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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—APRIL, 1964—PAGE 13
MISSOURI
School Board Turns Down
‘Multi-School Compl exes’
ST. LOUIS
proposal to merge some West
End elementary school dis
tricts to form “multi-school com
plexes” was rejected March 10
by the St. Louis Board of Educa
tion after long debate.
Boa-d members, by a vote of 10 to
2. reaffirmed plans to construct 34 sup
plementary classrooms to relieve over
crowded schools and to adhere to the
neighborhood school concept.
The proposal, advanced by a newly
formed organization. Community Re
sources, was criticized in a report by
eight school administrators as an edu
cationally unfeasible plan that would
commit the School Board to an ex
panded and costly long-term bus trans
portation program.
Representatives of Community Re
sources had urged the blending of over
crowded school districts with adjacent
schools with unused seats. The proposal
called for transporting children within
the expanded districts when walking
distances were excessive.
The organization had urged that con
struction of the proposed supplemen
tary classrooms be delayed pending
further redistricting studies. The sup
plementary classrooms, the group’s re
port said, would further strain “the
inadequate general facilities” of the
predominantly Negro schools in the
West End and deprive children of
needed play space.
“Planning was excellent, but the
voters turned down four successive
bond issues until they approved the
$23,180,000 ‘bare bones’ proposal in
1962,” Schlafly declared . “Had we
passed the larger bond issue, we would
not have our present problems.”
Rainey said he felt certain that St.
Louis voters would approve another
small bond issue to finance construc
tion of more school buildings in the
West End and eliminate the need for
transporting children. He said less ex
pensive supplementary classrooms
could be used in the meantime.
Schlafly replied that the planned sup
plementary units are modern steel and
brick structures, well lighted, sanitary
and esthetically good buildings. They
will cost about $750,000.
“It is totally unrealistic to think
the voters would approve a bond issue
after we put up cheap and inferior
portable classrooms,” he said.
Mrs. Russell V. Brodine, a repre
sentative of Community Resources,
said later that the board’s rejection
of the group’s proposal “was not based
on adequate planning or on a detailed
consideration of other, more desirable
alternatives for accommodating excess
pupils in the crowded areas.”
¥ ¥ ¥
Presbyterian Council
Asks ‘Equal Division’
Missouri Highlights
A proposal to merge some West
End elementary school districts in
St. Louis to form “multi-school com
plexes” was rejected by the St.
Louis Board of Education.
Sound educational practices must
not be sacrificed in the school deseg
regation controversy, the Rev. John
J. Hicks, a Negro, president of the
St. Louis Board of Education, said
in a speech.
The Presbyterian Interracial Coun
cil in St. Louis urged the St. Louis
School Board to establish by next
fall one or more grade schools with
an approximately equal division of
white and Negro pupils.
Groups of Negro school children,
all seventh-graders in the Banneker
district of St. Louis, were participants
in “Operation Dineout”—eating at
leading hotels and restaurants for
educational purposes.
been in committee for many months.
The Rev. Carl Dudley, chairman of
the council’s community relations com
mittee, said the group would like the
school board to “set up at least one
and perhaps several” such schools.
“We think it is possible by the fall
of 1964,” he added.
McClellan had suggested last Sep
tember that the Waring School in the
Mill Creek Valley, which now serves
only transported pupils, be used for
the experiment.
He proposed that the school include
grades four through eight.
★ ★ ★
Five Objections
In reply to the proposal, the admin
istrators raised five major objections:
“(1) We believe the current policy
of the board and the unequivocal po
sition of the Citizens’ Advisory Com
mittee favoring the neighborhood school
concept to be sound, and we do not
believe it should be abandoned. (This
concept stipulates that pupils attend
elementary schools within walking dis
tance of their homes, wherever pos
sible.)
“(2) We do not believe that large
numbers of pupils living close to their
district schools should be bussed to
other schools. We believe that the num-
ber of bussed pupils should be reduced
as much as possible and should not
be deliberately increased as the pro
posal requires.
(3) We believe that there would be
widespread dissatisfaction among par
ents whose children, living within
walking distance of schools, would have
0 be bussed, even though the bus runs
would be relatively short.
(4) We doubt that enough busses
are available to support the bussing
Program proposed.
