Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 6-A—MAY, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
LOUISIANA
97 Negroes
Ask Transfer
In Two Grades
NEW ORLEANS
N inety-seven Negro pupils ap
plied for transfer to the 11th
and 12th grades of four Baton
Rouge high schools in the second
stage of the “reverse stairstep”
desegregation program begun in
Louisiana’s capital last fall.
The total included: 36 applications
for transfer to the junior class and 19
for the senior class at Baton Rouge
High School; 11 for the junior class
and two for the senior class at
Istrouma High School; seven for the
junior class and five for the senior
class at Lee High School; 12 for the
junior class and five for the senior
class at Glen Oaks High School.
Applications were submitted April
14-17 under terms of a recently adopt
ed resolution by the school board
setting up a system of dual high
school attendance districts. According
to this plan, sophomore and juniors in
the Negro high schools were given an
option next year of attending either
the Negro school they now attend or
a white high school in the district.
Supt. Lloyd Lindsay said that his
decisions on the transfers will be
based on the same criteria used last
year when 28 of the 38 Negro ap
plicants were transferred from Negro
to white schools. The criteria are age,
academic and social records and resi
dences within the geographic boundary
of the school to which transfer is
sought. Lindsay said parents and
students would be notified of the
disposition of their transfer applica
tions by the end of April.
No particular disciplinary problems
were experienced during the current
year at the four desegregated high
schools, Supt. Lindsay said. He at
tributed the smooth transition to the
efforts of the principals.
“I think they deserve recognition
for carrying out the federal court’s
order in this manner,” the superin
tendent said.
★ ★ ★
The East Baton Rouge Parish School
Board was told by NAACP President
Arthur Jelks Sr. that there will be
racial trouble if the board continues
to shuffle Negro pupils from one
school to another. Jelks, at the April
6 board meeting, was referring to the
board’s decision of the previous week
to move fifth and sixth grade pupils
at Capitol Elementary and South
Greenville Elementary schools to the
Greenville Elementary School.
“Complete integration would solve
your problem of school overcrowding,”
the Rev. Mr. Jelks said. “Then
children could go to the schools nearest
them regardless of race. I urge you
to speed up the process of integration.”
The Rev. Mr. Jelks, accompanied at
the board meeting by sveral objecting
Negro parents, added:
“Things in Baton Rouge are running
pretty smoothly now, but what you are
doing might lead to some digging into
the dual school system you operate.
And unless you reverse your decision,
there will be danger.”
The board agreed to reconsider its
action.
★ ★ ★
William J. Dodd—attorney, former
lieutenant governor and president of
the State Board of Education—was
Arkansas
(Continued from Page 5-A)
Act 10 of 1958. This was one of the laws,
since declared invalid by the U. S.
Supreme Court, adopted by the state
legislature to hamper the NAACP in
Arkansas. It required all public school
and college employes to furnish as a
condition of employment an affidavit
listing all organizations to which they
had belonged or contributed money in
the previous five years.
Four faculty members of the Uni
versity lost their jobs for failure to
furnish such an affidavit. One of them,
John L. McKenney, assistant professor
of philosophy, did not get his job back
when he asked for it after the law had
been killed. The AAUP took the position
that all four had been illegally dis
charged and that McKenny was entitled
to his job.
The AAUP is a private organization
and its censure has no legal standing.
However the organization carries great
prestige in the academic world and
institutions under its censure usually
have a hard time hiring top quality
teachers.
Louisiana Highlights
The East Baton Rouge Parish
school system received applications
from 97 Negroes requesting transfer
next fall to the 11th and 12th grades
of four previously all-white high
schools.
In Baton Rouge, the NAACP chap
ter president protested the transfer
of Negro students from one school
to another. He said “complete inte
gration” was the answer to problems
of overcrowding.
William J. Dodd, former president
of the State Board of Education,
took office as state superintendent of
education, succeeding Shelby M.
Jackson.
Louisiana’s legislature will con
vene May 12 with proposals to rein
state compulsory school attendance
and to establish standards for private
and public schools.
sworn in April 23 as Louisiana’s state
superintendent of education. He suc
ceeds Shelby M. Jackson who had held
the office since 1948.
Supt. Dodd was administered the
oath of office under a pecularity of
state law that enables newly elected
officials to take
over before the
end of the terms
of their predeces
sors, if their com-
missions are
signed by the
governor. Change
of the gubernator
ial administration
will take place
May 12.
In an interview
after his inaugu
ration, Dodd was critical of Jackson.
Dodd said he took the office early “to
discontinue expenditures and policies
that could cost the taxpayers thou
sands of dollars.” Dodd added “lots of
changes” will be made in the superin
tendent’s office “but most of these will
be in methods of operation.”
★ ★ ★
A former gambling casino in Jef
ferson Parish (adjacent to New
Orleans) has been approved by parish
health officers for use as a private
school.
