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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH, 1964—PAGE 13
VIRGINIA
Legislators Kill Proposal
Requiring School Opening
RICHMOND
epublican - sponsored meas
ures to force the reopening
of Prince Edward County’s public
schools and to put the compulsory
school-attendance statute on a
statewide basis were killed in
General Assembly committees.
The House Education Committee on
Feb. 18 killed a bill, sponsored by Dele
gate M. Caldwell Butler of Roanoke,
which would have required all locali
ties to operate public schools. The
practical impact of the measure, if it
had been enacted into law, would have
been felt only in Prince Edward, as
all other localities are operating public
schools.
Another Butler bill was killed by
the same committee on Feb. 20. This
one would have eliminated the local-
option provision of the state compul
sory school-attendance law.
In 1956, the Virginia General Assem
bly in effect modified the compulsory
attendance law then on the books by
providing that no child would be re
quired to attend a desegregated school.
1959 Provisions
In 1959, a new compulsory attend
ance law was enacted which provided
that its provisions would apply only in
those cities and counties in which local
governing bodies voted for such cover
age on recommendation of the local
school boards. (For a report on the
number of localities which have come
under the law see “Schoolmen.”)
Delegate George M. Cochran of
Staunton, who opposed the Butler bill
on compulsory attendance, told the
committee that the local-option provi
sion was adopted “when the entire
public school system was in jeopardy.”
It was a key part of the “freedom of
choice” plan that eased the segregation
crisis in the state, he declared, adding:
“To say that the crisis is passed to the
extent we can change that law ... is
a matter of judgment. Having been
through the fire ... I am not ready
to risk what has been gained.”
Bills similar to those killed by the
House committee were defeated by the
Senate Education Committee on Feb.
26. These measures also were sponsored
by Republicans, who constitute a small
minority (14 of 140) in the predomin-
antly Democratic state legislature.
Schoolmen
State Board Notes
Attendance Law
In 68 Localities
Sixty-eight of Virginia’s 130 cities
j counties have come under the
! ® s optional compulsory school-at-
'endance law, the State Board of Edu
ction reported Feb. 17.
at ,^ y ~® ne had come under the law
ago 6 ^ me 3 surve y was m ade a year
a nd°?^ y ~^ Ve date’s 96 counties
. , °t the 34 cities now have com-
sory school attendance.
W hj C | aa ^ y ’ the statute has a loophole
chiW P errn it s parents to keep their
the 6n ou t of a particular school if
S ° ^ es ^ re - Whether a parent could
dear 3 ° u t of all schools is not
atte^°^ °® c c^ s who favor compulsory
S p; t n ® nce say the statute is useful, de-
m ” e ®°PHole. They say that in
'ken CaS6S: the parents want the chil-
g] a d ln school, and that parents are
10 have a law to back them up.
★ ★ ★
^rrow Elected Chairman
State Education Board
F
Jr, 0 ?h er State Sen. Mosby G. Perrow
the “f ^ nc hburg, who led the fight for
in the e ^ om °f choice” school policy
elected ^® nera l Assembly of 1959, was
of pj, c hairman of the State Board
Ration Feb. 21.
Sec ° t id°T’ ^ i ust beginning his
T*as j , 0Ur -year term on the board,
le-elp . eate d last year in his bid for
be had 10n to the State Senate, where
Perr 0 Servec * ^ or 20 years.
'dipjp- w was chairman of the state
of SI< L, n . w hich drew up the “free
ze Sep f °’ ce ” program. It got through
In an a e hy the margin of one vote.
Oon a wterview following his elec-
Edu j.^rman of the State Board
^tion.p lon ’ H err °w said that the
bon "pants plan, which his commis-
cornmended, is “beginning to
Mosby G. Perrow
‘Wear and tear'
show signs of wear and tear.”
“Probably it eventually will no
longer be needed,” he said. “But it
very definitely had its place in a period
of transition. It certainly helped.”
Perrow’s comment drew criticism
from Leon Dure, a private citizen and
former newspaper executive, who was
one of the leaders in urging adoption
of “freedom-of-choice.”
