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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—AUGUST, 1964—PAGE 9 SOUTH CAROLINA 150-175 Negroes Expected In Desegregated Schools (Continued From Page 8) api with the stipulation that . . . they s >ould attend the school to which as signed by the trustees.” The letter said the new policy would take effect July 1. In its complaint, the government al leged that it paid $218,939 of the initial $223,456 cost of Shaw Heights School and had borne the entire cost (over $150,000) of subsequent additions to die school it was being asked to rent. The grants, the complaint said, came through a federal school construction program under which school officials agreed to make its facilities available to all children in the district. In an appendix attached to the com plaint, the government listed figures to show that, from 1950 to 1960, the U.S. spent $910,465 on school construction in the district while the district was contributing $6,953. Says Negotiations Failed District Attorney Glenn said the suit was filed only after negotiations with District 2 officials over the issue had failed. The complaint asked that the school district be enjoined from enforc ing the announced policy. Arguments before Judge Hemphill on July 14 followed the lines laid down in the pleadings. Glenn argued that extraordinary injunctive relief was re quired because of the short time before the opening of the school year. He said the district’s policy amounted to a breach of contract with the gov ernment. Sumter school attorney Shephard K. Nash insisted that the district was not legally bound to educate children of military personnel living on the base. He said children of military parents presiding off the base would be ac cepted “in accordance with South Caro lina law.” Whatever assurances the board gave the government, he said, were based on the issues at the time they were made. Miscellaneous Gunfire Damages Home of Negroes Transfer Asking The home of five Negro children who *ek admission to Dorchester County white schools in September was dam ped by four shotgun blasts on the tight of July 23. The incident was the most violent 'tat has been associated with school ^segregation in South Carolina. No °ne was injured by the four blasts, ap parently small birdshot from a pump tiotgun, struck the front of the Harley- tiUe home of Mr. and Mrs. S. B. DeLee, dpping the front door, the roof and a window screen. j The fact that Mrs. DeLee had applied r transfer of her five youngest chil- re n to all-white schools of Dorchester °unty School District 3 (Harleyville- , S-ille) fi rs t came to light in mid- y when a Negro newspaper in ^fieston printed the story. Ve K° T^eCcc children, Van and ti" ener, have applied for transfer to ^ ,^ enne 'Jy High School for Negroes fi- ~ white Harleyville - Ridgeville ■ Elijah, Doretha and Samuel De- ^hool^k to enter white elementary of 24n C ^ ester ’ s an agricultural county Cli a >,’°°° Seated just inland of coastal narIe ston County. rangeburg Agrees Participate Grants Program ^<te(f n ° e k Ur8 ' s School District 5 board, a large-scale private school July hi its community, agreed kitj 0n Pnrticipate in the state’s 8u t ' §rants Program, tiep la doing so, the public school- Pfivatg ° l lave actively fought the kep 6s sc hool movement behind the n’^ed that a tax hike might 9 Wg e SSary and, furthermore, that if Percentage of pupils leave the public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court might declare the plan unconstitutional. The drive for the private school was launched under leadership of Dr. T. E. Wannamaker when the likelihood of public school desegregation became stronger. A federal court hearing on a Negro suit against the city’s schools (Adams et al v. Orangeburg School District 5) was held July 14. In June, as his group was canvassing for support of the private school, to be called Wade Hampton Academy, Dr. Wannamaker declared, “We know Orangeburg’s schools will be integrated by September.” Parents representing 2,139 white stu dents in the district which had 3,568 white pupils last year initially ex pressed an interest in Wade Hampton Academy. Number Decreases But in the face of developments, the number had dropped to an estimated 600 to 800 at month’s end. Dr. Wanna maker, in a prepared statement, ad mitted the number could drop as low as 300 or rise as high as 1,600. But, he said, regardless, Wade Hampton Academy will open on Sep tember 15. In the statement, issued July 28, Dr. Wannamaker said the time has come for parents to enroll their children in the school or have their names removed from the “interest” file. He indicated the next move would be to obtain the services of a professional educator. From his Beaufort County home, D. Leon McCormick, a retired employee of the State Department of Education, said he had discussed the position with Dr. Wannamaker’s com mittee. Gus Speth Jr., an Orangeburg resi dent and a reporter for The (Columbia) State, said the school issue seriously divided the city of 14,000 and that the infighting between the District 5 of ficials and the private school group was intense. Advertisement Used The school board announced its posi tion in a full-page advertisement in the Orangeburg Times and Democrat. The ad predicted a tax increase of approxi mately nine mills for every 1,000 pupils that leave the public schools for the private facility. The increase, it said, would probably not be levied during the present year. District 5 Board Chairman L. R. Wells pointed out that the district’s share of the $250 annual grant to private school pupils, as required by law, would be approximately $80 per year per pupil— the amount of its supplement to state aid for public school education. He noted that the amounts involved in fixed expenses and in its contractual relations with teachers