Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6—APRIL, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
TENNESSEE
Williamson
NASHVILLE
T he Williamson County Board
of Education on April 1 ap
proved a three-year plan to deseg
regate its school system.
Under the plan, adopted voluntarily
by a unanimous vote of the board,
grades one, two, three and nine will be
desegregated when the 1964-65 school
year begins in late August.
Grades four, five, six and 10 will be
conducted on a biracial basis beginning
in the fall of 1965 with grades seven,
eight, 11 and 12 to be desegregated in
the fall of the following year.
Supt. W. C. Yates said the plan, which
includes a voluntary transfer provision,
had the advance approval of a biracial
committee appointed last year by Wil
liamson County Judge Jim Warren and
Mayor Asa Jewell of Franklin, the
county seat, 20 miles south of Nashville.
Bus Routing
The Williamson County Council of
Christian Men, a Negro group which
also has advocated desegregation of
schools, issued this statement following
the school board’s action:
“While we accept the basic integrat
ing plan, we think the bus routing plan
should be appealed to a federal court
for regulation.
“The present school bus system trans
ports all children to the nearest school,
except Negroes. Negroes will still be
furnished special bus transportation to
Natchez High School, but white chil
dren get no special bus service. In
effect, it transports white children to an
area and transports Negroes out of an
area.”
The Franklin-Williamson County Bi
racial Committee was appointed by the
mayor and county judge last August
and, in addition to studying the subject
of school desegregation, has recom
mended other steps including equal em
ployment and operation of playgrounds
on a biracial basis.
Yates said the committee gave its
approval to the board’s plan in a meet
ing on March 31.
Under the plan, students may trans
fer from one school to another located
on the same school bus route. If a
student wishes to attend a school other
than those served by existing routes, he
will be required to furnish his own
transportation.
All school bus routes in effect during
the current year will be used again this
fall, Yates said.
26 Schools
The superintendent said the plan
could result in desegregation of all 20
elementary schools and six high schools
in the district.
Yates said he could not estimate how
many Negroes will be eligible to attend
biracial schools next year, but said
there will be “quite a few.”
The system has about 6,000 students,
including about 900 Negroes.
In a statement, the board said a
three-year period is a “reasonably
short time” to develop a desegregation
program and said the time will be
“adequate” in making transportation
and other adjustments.
“Each child will have the opportunity
for transfer without the pressures of
compulsion,” the board said.
Transfer Applications
Parents of students desiring to trans
fer will be required to file applications
prior to the opening of the school term.
Yates said. He also said that students’
conduct would be considered in ap
proving or rejecting transfers.
The board had agreed some time ago
to begin desegregation in the first three
grades this fall, but no announcement
had been made. It took the additional
action after both the biracial committee
and the Williamson County Council of
Christian Men urged that a plan for
desegregation of all grades be adopted.
Yates said the results of the first year
of the plan will determine what adjust
ments should be made in the routing
of school buses.
Legal Action
Madison County
Lawsuit Hearing
Set for Mav 14
J
U. S. District Judge Bailey Brown
has set the Madison County school
desegregation suit for hearing on May
14.
Date for the hearing, which will be
held in Memphis, was fixed by the
court after Negro plaintiffs requested
that it be held as soon as possible.
County Adopts 3-Year Desegregation Plan
Tennessee Highlights
A three-year plan to desegregate
all 12 grades in the Williamson Coun
ty school system, beginning this fall,
was approved April 1 by that dis
trict’s board of education.
The Madison County school de
segregation suit has been set for
hearing on May 14 before U.S. Dis
trict Judge Bailey Brown at Mem
phis.
A proposal by the Sewanee Com
munity Chest to raise about $40,000
to build four new classrooms at a
desegregated school was under
study by the Franklin County Board
of Education as a deadline neared
for the board to amend its deseg
regation plan.
Desegregation of the remaining six
grades of the Knox County school
district this fall was approved by
the board of education.
