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PAGE 2—OCTOBER, 1964—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
LOUISIANA
809 Negroes Enroll with Whites in Orleans School
NEW ORLEANS
F 1 IGHT HUNDRED NINE Negro DU-
' pils enrolled in formerly all-
white public schools of Orleans
" >1 from
27 to 31 the number of such
schools desegregated and more
than doubling their Negro enroll
ment. White attendance in the
same schools showed a net in
crease of 443. with 16 schools gain
ing and 15 losing enrollments in
comparison with the previous
year. White enrollment rose from
12,398 to 12,841 in the desegre
gated schools, still below their
pre-desegregation totals.
Two predominantly Negro schools
each accepted one white pupil. Mc-
Donogh No. 38, with 1.217 enrolled had
its first white pupil. Moton, which was
desegregated last year, had a total en
rollment of 1,496.
Desegregation in the Orleans Parish
schools extends from the kindergarten
through the fifth grade and includes
one high school for exceptionally cap
able students. The process was ordered
and the procedures approved by fed
eral district court.
Under this procedure, Orleans Parish
School Board assigns pupils to the
kindergarten and first three grades on
the basis of newly designed unitary,
nonracial attendance zones. However,
some Negro pupils who registered for
the first grade in 1960 under the initial
court order, in Bush v. Orleans Parish
School Board before the single-zone
attendance setup was effected, now
have advanced to the fifth grade.
Special Directive
The Benjamin Franklin High School
for superior students opened to Negro
pupils by special directive of the court
last fall.
Enrollments in the 129 school plants
and outside instructional programs con
ducted by the Orleans Parish school
system totaled 102,593 as of Sept. 21.
This represented a 3.4 per cent increase
over the tabulation at the same point
last year. The current year's figure
reflected an increase of 839 white pu
pils bringing the white total to 38,923,
and an increase of 2,693 Negro pupils,
bringing the Negro enrollment up to
63,670.
To operate this school system, the
largest in the state, Supt. O. Perry
Walker is seeking a record high bud
get of $31,996,833.18 for the 1964-65
year. Presenting the proposed budget to
the school board Sept. 14, the superin
tendent said it was balanced “with the
greatest difficulty.”
Following is a list of biracial schools
with comparative enrollments of whites
and Negroes for sample days of three
fall terms:
Formerly All-White
Schools 1964 1963 1959
Alien
Wh.
Neg. Wh. Neg. Wh.
296
44
294
19
474
Audubon
86
50
99
29
189
Bradley
617
22
518
12
787
Crossman
424
1
401
2
486
D arm eel 1
244
4
242
0
258
Jeff Davis
697
57
639
17
811
Frantz
481
40
465
28
575
Gayarre
793
9
818
1
959
Gentilly Terrace
536
4
563
0
803
Andrew Jackson
457
40
446
23
644
Jefferson
165
12
159
0
203
Lafayette
Laurel-
540
17
307
11
624
McDonogh 1
760
2
725
1
777
Robert E. Lee
231
47
215
18
403
Lusher
319
52
334
30
446
McDonogh 7
246
2
261
0
355
McDonogh 10
112
125 1132
25
261
McDonogh 11
364
7
347
5
439
McDonogh 14
190
8
198
2
256
McDonogh 16
187
53
199
15
361
McDonogh 31
332
29
219
10
454
McDonogh 39
968
3
934
2
800
McDonogh 45
530
15
534
10
•
Meyer
819
14
858
4 1,021
Palmer
456
18
434
8
978
Schwarz
153
10
193
0
262
Semmes
316
26
251
18
388
Shaw
284
45
293
28
634
Washington
514
5
536
3
727
Wilson
343
39
349
19
605
Ben Franklin High 381
9
435
14
221
Total
12,841
809 12,398 381
15,943
Formerly All-Negro
Schools
Wh. Neg.
Wh. Neg.
Neg.
McDonogh 38
1 1,216
0
1,000
668
Moton
1 1-216
1
1,439
1,226
Total
2 2,711
1
2,439
1,894
Combined Totals 12,843 3,520 12,399 2,820
♦New School.
★ ★ ★
In East Baton Rouge Parish, second
school district in the state to desegre
gate, initial enrollment for the 1964-65
school year totaled 43,060, including
21,950 white pupils and 21,110 Negroes.
Sixty-one Negro pupils were ap
proved for transfer to the 11th and
12th grades of four formerly all-white
high schools in a “reverse stairstep”
desegregation plan authorized by tbe
federal district court. Comparative en
rollment figures for those schools are
as follows:
School Sept.1964 Sept.1963 Sept.
1961
Wh. Neg. Wh. Neg. Wh.