Dure, in a letter published in the
Richmond Times-Dispatch, said Per
row’s comment “tells you a good bit
about the real beliefs of some of those
who proclaimed educational freedom—
as a temporary expedient.”
He added:
“It foreshadows a political fight
which now appears inescapable. This
fight will be between those who really
do believe in freedom and those who
never have.”
★ ★ ★
In Arlington County, where a total
of 281 Negroes were assigned this year
to attend 22 predominantly white
schools, the school board is being urged
to speed up the desegregation process.
On Feb. 20 representatives of several
integrationist groups urged the board
to redraw school district lines to elimi
nate what they said were “gerryman
dered districts.” Among groups repre
sented were Congress on Racial
Equality and the Community Council
of Social Progress.
Board member James Stockard said
that the normal time for redistricting
would be during the 1965 school census.
Desegregation began in Arlington in
1959. About one-third of the county’s
schools now have racially mixed
classes.
Prince Edward County
Group Opposes
Private School
Tuition Grants
Citizens for Educational Freedom
(CEF) filed a brief with the U.S. Su
preme Court Feb. 15 expressing op
position to the use of public tuition
grants by children attending segregated
private schools in Prince Edward
County.
CEF filed as a friend-of-the-court in
anticipation of the March 30 hearing
on the Prince Edward school case.
(Griffin vs. County School Board of
Prince Edward.)
The brief said the organization fav
ors tuition grants to permit children
to attend the schools of their choice,
but that it opposes the use of grants
in such a situation as exists in Prince
Edward, where public schools are
closed. (Grants are not being used in
Prince Edward now due to a court
order, but they were used previously
by white children attending the pri
vate-school system.)
Citizens for Educational Freedom
described itself as a national organi
zation with 25,000 members of many
races, creeds and political affiliations,
most of the members being parents or
educators. David La Drieare of St.
Louis was listed as executive secretary
and Glen Andreas of Pella, Iowa, as
chairman of the board.
Attorneys representing the Negro
plaintiffs in the Prince Edward case
filed their brief Feb. 25.
The brief concluded:
“It is respectfully submitted that this
court should enter a judgment ordering
and requiring:
Virginia Highlights
General Assembly committees killed
bills which would have removed the
local - option provision from the
state’s compulsory school-attendance
law and which would have required
the re-opening of Prince Edward
County’s public schools.
Sixty-eight of Virginia’s 130 cities
and counties have adopted local com
pulsory school-attendance laws, the
State Department of Education re
ported.
Opposing sides filed briefs in the
Prince Edward school case in prep
aration for the March 30 hearing
before the United States Supreme
Court.
“(1) That respondents take all nec
essary steps, individually and collec
tively, to re-open and operate the
public schools on a non-discriminatory
basis in Prince Edward County by
September, 1964 and thereafter, and
“(2) That no state or local tuition
grants, tax credits or other public
funds be used to underwrite attendance
at any institution in Prince Edward
County, or in the state of Virginia, that
practices racial discrimination, and
“(3) That the district court, upon
remand, retain jurisdiction in order to
implement, promptly and effectively,
this court’s decree and mandate.”
★ ★ ★
Other Prince Edward County devel
opments:
• About 30 Hampden-Sydney Col
lege students volunteered to tutor
Prince Edward Free School pupils dur
ing after-school hours. Hampden-Syd
ney is a Presbyterian-related men’s
college located in Prince Edward. The
children they volunteered to tutor are
among the 1,600, mostly Negroes, at
tending the schools set up for school-
less Negro children through co-opera
tion of federal, state and local
governmental authorities and financed
by private contributions.
• Hot lunches and warm clothing
given to students have helped keep up
the attendance in the free school sys
tem, Supt. Neil V. Sullivan said on
Feb. 25. Twenty-nine per cent of the
students are given free lunches, while
others pay only 15 cents each, he said.