Athletics, dramatics, band and
other school activities will be de
segregated when the Knoxville school
district conducts all 12 grades on a
biracial basis this fall, the Board
of Education announced.
Two Negro students became the
first of their race to be enrolled at
Watkins Institute at Nashville, an
adult education school.
A draft of a proposed “fair prac
tices code” including sections deal
ing with schools was approved by
the Tennessee Commission on Hu
man Relatioins and was sent to Gov.
Frank G. Clement for consideration.
The hearing has been pending since
1983 while an appeal by one school
board member, Taylor Robinson, for a
jury trial in the case was taken to
the U. S. Sixth Circuit Court of Ap
peals and to the U. S. Supreme Court,
which denied a petition of certiorari
on Feb. 17. (SSN, March.)
The school board is expected to pre
sent arguments in support of a gradual
desegregation plan it filed last year
in response to an earlier order by the
court.
Under the plan, the board proposed
to desegregate classes in the first
three grades of the school system last
September. Grades four, five and six
were to have been desegregated in the
fall of 1964, with grades seven and
eight in 1965 and a grade each year
thereafter.
Proceedings Delayed
The suit, however, has not been
heard on its merits because of a delay
in the proceedings resulting from Rob
inson’s plea for a jury trial.
Negro plaintiffs are expected to argue
that the board’s plan is too slow. They
have filed objections to the plan.
The Madison County board operates
schools surrounding Jackson, in West
Tennessee.
Members of the Board of Commis
sioners of the City of Jackson, who
also serve as the Jackson board of
education, were named defendants in
the suit but the Jackson portion of
the case was completed last August
when Brown approved a gradual de
segregation plan filed by the city.
Forty Negro students are attending
biracial classes at five Jackson schools
this year.
* * *
Community Chest May Pay
For Biracial Classrooms
Facing a federal court order to
amend its desegregation plan, the |
Miscellaneous
Franklin County Board of Education
at Winchester at the end of March
was reported to be considering accept
ing a proposed donation of about $40,-
000 to build four new classrooms at
a desegregated school.
Supt. Lewis H. Scott said the offer
was made by the Sewanee Community
Chest and, under the proposal, would
be used to provide additional facili
ties at Sewanee Public School.
On March 2, 13 Negro students were
transferred from all-Negro Kennerly
Elementary School to previously all-
white Sewanee Public School under
a ruling by U. S. District Judge Charles
G. Neese.
Nashville attorney Avon N. Williams
Jr., counsel for the plaintiffs, filed a
motion for “further relief” after about
25 applications for transfers from other
Negro students were rejected by school
officials because of over-crowding at
the predominantly white school.
Judge Neese then ordered the board
to amend its desegregation plan by
creating zones in the Sewanee school
district and assign pupils to schools
according to their places of residence.
Deadline Changed
Although the amended plan was to
have been filed by March 12, both sides
in the case asked the court to move
the deadline to April 6 after the Com
munity Chest proposal was presented
in a conference of board members and
attorneys for both sides on March 7.
The amended plan, according to some
officials, would result in the transfer
of some white students from Sewanee
Public School to the now all-Negro
school.
Scott said the proposal to build new
classrooms at Sewanee Public School
also includes a provision that the Ne
gro school would be closed.
All Kennerly students then would
be transferred to the predominantly
white school, under the plan.
The superintendent said the Com-
Watkins Institute Enrolls
Watkins Institute at Nashville, de
scribed as one of the largest and old
est adult education schools in the na
tion, on March 11 enrolled its first Ne
gro students.
The Rev. C. Garnett Henning, an em
ploye of the Division of Christian Edu
cation in the African Methodist Church,
and Alton C. Gandy, an unemployed
laboratory aide, registered for courses
in the spring quarter.
The institute was founded in 1885
at the direction of the will of Samuel
Watkins. The will named the State of
Tennessee as trustee and provided that
the school be operated by a board of
commissioners named by the governor.
