Newspaper Page Text
SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MARCH, 1964—PAGE 9
MISSOURI
St. Louis Public School System
Gaining Negroes, Losing Whites
ST. LOUIS
E xtensive desegregation in the
St. Louis public schools de
spite continued residential segre
gation was reported in a study
approved Feb. 11 by the Board of
Education. The administrative re
port noted that the school system
is adding 3,300 Negro children
annually and is losing 1,100 white
children.
Supt. of Instruction William Kott-
meyer presented the report, which said
Negroes have been employed in 49 per
cent of nonteaching positions filled
since establishment of the school
board’s merit system two years ago.
Pickets carrying placards marched in
front of the school board building in
downtown St. Louis, protesting the
construction of 34 supplementary class
rooms in West End playgrounds to
relieve congestion.
The board’s assembly room was filled
to capacity with 80 persons, and a
similar number were refused admission
because of fire-code restrictions.
Results of Policy
The study was compiled by admin
istrative officials to “show the results
in carrying out the board’s policy of
achieving maximum integration con
sistent with sound educational prin
ciples and responsibilities.”
Board members went into closed ses
sion for 90 minutes to review Kott-
meyer’s 40-page report. It showed that
in the last 10 years the number of
white pupils decreased from 59,142 to
47,939 and the number of Negro pupils
increased from 31,185 to 64,102. In 1953,
< 'he school population was 65 per cent
white, compared with 43 per cent in
1963.
The report showed there were 11,173
white and 8,940 Negro students in the
nine general high schools last Sep
tember. For the first time, no high
school was either all-white or all-
• Negro.
Referring to the transporting of 4,650
children, primarily Negroes, from over
crowded West End schools, the report
noted that complete desegregation has
heen achieved in 18 classrooms at five
receiving schools.
In nine receiving schools, the 1
of travel time for pupils who t
oy bus prevents synchronizing
schedules. In three other rece
schools, there are no local pupils.
Where full classroom integr
as not been possible, a signi:
William Kottmeyer
Scored and lauded.
degree of integration has been achieved
nonetheless,” the report said. “All play
grounds and lunchrooms” as well as
other extracurricular activities are de
segregated, the report continued.
Turning to faculty desegregation, the
report said there were 1,818 white and
886 Negro teachers in the school sys
tem in 1953. In 1963, there were 1,811
white and 1,670 Negro teachers.
The entire professional staff, includ
ing teachers, administrators and certi
fied employes, increased from 4,051 in
1962 to 4,156 in 1963. Negro professional
employees increased from 1,796 in 1962
to 1,921 in 1963, and the number of
white professional employees decreased
from 2,245 to 2,224.
Almost Half of Jobs
The report showed that in nonteach
ing employment, Negroes obtained 274
of the 564 positions filled since estab
lishment of the merit system in Oc
tober, 1961. Previously, nonteaching
employees were hired by the executive
officers of the board.
Several factors lessen the degree of
school desegregation that can be ac
complished, Kottmeyer told board
members. These include the rapid rise
in the number of Negro pupils, the
steady decline in the number of white
pupils and the lack of desegregation
in the housing patterns of St. Louis.
“For all practical purposes, there is
no integration in the community’s
Tennessee
(Continued From Page 8)
bbon and the suit has not been heard
on ^ merits.
. ,?® ro plaintiffs have filed objections
10 the board’s plan.
efendants in the suit also include
0 fJ ? F d Commissioners of the City
ed a . on > which serves as board of
j r U jfL at !° n tor the city district located
^tadison County in West Tennessee,
h e Jackson portion of the suit,
Bm 6V6r ’ Was set t° r hearing and Judge
° n '^ LU ^' ^2, 1963 approved a
' tied vf e S ra <d ua ted desegregation plan
dents ^ hoard. Forty Negro stu-
5 V . - attending biracial classes at
ackson schools this year.