Also, he said, “We made a careful study
of why children were absent and found
that a high percentage were absent
because of improper clothing to wear
on cold or inclement days.” Donated
clothing has been distributed to such
children.
★ ★ ★
Prince Edward Academy, the private
segregated school for whites in Prince
Edward, was the object of a bomb scare
on Feb. 18. Someone called a reporter
on the Farmville Herald at 1:10 p.m.
and said that a bomb would go off at
the academy at 1:30. The reporter called
Farmville Police Chief Otto S. Over-
ton, who ordered evacuation of the
school.
The children and teachers left the
school immediately, the building was
searched without any bomb being
found, and students and teachers re
turned to the building at about 2:30.
The students and teachers spent the
time away from school at the Farm
ville Memorial Armory, where school
cheerleaders conducted an impromptu
pep rally.
★ ★ ★
Six Prince Edward youths, charged
with damaging the automobile of Supt.
Neil V. Sullivan of the Prince Edward
Free Schools, have had their driving
permits suspended, have been placed
under a 9 pm. curfew, and have been
released in custody of their parents
under $1,000 recognizance bonds re
quiring them to keep the peace.
Action was taken in the county’s
Juvenile and Domestic Court against
the youths, who range in age from 16
to 18. The boys were charged with
damaging Dr. Sullivan’s car on Hallo
ween night while the Sullivans were
out of town. (SSN, February, 1964.)
In The Colleges
Richmond Admits
First Negroes
To Night Courses
A University of Richmond official, in
answer to questions, issued a statement
Feb. 11 saying that 12 Negroes had been
admitted to American Institute of
Banking courses offered in the univer
sity’s night program. This marks the
(See VIRGINIA, Page 14)
School-Race Issues Get
Less Campaign Attention
(Continued From Page 1)
contempt charges growing out of their
joint resistance to desegregation of the
University of Mississippi. Some segre
gationist leadership in Mississippi has
been critical of Stennis’ backing of
the national Democratic administration
on various issues, although Stennis is
among the opponents of national civil-
rights legislation.
In Louisiana, John J. McKeithen was
elected governor this month after win
ning the Democratic nomination for
governor over deLesseps Morrison,
who had been called an “integrationist”
by McKeithen supporters during
the campaign. McKeithen nevertheless
made few direct references to school-
race or other civil-rights questions.
Promises to Fight
The governor-elect did say, “We
strongly believe in segregation and the
preservation of states’ rights” and
promised to “fight any move by the
federal government to take over any
phase of our state government.” But he
also said he was “not a hell-raising
segregationist” and that he would “not
close the schools to keep them from
integrating,” while promising to “do
everything legally possible to maintain
our Southern way of life.” McKeithen
observed that it would have been ad
visable for the candidates to take a
concurrent stand on civil-rights ques
tions—then omit such issues from their
campaigns.
In the general-election campaign,
McKeithen’s Republican opponent,
Charlton Lyons said "... I believe in
equal and impartial law enforcement
and the equal application of justice to
everyone, regardless of race, creed or
color,” while supporting the Louisiana
grant-in-aid program for pupils to
attend private schools with public
funds. Lyons won 38 per cent of the
vote—the largest share for a Repub
lican candidate in Louisiana in 68
years, while a States’ Rights Party
candidate received scant support.
Louisiana’s incoming state superin
tendent of education, William J. Dodd,
who has been president of the State
Board of Education for the past four
years, is categorized as a “moderate”
on segregation-desegregation as well
as other issues. He will succeed Shelby
M. Jackson, who has been a leader in
the state’s efforts to maintain segre
gation in education.
In Alabama, the third of the Deep
South states where official resistance
to desegregation has been strongest in
recent years, Gov. George C. Wallace
has shown no signs of altering his
ardent pro-segregation position. He has
resumed a widespread speaking cam
paign in defense of uniracial policies
and has continued to resist additional
school desegregation.