could not be reduced quickly. The newspaper ad also stated that “it is the opinion of the school attorney that the state tuition grants law and a local tuition grants program will be considered constitutional . . . only if it is utilized by a relatively small per centage of students. It is our opinion that if the parents of all white students in School District 5 applied for tuition What They Say grants, the U.S. Supreme Court would consider it unconstitutional as consti tuting a state means of maintaining segregated schools and as denying Negro children equal protection of the laws . . The statement in the advertisement further said that teachers who join the private school system “have no as surance that their benefits under the Teacher Retirement Program will be safeguarded.” And it added that if large numbers of white students enter the private school, “there will be a big capacity in the public schools for transferring in colored pupils. If the private school is small, there will be very little effect on the public schools . . .” The location of the private school has not been announced and several Orangeburg ministers said July 14 they were opposed to the use of their church facilities for secular purposes. But Wannamaker has said repeatedly that facilities for the proposed school would be available. Orangeburg District 5 was the fourth of South Carolina’s 108 school districts to announce formally that it would participate in the tuition grants plan. Others have said they are prepared to do so. No. 3 was James Island of Charleston County, which announced its decision July 15. But at the state level, the South Carolina Board of Education was ad vised July 17 that no formal applica tions had been submitted to it for tuition grants and that no private school had yet been inspected and ap proved under regulations promulgated by the State Department of Education. On July 14, NAACP attorney Mat thew Perry of Columbia said Negro elements have mapped plans in case any private school programs are formally approved by the State De partment of Education. ★ ★ ★ Teachers’ Association Ponders Future Course The South Carolina Education As sociation is pondering the course it will take in regard to an NEA directive re quiring its Southern affiliates to open their membership to Negro educators. The 79 SCEA delegates at the annual convention in Seattle, Wash., opposed the resolution in a statement read to the convention by G. C. Mangum, superintendent of Darlington County schools. In it, the SCEA declared that dis crimination and injustice are far less prevalent in South Carolina than edu cators in other areas might believe. “Our relationships with minority groups in the past have been highly conducive to the mutual advancement of our total society,” the statement con tinued, “and given adequate time, sound leadership and freedom from outside encumbrances, we shall en hance the educational climate of our state.” ‘Careful Planning’ The SCEA position paper advised the national assembly that any proposal which “changes the present NEA policy of affiliation of state associations, such action would counteract long hours of careful planning to provide the professional background for maxi mum educational opportunities for all children and youth of our state.” Dr. Carlos Gibbons, executive secre tary of the 15,000-member South Carolina organization, said the SCEA has not decided how to proceed on the NEA directive, which passed on a voice Governor Attacks Federal South Carolina Gov. Donald S. Rus sell accused a federal official of trying to “stampede” school districts getting federal impacted area money into de segregation moves. The governor leveled his attack July 17 on James Quigley, undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Edu cation and Welfare. Quigley had met in Charleston a week earlier with representatives of 16 of the 34 districts in the state receiving financial aid under the government’s impacted areas program. He told them that these districts must present desegregation plans by Septem ber or face loss of federal funds. Gov. Russell, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state, insisted applicable laws do not require such imminent action. He said he has reviewed the Civil Rights Act, under which funds can be cut off, but said he sees “no justifica tion of this de mand for panic action on the eve of another school year and after most of these schools have fixed their budgets for the coming year.” He noted sev eral requirements which must be met, in his opin ion, before a funds cutoff order can be implemented and said further that any decision would be subject to judicial review. He said Quigley had made “prema ture and ill-advised” comments to the schoolmen “and he certainly spoke of matters which are completely unsettled at this time.” He called it an apparent attempt “to stampede these school districts into RUSSELL ARKANSAS HEW Officials Explain Rights Bill to Schoolmen LITTLE ROCK ederal officials met July 21 at Little Rock with public school superintendents and col lege administrators from Oklaho ma, Louisiana and Arkansas to discuss the new Civil Rights Act. James M. Quigley, assistant sec retary of Health, Education and Welfare, and Francis Keppel, U. S. commissioner of education, emphasized that the act will be enforced and no federal money will be supplied to any school that practices racial discrimination. About 150 schoolmen attended the meeting with Quigley. About 40 college men were in a separate meeting at the same time with Keppel. This was one of a series of meetings Quigley and Keppel were holding across the South. Title IV of the act requires school desegregation, and Title VI directs the withholding of federal aid when there is racial discrimination in any program supported by federal funds. Arkansas school districts received about $3,600,000 