l ,s ceZZ Q
I
°inmission Favors
Mediate Study
missjo ne wly.formed Tennessee Com-
F e (, p 1 } Human Relations suggested
hiajpj'r, , that an immediate study be
dons” • delating to present condi-
nit Uti 0 ln helds of educational in-
oth ers nS ’ h° us Ing, job opportunity and
5 stat ( ? a fi° n resu lting from the study,
dve en t said, may result in “posi-
"*0y affirmative action to eliminate
^ fouJ Iminator y practices which may
. h’an, ^ to exist -”
'Oripg 6 - hy Gov. Frank G. Clement
^lon at ? Uar y» the 21-member com-
i tlV6 rnor &iS ° recommen ded that the
^ttcticp. a< d°Pt a fair employment
ttl ° re tl;, e 6 ant d Provide a budget of
‘ the 550,000 a year for operation
X passion.
'die, -i Sam Dodson Jr. of Nash-
*rman, said he hoped that a
salaried staff and commission office will
be established within the next 60 days.
What They Say
SNCC Leader Urges
More Demonstrations
John Lewis, national chairman of the
Student Non-Violent Coordinating
Committee, said in Nashville on Feb.
20 that Negroes “must demonstrate and
keep on demonstrating until this coun
try is free.”
Speaking at a rally at Mt. Zion Bap
tist Church, Lewis called for non
violent action which he said “would
turn this Southland upside down” to
rid it of “the evil of segregation.”
Urging that “those of us involved
in the freedom fight” should work to
bring about “confrontations” between
the Southern states and the federal
government, Lewis said:
“The federal government must step
in and oversee voter registration the
same way it got James Meredith into
the University of Mississippi, if need
be.”
Lewis, a 1963 graduate of Fisk Uni
versity in Nashville, was one of the
leaders of the Negro march on Wash
ington last August.
On Feb. 21, Lewis and two other
Negroes were found guilty of unlaw
ful conspiracy to obstruct trade and
commerce in connection with a super
market demonstration in Nashville last
year. Sentenced to two days in the
workhouse and fined $25 each, the
three served notice they will appeal
the conviction to the State Supreme
Court.
housing pattern, and thus the Negro
and white pupils are not integrated
residentially,” Kottmeyer pointed out.
“This compounds the problems facing
the board in its attempts to foster inte
gration in the schools,” he added.
Kottmeyer cited several school pro
grams which he said offered biracial
contact for pupils who do not have
desegregated classrooms. They include
combined choral groups, instrumental
music groups, interschool athletics, ele
mentary school gifted classes and the
permissive and regular transfer pro
grams for pupils and teachers.
★ ★ ★
NAACP Branch Demands
Discharge of Kottmeyer
Kottmeyer was the central figure
earlier in the month when on Feb. 3
his dismissal as acting superintendent
of instruction was demanded by the
St. Louis branch of the National As
sociation for the Advancment of Col
ored People.
The NAACP, in a protest against
plans to build 34 supplementary class
rooms to relieve congestion at West
End schools, voted the action against
Kottmeyer in a meeting attended by
about 100.
The group adopted five of six pro
posals by the Rev. Arthur Marshall
Jr., chairman of the NAACP educa
tion committee. The sixth, to recom
mend recall by voters of all school
board members who approved the sup
plementary building program, was
tabled.
His suggestion that the group de
mand a special session with the board
and stage a mass demonstration out
side the board offices during the meet
ing was adopted without dissent.
NAACP members endorsed also his
recommendations that every bdhrd
meeting be picketed until the group’s
demands are met, that the board be
asked to report on progress in erasing
school segregation, and that Kottmeyer
be discharged.
Office Picketed
The following day, members of Par
ents for Integrated Education appeared
at Kottmeyer’s office at the Board
of Education for the second day to
protest the supplementary classrooms.
The eight pickets held hand-written
signs and sat quietly on a row of
benches.
Timothy Person, chairman of the
group, said it had pledged to use all
necessary measures to prevent instal
lation of the supplementary units. This
includes demonstrations at the school
sites as a last resort, he said.