Baton Rouge Hi 1,469 37 1,533 14 1,458
Glen Oaks Hi 1,073 13 1,123 6 686
Istrouma 1,737 2 1,669 4 1,667
Robert E. Lee 891 9 927 4 1,280
Total
5,270 61 5,252 28 5,091
Assessing the effects of desegregation
on the East Baton Rouge schools, As-
itant Supt. Robert Aertker told a Baton
Rouge civic club that last year it was
negligible. All 28 of the Negro pupils
enrolled in the 12th grade of desegre
gated schools last September were
graduated in May, he said, but all of
them saw their grade averages decline
below the level they had attained in
the all-Negro schools they previously
had attended.
Half-Empty Schools
Also in Baton Rouge, Supt. Lloyd
Lindsey advised that the school board
should better utilize some presently
half-empty schools or sell them.
Addressing the Parish PTA Council,
he cited examples where such schools
as “Broadmoor, Red Oaks, Villa del
Rey, Sherwood Forest and Woodlawn
are splitting at the seams,” while other
schools operate far below capacity.
“The situation can be improved,” he
said, “if people will help and face the
fact that they cannot always have the
school location they want. We have
areas where schools are not filled.
Either we should fill these schools or
sell them.”
Supt. Lindsey has been at odds with
some members of the East Baton Rouge
Parish School Board and there is some
question whether his contract, which
expires next June, will be renewed.
In the Colleges
About 1,000 Negroes
Attend Formerly
All-White Colleges
Louisiana’s public college and uni
versity enrollment of more than 63,000
students for 1964-65 includes an esti
mated 1,000 Negroes in seven predomi
nantly white institutions.
One white student in September won
a federal court injunction to permit her
to attend Southern University at New
Orleans, representing the only new
college-level desegregation this fall.
(See Legal Action.)
Enrollment figures still are not com
plete, but preliminary tabulations indi
cate there will be more than 16,000
students on the main campus of
Louisiana State University at Baton
Rouge, including an estimated 100 Ne
groes. The undergraduate division,
desegregated by court order during the
summer session, has accepted about 40
Negroes for the fall term. The graduate
division, desegregated since 1950, has
had a rather constant Negro enrollment
of about 60 for several years.
LSUNO, the New Orleans branch of
the university and the state’s fastest
growing institution, counted a total
enrollment of 5,833 Sept. 25, an increase
of 26 per cent over last fall. Among
the students are 502 Negroes, up from
last year’s 339 in a total student body
of 4,488. Negro students thus constitute
Louisiana Highlights
Eight-hundred-nine Negro students
enrolled in 31 desegregated schools
of the Orleans Parish public school
system, along with 12,841 white pu
pils. Two whites attend two pre
dominantly Negro schools with a to
tal Negro enrollment of 2,711.
The Iberville Parish School Board
presented a plan to the federal dis
trict court proposing to begin grade-
a-year desegregation at the 12th
grade in 1965.
An estimated 1,000 Negro students
enrolled in seven formerly all-white
state-operated colleges and universi
ties, while a branch of the state’s
largest Negro institution received its
first white student under court order.
City-owned, state-supported Del
gado Trades and Technical Institute
at New Orleans was ordered to admit
qualified Negro students.
8.6 per cent of the LSUNO enrollment
this year, as compared to 7.3 per cent
last year.
The only other instance of recent
desegregation in Louisiana at the col
lege level is at Northeast Louisiana
State College at Monroe. Three Negro
students enrolled there in June under
order of a federal court and “a few
more” are reported enrolled for the
fall term. Total enrollment at North
east, as of Sept. 22, was 4,172 up 14.6
per cent over 1963.
The three predominantly Negro insti
tutions operated by the state enrolled
a total of 10,882 students for the fall
term. They are Grambling College at
Grambling, La., 3,605; Southern Uni
versity, Baton Rouge, 5,988; and Sou
thern University, New Orleans, 1,289.
No change has been reported in the
segregation-desegregation policies of
private institutions around the state.
Private and church-related institutions
which previously accepted Negro stu
dents include Immaculate Minor Semi
nary, New Orleans Baptist Theological
Seminary, Notre Dame Seminary, St.
Mary’s Dominican College and Tulane
University, all in New Orleans.
★ ★ ★
Seven barbers walked off the job at
two campus barbershops after Louisi
ana State University officials in Baton
Rouge informed them they must serve
Negro students as well as whites.
University officials said the presence
of a U.S. Post Office in the Union
Building where one shop is located and
the enactment of the civil rights law
required that all services be provided
the Negro students without discrimina
tion.
Two Negroes sought service at each
of the two campus shops Sept. 11 and
were refused. The university officials
then made known the policy and the
barbers walked out on Sept. 15. The
two shops were closed temporarily.
Schoolmen
Iberville Board
Proposes Plan
To Begin in 1965
Grade-a-year desegregation begin
ning in the fall of 1965 at the 12th-
grade level was proposed by the Iber
ville Parish School Board Sept. 8. The
plan, approved by the board 9 to 1,
was submitted to U.S. District Court
Judge E. Gordon West at Baton Rouge
on the last of the 60 days he had al
lowed the board to comply with his
order of July 8.