Frank M. Farris, chairman of the
board, said the commissioners agreed
last September that “we cannot turn
our backs on change.”
Statements of Policy
The board instructed director John
A. Hood to admit qualified Negro ap
plicants who, upon reading the school’s
statement of policy, expressed the feel
ing they were being discriminated
against and insisted on registering.
The school has operated under a
policy of limiting registration to white
students 18 or over. But a statement
declared the policy is not “in any sense
of the word a reflection of a discrim
inatory attitude toward the colored
race, for whom Watkins bears nothing
but good will.”
Farris said the policy was the result
of the wishes of the late Mrs. Ann E.
Webber who left a large bequest to
the school for the education of white
students.
★ ★ ★
Human Relations Group
Approves Proposed Code
The Tennessee Commission on Hu
man Relations on March 24 approved
a draft of a proposed “fair practices
code” including provisions dealing with
schools, employment and other activi
ties.
The draft was sent to Gov. Frank
G. Clement, who appointed the com
mission in January, for his considera
tion as an executive order.
State Education Commissioner J.
Howard Warf told the 21-member bi
racial commission, on which he serves
as an ex-officio member, that the pro
visions concerning schools already were
in effect in Tennessee.
One of the recommended provisions
stated:
“All educational programs, vocation
al guidance counseling services and all
apprenticeship and on-the-job train
ing programs of the state shall be con
ducted to encourage the fullest
development of interests and aptitudes
without regard to race, color, religious
creed, ancestry, or national origin.”
Other sections would call for steps
“toward eradicating discriminatory
munity Chest now is in the process
of attempting to raise the funds. He
indicated that the board’s action may
depend upon how rapidly the money
is contributed.
More Transferred
Scott also said seven other Negro
students have been transferred from
Kennerly to Sewanee Public School,
the result of an agreement reached
during the joint conference.
Most if not all these students were
children of plaintiffs in the suit, (Hill
et al v. Franklin County Board of Edu
cation, SSN, January and previous.)
Scott said the State Department of
Education has given its approval to
plans for expanding Sewanee Public
School, but he said these plans had
not been acted upon by the school
board at the end of the month.
“We don’t know what will happen
just now,” he said. “It’s in a discus
sion stage.”
Judge Neese still had under advise
ment a school board proposal to estab
lish a timetable for desegregating
classes in each of eight geographical
zones in the lower Middle Tennessee
county.
Schoolmen
Knox County Joins
City in Extending
Desegregation Plan
The Knox County Board of Educa
tion voted on April 1 to extend deseg
regation through the remaining six
grades this fall.
The district, which voluntarily begin
a gradual desegregation program in
1960, now has about 48 Negroes attend
ing biracial classes in grades 1 through
6.
Approval of the plan to desegregate
the remainder of the grades came after
Miss Mildred Doyle, superintendent,
presented a recommendation to that
effect.
Action by the board followed a simi
lar move by the Knoxville Board of
Education, which announced earlier
that the remaining six grades would be
desegregated in September. (SSN,
March.)
The Knox County district, which op
erates schools surrounding Knoxville,
has nearly 16,500 students, of whom
about 100 are Negroes.
★ ★ ★
The Knoxville Board of Education,
which announced on Feb. 20 that it
would extend desegregation to all 12
grades this fall, said on March 22 that
athletics, musical training, dramatics,
club activities and other phases of the
school prgram also will be conducted
on a biracial basis.
Dr. John Burkhart, president of the
Two Negroes
practices” by state agencies engaged in
granting financial assistance and for
bid segregation in any state facility.
“All political subdivisions, school
districts and other instrumentalities of
government are requested to cooper
ate ... to the end that any and all
discrimination within the state is elim
inated,” another section stated.
The commission expressed its ap
proval of the announcement by the
Knoxville Board of Education that
school desegregation will be extended
to all 12 grades this fall.
Cosmopolitan Aspect
Foreseen for Colleges
Webster Barton Beatty Jr., vice
president of the United Negro College
Fund, said in Nashville on March 20
that desegregated colleges will become
“laboratories of cosmopolitan living.”