Person said the group is asking that
permanent school buildings be erected
to accommodate pupils in congested
Negro neighborhoods or that pupils be
transported to available classrooms
elsewhere on a desegregated basis.
“I am terribly disturbed about this
plan,” the Rev. Mr. Marshall said, “and
almost angry, but a preacher shouldn’t
get angry.”
“The board needs another march and
demonstration,” he said. “We ought to
throng the streets and office building
and get in the building and on top
of it and everywhere.”
‘He Needs to Go’
The Rev. Mr. Marshall said that he
respects Kottmeyer for his knowledge
of educational planning, “but I accuse
him of keeping the schools segregated.
He needs to go. We must ask for his
dismissal.”
School officials denied that the sup
plementary units were structurally in
ferior. They said the units were mod
em, well-lighted and permanent struc
tures that provide an educational
environment comparable to regular
school buildings.
In an editorial two days after the
NAACP’s action against Kottmeyer,
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said:
“The outburst against Deputy Super
intendent of Instruction Kottmeyer by
some members of the St. Louis branch
of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People was
aimed at the wrong target, and for
reasons that strike us as clearly un
sound. . . .
“The proper target of a protest of
this sort is not the school system’s
principal administrative officer; he rec
ommends policy, but does not make it.
The proper target is the 12-member
Missouri Highlights
An administrative report to the St.
Louis Board of Education stated that
the school system is adding 3,300
Negro children annually and is los
ing 1,100 white children. It said Ne
groes have been employed in 49 per
cent of nonteaching positions filled
since establishment of the school
board’s merit system two years ago.
In protest against plans to build
34 supplementary classrooms to re
lieve congestion at West End schools,
the St. Louis branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People demanded that Wil
liam Kottmeyer be dismissed as Act
ing Superintendent of Instruction.
The St. Louis Board of Education
reported that faculties at all 10 pub
lic high schools were desegregated
for the first time.
St. Louis’ new fair-housing bill was
reviewed by Morris M. Hatchett, an
attorney and chairman of the Com
mittee on Housing of the St. Louis
branch of the NAACP. “If you live
in a Jim Crow neighborhood and send
your children to school there, it’s
because you want it that way,”
Hatchett said.
An answer was filed by the St.
Louis branch of the NAACP to a
suit by the Board of Education. The
board’s suit asked an injunction to
prohibit interference with its bus
transportation program.
School Board, now headed by a Negro,
the Rev. John J. Hicks, which makes
school policies and which must account
for them at the polls. Mr. Hicks has
strongly defended Mr. Kottmeyer and
the ‘extra classroom’ plan. The Board,
of course, could have disapproved Mr.
Kottmeyer’s proposals, and could have
drafted its own plan had it wished.
‘Proposal Was Sound’
“We believe Mr. Kottmeyer’s pro
posal was sound and that the School
Board exhibited good judgment in
adopting it as its own. The supple
mentary units, contrary to the evident
understanding of some NAACP mem
bers, are not the old-fashioned port
ables; they are permanent buildings
of brick and steel frame construction.
Their prime purpose is to provide
school facilities for children in their
own neighborhoods; but interestingly
enough, they also can help racial inte
gration in the system. For they will
help reduce the need to transport West
End youngsters to schools elsewhere
in the city.
“The classrooms now used by trans
ported pupils then can be made avail
able, if the board so decides, for pupils
taking advantage of the permissive
transfer program.
“St. Louis is fortunate to have a top
flight educator like William Kottmeyer
at the head of the Instruction Depart
ment. Subjecting him to such ill-
informed harassment is hardly the
way to advance the cause of public
education for all the city’s children.”
Hicks Urges Halt
The Rev. Mr. Hicks on Feb. 6 called
for a halt to the “misguided attacks”
on Kottmeyer. The president of the
Board of Education said Kottmeyer, in
proposing the supplementary units,
was merely carrying out a board-
approved program to relieve serious
overcrowding under the neighborhood
school concept.