(5) The bussing involved in the pro-
P ° sal w °uld have to continue until an-
° er substantial bond issue is passed
and new schools built.”
Kottmeyer Reports
,^a m Kottmeyer, acting super in-
th° -°^ instruction, who presented
e administrators’ report, pointed out
5 ? systematic extension of West End
abl°°^ would deplete avail-
tiu'o l 6atS * n nor thwest St. Louis
°ngh a complex arrangement of
■nove-up” bus programs.
j s ,, e er able by far, Kottmeyer said,
* rinmistrrtion PLn to transport
bun dred pupils from the over-
West v, ^ est hnd directly to north-
C ^hools in a single bus program.
Ujjj, ns ruction of the 34 supplementary
of Du reduce by 1,200 the number
the w" S wbo w iR need seats outside
*ng t>i 6S i ^ Jlc i hi the fall. The remain-
We st s L S Can transported to north-
schedul °°^ S ’ put on s ynchronized class
c lassrrvf S anc * desegregated into the
Kott mt ° mS the receiving schools,
yer sa td.
from o pro P° se to transport directly
^hools' ei ^° pu ^ ate d to underpopulated
hed scb'ti i S ^ or t hus runs, synchron-
Pu Pils b k S ^° r i° ca i an< f transported
°fbvi.~ y “lock transportation instead
.^ooms ” Kottmeyer said.
conditio' 1 " 1 ! afford the most suitable
te gratior,» i max imum classroom in-
on > he asserted.
Minority Views
Dr pT nbers James E. Hurt Jr.
mino ert Rainey, who voted in
Nts rem- 1 the supplementary
ln adeq Uat _ es ® n t shortsighted planning
? Ver erowdir/° r ,? olvillg P roblems of
°rese ea r, g which will exist for the
hoard mture in the West End.
LSman nf?u ber Daniel L - Schlafly,
, frted tv... , e rntegration committee,
seriov,- school officials had warned
f r equ^ V ! rCr0wdin S since 1958 and
0 m t a . $29,000,000 bond issue
Makeshift policies.
The Presbyterian Interracial Council
here on March 22 urged the St. Louis
school board to establish by next fall
one or more grade schools with an
approximately equal division of white
and Negro pupils.
It noted that the school board has
had under study since last September
such a proposal by board member
James S. McLellan.
The council said facilities with more
than token desegregation would be for
voluntary attendance by children whose
parents desire “this healthy experience
for them.”
The St. Louis school board was asked
by the council “to lead the way . . .
in helping our children learn to know
and live with others of different racial
background.”
Alderman Joseph W. B. Clark, Dem
ocrat in St. Louis’ Fourth Ward, chair
man of the council, said it was asking
the school board to put the McClellan
plan for a model, desegregated school
“back on its agenda.” He said it has
Public Schools Ask Use
Of Catholic Facilities
Archdiocesan school administrators
are studying a request to sell or rent
some St. Louis Catholic school facili
ties in the West End to the public
school system, it was announced March
7.
Public school officials are seeking ad
ditional classrooms to eliminate the
need for transporting several hundred
pupils in the predominantly Negro
West End to schools in south and
northwest St. Louis.
Some Catholic officials are said to
view the public school request as a
means to save the so-called “changing
parishes” from extinction. A large
number of white Catholic families have
moved from the West End in recent
years, leaving many Catholic schools
with empty classrooms.
(See MISSOURI, Page 15)
‘Operation Dineout’ Is Adopted
As Program for Negro Pupils
Groups of Negro school children, all
seventh-graders in the Banneker dis
trict of St. Louis, were participants in
“Operation Dineout” which was com
pleted here early in March. The stu
dents dined out at the Chase-Park
Plaza, Sheraton-Jefferson and May-
fair hotels.
The district’s superintendent, Samuel
Shepard Jr., a Negro, thinks the pro
gram may help motivate children from
the city’s lowest income area to con
tinue their education “and climb out
of poverty.”
“Operation Dineout” was designed to
give Negro children self-confidence
enough to dine formally in public res
taurants, Shepard explained. He found
that even though a graduate of his
district might have acquired enough
education and training to provide
means to buy meals in such places,
lack of experience in dining often
proved to be a formidable social bar
rier.