in federal aid during the 1963-64 school year. Of the state’s 415 districts, 329 received $686,238 for vocational education, chiefly for salaries of teachers; 264 districts received $967,416 under the National Defense vote shortly after the South Carolina statement was read. “It’s a matter of deliberative effort at the moment,” Dr. Gibbons said July 7. Under the new order, states with segregated associations have until July 1, 1966, to open membership. After that the NEA executive committee is em powered to take “necessary action” against affiliates refusing to comply. The SCEA adopted a resolution at its annual state convention this spring which directed that its executive com mittee study ways to establish closer liaison with the Palmetto Education Association, professional organization for Negro educators in South Carolina. Community Action Cheraw Organizes Relations Board The Chesterfield County town of Cheraw, following the lead of several other communities in South Carolina’s Pee Dee section, formed a biracial “board of community relations” July 13. The 10-man council—five white and five Negro—was announced by Mayor Miller Ingram. He said its purpose would be to discuss and advise on po tential racial problems. One of the first items of business expected to come before the group is the desegregation of Cheraw schools. Transfer applications on behalf of 25 Negro children were filed with white schools in May. The school board ruled that under Chesterfield County school regulations the applications were en tered too late. Negro leaders talked of going to court but have not yet done so. Pressure precipitate action .. .” Earlier, the major portion of the re port on Quigley’s Charleston meeting with school officials came from P. H. Bomar, finance director of the State Department of Education. He described the schoolmen as “pretty well shocked” and said all at the meeting “felt rather helpless and hopeless.” He said all he could tell sev eral superintendents worried about their budgets was to “sit tight.” He admitted a cutoff would be “a heavy slap” at many of the school budgets involved. Several schoolmen said Quigley had been unable to supply information on specific situations, even as to whether or not a court order to desegregate was sufficient to comply. Several S. C. school officials later at tended a regional meeting in Atlanta with Quigley on the matter. South Carolina receives over $4 million a year in impacted area funds. Arkansas Highlights Federal officials told school and college administrators at Little Rock that the provision of the Civil Rights Act requiring nondiscrimination in any program receiving federal aid will be enforced. Gov. Orval E. Faubus was nom inated easily in a Democratic primary for his sixth term and will face Winthrop Rockefeller, Republican, in the general election. Education Act for the improvement of instruction in science, mathematics and foreign languages; 134 districts received $155,129 under the same act for guid ance and testing programs; 66 school districts received $1,853,900 in impact aid for operations. This does not include $1,966,145 re ceived for the school lunch program and $1,291,908 for the milk program, both administered through the Depart ment of Agriculture and for which the HEW men could not speak. Arkansas colleges, according to the HEW, are scheduled to receive $1,201,730 in the 1964-65 school year for student loans, and $2,255,144 in con struction grants. There was some uncertainty about whether the regulations under the Civil Rights Act could be drawn and approved in time to affect thg federal aid during the 1964-65 school year, but Quigley refused to say that they would not. Quigley said that the Civil Rights Act was a mandate not only for HEW but for all the federal establishment. He also said, “We are not going to proceed with cutting off funds until we have exhausted all efforts to obtain com pliance by voluntary means. We are not here to tell anyone what to do or how to do it. This is your decision to make.” If a school district decides to end dis crimination, then federal aid will con tinue, he said, but if not, “Uncle Sam is not going to subsidize you.” Quigley also said that HEW would not wait for Negroes to complain but will ask the districts and the state edu cation department for information on compliance. “We will review what you are doing and make a determination of whether it is enough,” he said. “If we decide it is not, we are going to have to say to you, ‘Can’t you do more and can’t you do it more quickly?’ ” Procedure Noted If HEW is dissatisfied with a school district’s compliance, this procedure was outlined: A hearing will be held and the report of the hearing filed with Congress for 30 days before any funds can be withheld. Quigley said this was designed as a brake against any arbi trary or capricious action against a school district. Quigley said it will be a hard job both for HEW and the states, and that what is done in many states will be de termined by the attitude of state of ficials. They can do much or little, he said. “They can do much to aid com pliance or much to make compliance by a local school district doubly hard to achieve.” One superintendent asked if a district would be in compliance if it had 1,000 Negro and 1,000 white students, good teachers and buildings and if both races were happy. Just from that much in formation, Quigley said he would have to say no, but that HEW would have to look into such a situation to see why it was that way. Another superintendent asked if the HEW would insist on desegregation where there was no demand for it. Quigley said that if the school board had offered to desegregate and that no Negro pupils applied, this probably would constitute compliance, but again he said the HEW would want to in vestigate to see why this was so. (See ARKANSAS, Page 10) KEPPEL