Approved under the name of the
Monticello Academy, the premises re
cently was used by students of the
defunct Junior Academy of New
Orleans, once the largest of the
private grant-in-aid schools. When
JUNO East first moved into the Jef
ferson Parish location after its build
ing in New Orleans was sold at auction,
Jefferson health authorities closed it
because of inadequacy of facilities.
However, Dr. Isadore Yager, parish
health officer, said the necessary im
provements have been made to lighting,
plumbing and yard facilities to permit
its use now as a school.
Legislative Action
New Legislature
Gets Compulsory
Attendance Bill
Reinstatement of compulsory school
attendance and establishment of
standards for private and public
schools will be matters before the
Louisiana legislature, which convenes
May 11. Other items with potential
bearing on the school segregation-
desegregation issue include a contro
versial proposal to permit local school
boards to dismiss up to one per cent
of their teachers despite the tenure law,
and segregationist-sponsored moves to
provide for unpledged presidential
electors.
A bill by Orleans Parish Rep.
Maurice Landrieu would require all
children between seven and 15 years of
aae to be enrolled in a public or private
school. It would establish a maximum
penalty of 10 days in jail and $10 fine
for each day a child is kept out of
school.
The new state superintendent, Wil
liam J. Dodd, called for such a law at
mid-month, saying it is needed to give
educators and social workers a legal
basis in their efforts to get dropouts
back on the school rolls.
The compulsory attendance section of
the Louisiana Revised Statute of 1950
was repealed by the legislature in 1962.
Licensing of private and public
schools would be required under a
measure proposed by Rep. Lantz
Womack of Franklin Parish, vice chair
man of the Louisiana Financial As
sistance Commission. Minimum stand-
DODD
NORTH CAROLINA
Judge Approves High Point Plan
WINSTON-SALEM
J udge Edwin M. Stanley of
the U.S. Middle District
Court in Greensboro approved
April 16 a school-assignment plan
for High Point city schools agreed
to by attorneys for Negro children
and the school board.
This action was taken in connection
with the Case of Gilmore et al v. High
Point City Board of Education, filed
March 13, 1963, by parents of eight
Negro children. In the original action,
the children charged that they were not
reassigned to predominantly white
schools because of their race. Their ac
tion asked for full desegregation of
High Point schools in the assignment of
students, teachers and school personnel.
After the original case was filed,
High Point adopted an assignment plan
which set up geographical areas for
all schools without regard to race.
Schools opened for the 1963-64 school
year under this plan. As a result, 35
Negro children are attending predom
inantly white schools, but no white
children are attending predominantly
Negro schools.
Judge Stanley did not invalidate
High Point’s geographical assignment
plan, but he did add another provision.
Transfer Rights
The court order provides that any
student “shall have the absolute right
to attend any other school of his or
her choice in the High Point School
System, teaching the grade which has
been assigned . . .” This means that
any Negro children living in a strictly
Negro geopraphic school district has
the right to request transfer to a pre
dominantly white school.
In addition, if the school requested
is overcrowed, a child seeking reassign
ment may be assigned to the next-
nearest predominantly white school.
Either the plaintiffs or the defendants
may ask the court to reopen the case
in case an issue arises.
Under the order, each High Point
student will be assigned to a school at
the end of each school year. If the
student wishes to transfer, he must
file with the school board a written
application for reassignment within 10
days after he has received his original
assignment.
N. C. Highlights
Two school systems, High Point
city and Durham County, and at
torneys for Negro plaintiffs worked
out desegregation plans that met the
approval of U.S. District Judge Ed
win M. Stanley.
Stanly County school officials ap
proved transfer of two Negro girls
to a previously all-white school in
September—the county’s first deseg
regation.
Catawba College, all-white, and
Livingstone College, predominantly
Negro, agreed to a student exchange
program.
★ ★ ★
Judge Edwin M. Stanley of the U.S.
Middle District Court approved a plan
submitted to the court March 31 for
Durham County to operate on an open
assignment policy. The plan was agreed
to by attorneys for parents of 61 Negro
children and the Durham County
Board of Education in connection with
Thompson et al v. Durham County
Board of Education et al, filed July 23,
1963.
The county school board assigned
four Negro pupils to a predominantly
white new school, Jordan Junior-Sen
ior High, last September.
Under the approved plan, the school
board will assign in advance all stu
dents in the second grade and above.
The students are free to request re
assignment to schools of their choice,
with proper regard to overcrowding
and other criteria. All children enter
ing the first grade will be admitted to
whatever school the parents take them.
Schoolmen
Stanly County
To Desegregate
Two Negro girls in Stanly County
will be transferred to a previously all
white high school for the 1964-65
school year, it was announced April 16
by Luther Adams, superintendent
schools.
The students are Christine Bro*j
and Pamela Grier, both 17, who cur'
rently attend the all-Negro Kingvfli,
High School in Albemarle, sever/
miles from their home. They live neare-
the presently all-white North Stanl?
High School, where they have be®,
reassigned.