“Some whites are now going to pre
dominantly Negro colleges,” Beatty said
during a visit to Fisk University. Many
of the white students, he said, stated
in their applications they wanted to
enroll at historically Negro schools to
be among those taking part in efforts
to end segregation.
Beatty was in Nashville in connec
tion with the campaign to raise money
for the United Negro College Fund,
which is headquartered in New York.
He said the fund distributed $2,600,-
000 last year.
board said:
“We have been desegregating all
grams in the lower grades as desegr,
gation became effective under tf"
grade-a-year plan. Now, as we niov t
into all 12 grades, certainly all 0 f t),
programs in those grades, such as foot
ball and band, will be desegregate I
too.”
The board informed the U. S. Sixt) 1
Circuit Court of Appeals in Februar,
that the remaining six grades in tb
system will be desegregated this far 1
(SSN, March.) i
Plan Due In June
A plan to carry out the proposal it ‘
to be filed in U. S. District Court be- <
fore June 5. . <
The board during March directed
Supt. Thomas N. Johnston to submi- '
a proposed plan to the board for its ‘
consideration at its May meeting.
Desegregation of the Knoxville Eve-
ning High School and all other special f 1
schools sponsored by the district also
will be included in the plan, officials 1
said.
The Knoxville district, which begat • '
court-ordered desegregation in I960
has about 220 Negro students attend
ing biracial classes in the first six
grades of 13 previously all-white '
schools. 1 '
¥ * *
School Superintendents
Announce Retirements c
Thomas N. Johnston, superintendent
of the Knoxville school system since
1955, will retire on July 1 because ol
his health, according to an announce
ment on March 7 by Dr. John Burk- ^
hart, president of the Knoxville BoaH
of Education. I r
Johnston has served in the post dur-
ing the years leading up to and follow
ing desegregation of the system. 1 f
The 59-year-old superintendent, who
suffered a heart attack several years (
ago, asked the board in 1961 for per
mission to retire the following year a
But the board reappointed him to an- : (
other three-year term which would ^
have expired on July 1, 1965. a
★ ★ ★
William Henry Oliver, superinten- | (
dent of the Nashville school systerr -
since 1957, when it began its grade-a- a
year desegregation plan, has announces s
his retirement. a
Oliver, affiliated with the system tl
a total of 35 years, said on March 1 *
that he planned to become associa e
professor of secondary education a
Belmont College this fall.
The former principal of East Nash
ville Senior High School told sc ^
board members he would like to re
on July 1. the date the NashvUj* ^
schools are to be consolidated Q
Davidson County schools under
new metropolitan government. ^
New School Board
A new board of education has ^
appointed by Mayor Beverly Briey
govern the consolidated system.
Both the Nashville and Davi ,
County school districts, under ■
court orders, have desegre
through the seventh grade.
Oliver, as superintendent, ^
an end to violence which mar
initial desegregation of N
schools in September, 1957.
Following the bombing of ^
ton School and other disor e
superintendent issued this a PP e i f_^j cs ’"
public: “It is time to take U P__ ,
Oliver has explained the .jg of
plan” for desegregation to o , . ( g
other Southern cities which u 5
a guide.
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★ ★ ★
rmer Clinton Principa 1
ceives Award at
r. David J. Brittain, iol ™ e *
of Clinton High School at v ^
April 4 was to receive ^
versity’s Ernest O. Mel 0 f »
he award, named in 0 ^oo-
ner dean of the universi y
education, is given aim :
itinguished service in
ran relations.” wcnden 1 ‘
Brittain, now super® 1 prif
Is in Rutherford, N. J-> t>'
"at Clinton from
i federal court order, sta tS
ol in 1956 became the
orted secondary school |
gregation. _ wo^',
segregation at Clin_ o I
lessee’s first violence ,
biracial schools. National
>s were used to restore e ^
P school later was damag