Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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.”