The Stanly County Board of Educa.
tion reported that the girls were the
first Negroes to seek desegregation of
schools in the county. The board ap.
proved the transfer unanimously.
Details of the transfer were worked
out through the Albemarle-Stanly
County Chamber of Commerce-spon.
sored Human Relations Committee.
In the Colleges
White and Negro
Colleges Establish
Exchange Program
A White college and a Negro college
will exchange students, beginning with
the 1963-64 school year. The colleges,
both private and church-supported,
are Catawba College, white, and Liv
ingston College, Negro, both in Salis
bury.
Under this program, students from
one college will be free to enroll in
classes offered by the other. The two
schools will accept grades made at the
other on face value. The student then
may be graduated without being pen
alized for taking courses away from
his own campus.
Announcement of the program was
made April 16 by Dr. Donald C. Dear
born, president of Catawba, and Dr
Samuel E. Duncan, president of Liv
ingston. Catawba, which does not have
racial restrictions, has an enrollment
of 850 students, all white. Livingstone
has enrolled 725 students, one white
and the rest Negro.
In the past, the schools have ex
changed dramatic, musical and religi
ous programs. Catawba faculty have
taught course at Livingstone a number
of years.
KENTUCKY
—
Negro Leaders To Train At Berea !
LOUISVILLE
S everal hundred students be
ing recruited in the North
and East are scheduled to attend
Berea College in Southeast Ken
tucky next month for special
training before going south on a
civil-rights program aimed at Ne
gro education and voter registra
tion.
The program is being developed by
the National Council of Churches’ Com
mission on Religion and Race in co
operation with other civil - rights
groups.
Berea College President Francis Hut
chins commented that as far as his
school goes, “this is not an unusual
event . . . We are known as an in
tegrated campus . . We don’t object
to having integrated groups come, and
at the time they’re coming we’ll have
a little space. And we are more south
than New York.”
Bruce Hanson of the NCC commis
sion said a third of the students would
eventually work in community centers
on crafts and recreation projects, a
third in summer schools teaching read
ing and other skills, and a third in
voter registration.
Most of the students are expected to
go to Mississippi, according to a report
in The Louisville Times, but groups
being trained elsewhere are to go to
other Southern states. The overall con
cept, put into practice by the Student
ards as to curriculum, facilities and
personnel would be drafted by the
State Department of Education and
made requisite for obtaining a license.
No school could operate without a
license.
Educators have expressed concern
over the quality of the programs of
fered by some of the new private
schools that sprang up after the enact
ment of grants-in-aid administered by
the LFAC.
Kentucky Highlights
Berea College will serve as an ori
entation center for several hundred
students going south this summer to
teach Negroes and increase Negro-
voter registration.
A six-foot, eight-inch Negro basket
ball player became the first of his
race to be offered an athletic schol
arship to the University of Kentucky.
Non - violent Coordinating Committee
several years ago, has been growing
each summer.
★ ★ ★
UK Offers Scholarship
To Negro Athlete
Westley Unseld, twice an All-State
high-school star in basketball, became
the first Negro to be offered an
athletic scholarship to the University
of Kentucky.
The offer was made in person by UK
coach Adolph Rupp at the Unseld home
in Louisville, several days after South
eastern Confer
ence basketball
recruiting opened
April 1. The Uni
versity of Ken
tucky last year
became the first
school in the con
ference to adopt a
policy of desegre
gated sports.
Some desegre
gation leaders in
the state prompt
ly encouraged Unseld to accept the of
fer, but sportswriters speculated that
the University of Kansas was a more
likely choice. Unseld’s brother is a reg
ular on the Kansas team and his coac
at Seneca High School recently &
cepted a job as assistant coach at Kan
sas.
It had been reported that more
100 colleges were seeking to recrui
six-foot, eight-inch player.
Meanwhile at UK’s Lexington
pus, Steve Matthews, the first
to try out for the football squad,
to make it and quit practice before ,
end of spring training. Matthews,
not received an athletic schol
Community Action
Louisville Gets
National Award
Louisville received an Ab-A* . i
City award from the National jts
League and Look Magazine
record in racial relations, ^lic-
school desegregation and a P
accomodations ordinance.
Mayor William O. Cowger a c fP p
the award April 15 from _ e pre-
Taft, former Cincinnati m oy° . ^ g.
senting the NML, and _ .
Arthur, managing editor of ^
Taft said, “This award is
what you have done. But i
the fact that there is unfmasn^ ^
ness. It is not based on the ^
you have achieved perfection- g
Arthur said, “The entire <-* f e ll 0#
based on the love of man °r ^ a y 10
man. Louisville has shown ^ flU t-
organized co-operation. 3 re*'
standing job could be done _jple-
of the nation followed your of ‘W
He stressed the importan a g 3 jnj
enlightened press” in * he ^^ of
discrimination and said
racial trouble at Birmingh^^
“can be attributed to an unenns