Some of the students dined at the
Cheshire Inn, the Diplomat motel, Hen-
rici’s, the Statler-Hilton Hotel and Miss
Hulling’s cafeteria.
Shepard said many students became
panicky at the idea of eating in a
restaurant for the first time.
Business Financed
Meals were financed by Banneker
district business men, who sometimes
ate with the children. They dined in
groups of eight, chaperoned by teach
ers who paid their own checks.
Mrs. Ora Pierce, one of the teachers
accompanying the students, said “One
of Mr. Shepard’s early enrichment pro
grams was to hang prints of great art
works in the classrooms. Next he sent
the children on their first visits to City
Art Museum. As you notice, a good
deal rubbed off.
“Just eating here is an important
part of their education. I wonder what’s
going to pop out of Mr. Shepard’s mind
next?”
Another of Shepard’s current pro
grams seeks to keep in school the al
most 1,000 dropouts who annually
leave the high schools of St. Louis’s
downtown poverty area.
“By high school, it’s too late to do
much for these children,” he said. “Vo
cational guidance must begin much
earlier.”
“Without special efforts on the part
of the school, a child here can become
a psychological dropout by third
grade,” Shepard said.
“In the first place, many children en
ter kindergarten unable to talk, com
municating by a series of grunts or
monosyllables. A lot of them have nev
er heard a complete sentence, let alone
been encouraged to carry on a discus
sion or conversation.”
“It is essential to let such children
have a feeling of success early,” said
Shepard. “So we do everything we can
to break the cycle of failure. We take
field trips to give the children some
thing to talk about and to give them
a background for learning.”
Shepard said his schools stress aca
demic achievement with honor rolls,
honor assemblies and rewards for the
child who has made the most improve
ment
“This kind of program can make the
difference of as much as 20 points in
a child’s intelligence quotient,” Shep
ard said.
Speeches to Parents
He and Kottmeyer, acting superin
tendent of instruction in St. Louis pub
lic schools, make many speeches to
parents, to tell them how important
it is to help their child get through
school.
Mothers and fathers are asked to
LOUISIANA
Orleans Board Rejects
Broader Desegregation
(Continued From Page 12)
missal. Only three causes for dismissal
were recognized: dishonesty, wilful
neglect and incompetence. In 1956 the
tenure law was amended to establish
as grounds of dismissal membership in
organizations advocating overthrow of
the government and membership in or
ganizations advocating integration of
the races.
Dr. McElwee said, in view of federal
court rulings it is doubtful that the
last-mentioned criterion for dismissal
is valid.
In the Colleges
Negro Honor-Winner
Applies for Entry
To Louisiana State
A Negro honor student in a deseg
regated Baton Rouge high school has
applied for admission to Louisiana
State University for the summer ses
sion. LSU at Baton Rouge has enrolled
Negro graduate students since 1950 in
compliance with a federal-court order,
but in a succession of legal moves has
staved off desegregation of its under
graduate departments.
The university on March 26 acknowl
edged receipt of the application of
Freya Anderson, daughter of Dr. Du-
puy Anderson, a Negro political leader
in Baton Rouge who has taken part in
varioug civil-rights suits. Miss Ander
son was one of 28 Negro pupils ad
mitted last fall to the 12th grade of
Baton Rouge high schools where she
has earned scholastic distinction at Lee
High School. She seeks to enter the
university as a freshman at the begin
ning of the summer session in June.
Meanwhile, a Baton Rouge newspaper
has reported that seven other Negro
students in that city will attempt to
register at LSU for the summer ses
sion. Among them are two youths
scheduled to be valedictorian and sa-
lutatorian at the commencement exer
cises this spring of an all-Negro high
school.
The Baton Rouge State-Times re
ported that it has learned court action
will be taken if the students are de
nied admission.
★ ★ ★
Southern University Growth
Noted on 50th Anniversary
The growth in status of Southern
University for Negroes at Scotlandville
was traced by Dr. Felton Clark, presi
dent, in a Founder’s Day address March
8 commemorating the 50th anniversary
of Louisiana’s principal institution of
higher learning for Negroes.
“Our graduates have status today,”
Dr. Clark asserted. He said industries
and government agencies recruit
Southern graduates “not to solve the
race problem but to get the qualified
people they need.”