Wallace’s vigorous stand against de
segregation through federal action has
overshadowed more “moderate” posi
tions taken by two other Alabama offi
cials, Lt. Gov. James Allen and At
torney General Richmond Flowers, and
by some local leaders. Despite Allen’s
past criticisms of Wallace’s actions,
he now has accepted the governor’s
invitation to head a group of candi
dates for independent presidential
electors unpledged to this year’s na
tional Democratic nominees.
Both U.S. senators from Alabama,
Lister Hill and John Sparkman, were
supporters of the Kennedy adminis
tration and now advocate loyalty to
President Johnson and the national
Democratic ticket. Lt. Gov. Allen said
recently he was considering a race for
the Senate against Sparkman in 1966.
In 1962, Sen. Hill won re-election by
only 6,800 votes over a Republican,
James D. Martin, who campaigned on
a segregationist platform.
Louisiana’s McKeithen said on
March 5 he planned to confer with the
governors of Mississippi, Alabama, Ar
kansas and Texas as to “what course
we should pursue in the presidential
election.” He added that he hoped also
to meet President Johnson and talk
over civil rights, among other things.
Three Years Left
Gov. Wallace has almost three years
remaining in his four-year term; Govs.
Johnson and McKeithen will serve
until 1968. In the other 14 states of the
region, except Arkansas, governors
now in office generally have followed
“moderate” or largely noncommital
courses or, in some border states, have
promoted desegregation in education
and elsewhere. In Arkansas, Gov. Or-
val Faubus has given much less em
phasis to the issue than was the case
during his earlier years as chief
executive.
Faubus, who will complete his fifth
two-year term next January, has not
announced whether he will seek re-
election. However, in the midst of a
dispute with members of the Arkansas
Council on Human Relations about
segregation, the governor said in Jan
uary that the antisegregationist coun
cil might be developing an issue which
could induce him to run. He contended
that the mistakes of his enemies had
been his principal benefit in previous
campaigns.
(See POLITICS, Page 14)
Delaware
(Continued From Page 12)
dent teacher supervisor at Delaware
State, this offer will be accepted for
the fall semester.
Three schools, the closest districts
to the college, said they were unable
to accept teachers at this time because
of a lack of positions.
Dr. Caldwell said he did not believe
Dover, Caesar Rodney, or Smyrna re
jected the students for racial reasons.
Dover, for example, has Negro teach
ers working in desegregated schools.
Two members of the State Board in
vited Dr. Mishoe to re-appear before
the board if the problem again be
comes acute.
Kentucky Request
Both Dr. Tiram C. Lasher and David
Zutz urged Dr. Mishoe to keep the
board posted on the problem.
Dr. Mishoe also requested, and re
ceived permission, to submit data on
the Delaware situation, and its solution,
to the Kentucky State Commission on
Human Relations.
Galen Martin, executive director of
the Kentucky unit, said he read about
the problem in Southern School News.
“This problem is of keen interest to
us,” Martin said, adding that Kentucky
is interested in the December statement
Dr. Mishoe presented to the board
“plus any other information you can
supply.”
Schoolmen
Board Members
In Disagreement
At least two of the six members of
the State Board of Education do not
agree on the desegregation policy of
the board.
Dr. Woodrow Wilson, first Negro to
serve on the board, stated on Feb. 11
that giving Negro children a choice of
attending segregated or desegregated
schools violates the spirit of the 1954
Supreme Court decision.
In addition, he said, this puts great
pressure on “those parents and chil
dren who choose to break tradition and
leave the Negro schools.”
But Dr. Hiram C. Lasher, in re
buttal to Dr. Wilson, endorsed the
“free choice” system.
Progress Cited
Delaware, he said, “has made tre
mendous strides in this field during the
past 10 years with no major incidents.”
Dr. Lasher stated that he favors the
free choice system and “gradual school
integration over the years,” and
warned against “radicals like Cecil
Moore.” Moore is president of the
NAACP Branch in Philadelphia.
“If we could keep radicals like Cecil
Moore out of the state we would be
better off,” Dr. Lasher said.
( THIS \
/ OUGHTA GET \
| MY NAME IN /
\ THE HEAD-
\ LINES
Caufman, Wilmington Morning News