the school. Bancroft, accord
ing to the Sept. 30 enrollment, had a
student body of 723 Negroes and nine
whites.
Dr. Jackson, who has been at Ban
croft for a decade, said the adult Negro
community must become “sensitized”
to the problems faced by predominant
ly Negro schools.
The schools, he said, must prepare
the Negro students to live in an inte
grated society.
The objectives of Negro education, he
said, include the improvement of basic
reading, the development of latent
skills, and a reduction in dropouts.
LOUISVILLE
r T' 1 wenty - two one - teacher
■*- schools with Negro enroll
ment only were operating in
Kentucky during the fall term of
the 1963-4 academic year.
Another 15 all-Negro elementary
schools had only two teachers each,
and 10 Negro schools were in the three-
teacher category. Ten all-Negro sec
ondary schools had enrollments under
103.
These are additional statistics con
tained in the annual desegregation re
port of the State Department of Educa
tion. As reported in the January issue
of Southern School News, a total of
129 all-Negro schools remain in the
state even though 219 have been closed
or merged with white schools since
1955.
The all-Negro, one-teacher elemen
tary schools were listed as:
Knifley No. 2, Montpelier and Pelly-
ton No. 2 in Adair County; Hiseville
and Park City in Barren County; Wil-
sonville in Boyle County; Rosenwald
in Crittenden County; Warsaw in
Gallatin County; Hickory in Garrard
County; Summersville No. 2 in Green
County; Verda No. 2 in Harlan County;
East Bernstadt in Laurel County; Coal
Branch in Lee County; Fleming in
Letcher County; Beech Grove in Liv
ingston County: Union Station and
Woodland in McCracken County; Blue
Springs, Cedar Top and Summer Shade
in Metcalfe County; Bourbon in Pulaski
County; and Greens Chapel in Russell
County.
Entire List
The entire list of 129 all-Negro
schools included 102 elementary schools
with an overall enrollment of 24,560
pupils (54.9 percent of Negro enroll
ment in the state is listed in desegre
gated schools).
The all-Negro schools with the larg
est enrollment were listed as Central
High in Louisville with 1,685 students;
m -' 'Sw*"*** »
Kentucky Highlights
Details in the state’s annual
school desegregation survey revealed
that of 129 all-Negro schools still
operating in Kentucky, 22 elemen
tary schools have only one teacher
and 10 secondary schools enroll
fewer than 100 pupils.
Possibility arose that efforts to de
lete racial references from education
statutes might be combined in the
framework of a broader bill on civil
rights.
But educators, he said, must realize
the sub-culture from which the stu
dents come, and must stimulate parents’
interest.
“We must make the parents come in
and see us, or, if necessary, we must go
to them. But somehow we must involve
them in the education of children,” Dr.
Jackson concluded.
★ ★ ★
A Wilmington man, who worked for
the creation of the Delaware Human
Relations Commission while a member
of the General Assembly, has been
named by Gov. Elbert N. Carvel to
serve on the commission.
Thomas P. Murray, 44, who served
in the House of Representatives in the
Lexington’s Dunbar High with 1,293
students in grades 7-12; and Louisville’s
Russell Junior High with 1,097 pupils.
Ten of the 27 all-Negro secondary
schools had enrollments of less than 100.
These were listed as: Western Junior
at Owensboro (89); Palmer Dunbar in
Floyd County (17); Mason in Garrard
County (42); Dunbar at Mayfield (88);
Rosenwald at Harlan (27); Douglass
at Henderson (97); Dunbar at Jenkins
(55); Drakesboro Community in Muh
lenberg County (84); Todd County
Training (92); Morganfield in Union
County (54).
Legislative Action
Leaders Discuss
Combining Laws
Some legislative, education and hu
man-rights leaders discussed legislation
that would combine a new civil-rights
law with old efforts to delete such
phrases as “colored children” from
education sections of the Kentucky
statutes.
No firm proposals developed, how
ever, during the first month of the
1964 General Assembly session.
Gov. Ned Breathitt continued to
indicate that he would back some kind
of civil-rights bill in the session if the
federal Congress had not acted on the
issue by that time.
Community Action
Louisville Changes
Rights Commission
A reorganization of the Louisville
Human Relations Commission provided
for the commission to have seven com
mittees, including one on education.
The other six committees will be
housing, employment, communications,
religious groups, programming and
general advisory.
The commission at its meeting on
Jan. 17 presented Louisville Mayor
William O. Cowger with a medallion in
recognition of his “effective leadership
in advancing the cause of human
relations.” Mayor Cowger and the Board
of Aldermen established the commis
sion.
The mayor also was instrumental in
getting the aldermen to pass an ordi
nance prohibiting racial discrimination
in public business places. (The con
stitutionality of the ordinance is now
before the courts since a police court
judge ruled it unconstitutional.)
1960-62 session, is now a deputy clerk
in Wilmington’s Municipal Court.
“I suppose the governor appointed me
because of my interest in the creation
of a human relations commission while
I was a member of the General Assem
bly,” Murray said.
★ ★ ★
A Negro teacher from Milford, the
first of his race to file for public office
in that city, finished second in a three-
way race for a seat on City Council.
But Douglas A. Gibson, who teaches
mathematics and industrial arts at the
Negro Benjamin Banneker School in
Milford, said the campaign provided a
wonderful experience and a chance for
self-evaluation.
Under Survey
De Facto Segregation Becomes Issue
De facto segregation arose as an issue
in Wilmington in January but at
month’s end it was unclear whether
the city schools would be the subject
of a boycott.
The leader of the proposed boycott is
Stanley E. Branche, Chester, Pa., presi
dent of the Committee for Freedom
Now, a fledgling civil-rights organiza
tion.
Branche, who said on Jan. 14 that
Wilmington was one on a list of a dozen
cities on a boycott list, qualified that
statement on Jan. 28.
“I have no intention of coming in
and running a boycott by myself,” he
said.
Blanche, who visited Wilmington
twice during the month, received a
mixed reception from civil-rights
groups, some of which pointed to the
progress of desegregation in the city
schools, while admitting that de facto
segregation does exist.
The NAACP, for example, on Jan.
20, took a formal stand against de facto
segregation, stating that it would “. . .
take such measures as are appropriate,
including direct action . . .” unless the
Board of Education acts to eliminate
it.
But on Jan. 19, 11 Negro leaders
urged that Branche and the boycott be
ignored. Among them was Municipal
Court Judge Sidney J. Clark, the first
member of his race to hold a judge-
ship in Delaware.
This group, which included another
attorney and nine clergymen, cited
“significant achievements” and urged
that progress continue through “ma
ture deliberation” at the conference ta
ble.
On Jan. 29, 25 top officials from four
major civil-rights groups agreed to an
alyze and investigate solutions to de
facto segregation.
The group, which took its action at
a closed meeting, included the NAACP,
the Committee For Fair Practices, The
Delaware Leadership Council, and the
Concerned Citizens.