“Fifty years ago, there was no status
in teaching arithmetic under a tree on
this campus—indeed there was stigma
—even when the
man teaching was
a Phi Beta Kap
pa and held fel
lowships at the
Sorbonne,” D r .
Clark declared.
“If we are to
give everyone
credit who
brought us where
we are today,” he
added, “we must
begin with the
slaves who dreamed of freedom and
education for their children.
“And while you are giving thanks,
put down the names of some of the
sign the “Parent’s Pledge of Co-opera
tion,” a list of tasks under the heading
“Success in School is My Child’s Most
Important Business.”
When Shepard discovered that the
Board of Education had thousands of
old dictionaries about to be tom up
for scrap paper, the Banneker District
of Parent Organization bought them for
20 cents a copy and sold 5,600 of them
at cost to local families.
School officials say that teachers
have cooperated strenuously with Shep
ard’s plan. Under it, the median intel
ligence quotient of Banneker eighth
graders has risen from 82 to 94 per
cent in five years, school officials say.
Negro officials during Reconstruction
days. Don’t let anyone ever tell you
there were not some intelligent and
educated Negro men in office at that
time. Louisiana would not have the
public school system it does today, had
not Eugene Brown, a Negro state su
perintendent of education, started a
school system for everyone, not just
for paupers, but for all children.
“And the Negroes in the legislature
in 1880 established Southern Univer
sity in New Orleans for ‘persons of
color.’ That was not to set us apart,
but to give legality to the idea of edu
cation for Negroes. Bear in mind, this
followed a time when it was against
the law to teach a Negro to read and
write.
Removals Opposed
For three decades, Southern in New
Orleans remained a kind of elite pre
paratory school just for Orleanians, Dr.
Clark continued. “The city people
wanted to keep it that way. The coun
try Negroes wanted this institution
where it could grow and serve their
children too.
“When it was decided to move the
university, every location was the ob
ject of a petition against the idea from
the dominant racial group. This was
the fourth location. In fact, there was
a petition against the university from
the residents of this area, too.”
Dr. Clark, who is the son of the first
president at the Scotlandville campus,
recalled standing with his father and
other university officials when “a man
rode up on a white horse and said, ‘As
fast as you erect buildings here we’re
going to burn them down.’
“Two years later, that man sat on
the platform at our first commencement
exercises and admitted the value of
this institution and gave the university,
in token of his changed attitude, the
same white horse on which he had
ridden that first day.”
Not only whites objected to the uni
versity. Dr. Clark said: “Members of
our own race said it would never be
anything but a glorified elementary
school.”
He added that the days when legis
lative committees made Negro college
administrators wait “days and days to
be heard” are gone.
“There is a new climate in Louisiana,”
Dr. Clark asserted, “a respect for edu
cation for all of us.”
What They Say
Civil-Rights Bill
Brings Comments
Civil-rights legislation pending before
the U.S. Senate was the subject of con
siderable comment in Louisiana and
among Louisianans in March.
The Rev. J. D. Grey, pastor of the
First Baptist Church of New Orleans
and a past president of the Southern
Baptist Convention, said of President
Johnson’s plea to Baptist clergymen
visiting the White House for their sup
port of the civil-rights bill: “It seems
strange that the President would ask
ministers to use their high office for
political purposes—to support him in
something that is not as American as
you might think.”
The Citizens’ Council of Greater New
Orleans board of directors adopted a
resolution criticizing the bill, saying it
consists of “about 10 per cent civil
rights and 90 per cent transfer of power
from the hands of Congress and the
people to the executive, and if enacted
and upheld, will give the federal gov
ernment, in one stroke, greater control
over the lives of individuals and over
state and local governments than it
has acquired in all such legislation
passed since our nation was founded.”
The Plaquemines Parish Council (lo
cal governing body) appropriated $5,000
to the Coordinating Committee for
Fundamental American Freedoms in
Washington “to be used to resist efforts
being made in Congress for legislation
which is harmful to our rights of local
self-government.”
Bishop Stephens Gill Spottswood,
chairman of the board of directors of
the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People, told the
Southwest Regional Convention of the
NAACP in New Orleans: “We believe
that social change can be wrought by
political action . . . After 240 years of
slavery, and 100 years of segregation,
job bias, bad school situations and the
withholding of voting rights, this coun
try owes the Negro a whole lot.”