“It is charged that the building of
supplementary classrooms is an act of
containment against Negro children,”
the Rev. Mr. Hicks said. “This is far
from the intent and purpose of the
board, which adopted the program.”
The Rev. Mr. Hicks asserted that
erection of the classroom units on four
elementary school playgrounds “is sim
ply an attempt to cope with a serious
and pressing problem—that of over
crowding and population bubbles in
the West End and adjoining areas of
the city.”
The chairman said Kottmeyer is a
nationally known and respected edu
cator and administrator “who should
not be crucified” for proposing solu
tions to a serious problem.
“It would be nothing short of tragic
for every child in the school system
and for the entire community if we
should lose Dr. Kottmeyer’s services,”
the Rev. Mr. Hicks declared.
“All sincere efforts should be made
to find solutions through the presenta
tion of facts based upon sound educa
tional methods and principles,” he said.
“We will only destroy our great school
system if we descend to name-calling
and personalities.”
The St. Louis Teachers Association,
representing about 1,400 teachers,
adopted a resolution Feb. 5 offering
its “unqualified support” to Kottmeyer
and the board.
Legal Action
NAACP Answers
Injunction Suit
The St. Louis branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People filed its answer on
Feb. 14 to a Board of Education suit
seeking an injunction to prohibit inter
ference with its bus transportation pro
gram.
The answer filed in the court of U.S.
District Judge John K. Regan charged
that it was unconstitutional to keep
transported Negro students in class
rooms separate from white pupils.
About 4,600 pupils, primarily Negro,
are transported by bus to predominant
ly white schools because of overcrowd
ing of central and West End schools.
The NAACP charged further that the
board’s building program perpetuates
segregation and denies fair and equal
education opportunities. The Board of
Education sought the injunction last
August against the NAACP and other
civil-rights organizations which pick-
(See MISSOURI, Page 10)
All St. Louis High Schools
Have Desegregated Faculties
Faculties at all 10 St. Louis public
high schools are desegregated for the
first time, a report to the Board of
Education showed Feb. 7. No high
school in the system has 100 per cent
white or Negro enrollment, the report
said.
The report, drafted by the Superin
tendent’s Committee on School Inte
gration, said considerable activity to
ward complete faculty desegregation
in the system had been achieved by
encouraging white teachers to transfer
to all-Negro schools and Negro teach
ers to transfer to all-white schools.
The faculty at Southwest High School
now includes three Negroes and 77
white teachers. The student body in
cludes five Negroes and 2,284 white
children. Cleveland High School has
four Negro and 87 white teachers, and
15 Negro and 2,436 white students. Both
schools formerly were all-white in fac
ulty and enrollment.
There are 296 Negro high school
teachers in St. Louis, an increase of
12 over last year, and 589 white high-
school teachers. There are 1,358 Negro
elementary teachers, an increase of 87
over last year, and 1,192 white elemen
tary teachers.
On enrollments in the 134 elementary
schools, the report noted that 23 are
all-white, 36 are entirely Negro and
the others are biracial.
The racial breakdown at the other
high schools:
Beaumont—942 white and 1,488 Ne
gro students and 67 white and 20
Negro teachers. Central —1,347 white
and 220 Negro students and 52 white
and five Negro teachers.
McKinley—1,303 white and 350 Ne
gro students and 52 white and nine
Negro teachers. Roosevelt—2,847 white
and 14 Negro students and 102 white
and four Negro teachers.
Soldan—11 white and 2,497 Negro
students and 34 white and 55 Negro
teachers. Sumner—two white and 2,333
Negro and two white and 85 Negro
teachers.
Vashon—one white and 2,018 Negro
students and six white and 76 Negro
teachers. O’Fallon Technical High
School—'1,622 white and 1,362 Negro
students and 110 white and 35 Negro
teachers.