According to Iberville Parish School
Supt. Sam Distefano, the procedure is
patterned after the one being used in
East Baton Rouge Parish.
It states that the superintendent
“shall have authority to determine the
particular school to be attended by each
child and no child shall be entitled to
be enrolled or entered into a particular
school until he has been assigned there
to by the superintendent or his duly
authorized representative.”
Specifies Factors
The plan specifies the factors that
may be considered in determining pupil
assignments:
“ (A) The desires or wishes of the
pupil and his parent or guardians.
“(B) The availability of space and
other facilities in the school in which
assignment is requested.
“(C) The scholastic record, ability
and aptitude of the pupil as determined
from his prior school record, and his
compatibility, or reasonably expected
compatibility, in this regard with the
school to which assignment is requested.
“(D) The age of the pupil as com
pared to the ages of the pupils already
attending the school to which assign
ment is requested.
“(E) The availability of requested or
desired courses of study in the school
to which assignment is requested.”
The plan also provides a procedure
of appealing the assignment decision
made by the superintendent. A parent
or student dissatisified with the assign
ment may file a written objection with
in 10 days after the assignment and re
quest a conference with the superin
tendent.
Hearing Option
If the problem is not resolved in that
conference, the applicant has 10 more
days in which to appeal to the school
board for a review of the superin
tendent’s action. The appellant has the
option of asking for a public or private
hearing into his case.
“Action of the board upon any such
appeal shall be final,” the plan states.
Attorneys for the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of Colored
People on Sept. 23 took exception to
the proposed desegregation plan. In a
petition filed with the district court,
they argued that the school board must
Political Action
Integrationist Seeks Board Seat
An active integrationist is seeking
election to the Orleans Parish school
board. She is Mrs. Virginia Cox Welch,
a white teacher at St. Augustine’s
(Catholic) High School, who last month
won a court order admitting her to
Southern University at New Orleans,
a Negro institution. (See Legal Action.)
In her announcement, Mrs. Welch
said that desegregation of public
schools has been proceeding, under
the present administration, at a pace
barely adequate to comply with the
letter of the law.
“This reluctant submission to right
ful authority,” she said, deprives thou
sands of white and Negro children “of
the advantage of knowing each other
and growing up in that understanding
which develops best in the formative
years of the classroom.”
She added that time which is des
perately needed for education is being
consumed by “this preoccupation with
retarding the inevitable and long-over
due progress of integration.”
Four Candidates
Four candidates are seeking two
seats on the Orleans Parish board.
The election will be held Nov. 3.
Other candidates are incumbent
Daniel J. Ellis, an appointee of former
Gov. Jimmie Davis; Victor H. Hess
Jr., an attorney; and Dr. Andrew
Rinker, a pediatrician. Theodore H.
Shepard Jr., who has served two terms
on the board, is not seeking re-election.
The heretofore sedate campaign took
a sharp turn Sept. 29, when Board
President Lloyd J. Rittner accused Ellis
of pressuring architects to buy $15-a-
plate tickets to a testimonial dinner.
Ellis was named by Gov. Davis in
1962 to fill the unexpired term left by
the resignation of Emile A. Wagner
over the desegregation policies of the
board. Ellis since then has proposed
segregation of pupils by sex and elimi
nation of kindergarten grades, which
a court ordered desegregated for the
first time this year. He has frequently
been at odds with the board majority.
Responding promptly to the accusa
tions, Ellis said: ‘Mr. Rittner has always
resented my position as not being a
‘yes man’ member of the board.”
Ellis said it was Rittner who is in
the building supply business, and not
himself who has submitted all archi
tectural recommendations for the
board’s $ll-million building program
over the past two years.
“I have never had a hand in appoint
ing any of the architects employed by
the board and, as the only independent
member of the board, will not con
ceivably have a hand in any future
appointments,” Ellis asserted.
★ ★ ★
The Louisiana Democratic State Cen
tral Committee named a slate of presi
dential electors pledged to the national
party candidates. Their names will ap
pear under the rooster designation of
the Louisiana Democratic Party.
For the past two years, segregation
ists and others in the legislature and
in the party committee have sought to
keep Louisiana’s 10 electors unpledged.
During the committee meeting in
Baton Rouge Sept. 12, a motion by
Leander H. Perez Sr. of Plaquemines
Parish was voted down. It would have
substituted Negroes for the appointed
electors from the First and Sixth Con
gressional Districts. Perez proposed
that the committee name Negro attor
ney A. P. Tureaud Sr. in place of
Mayor Victor H. Schiro of New Orleans
and NAACP President Arthur Jelks of
Baton Rouge in place of state Rep.
Eugene McGehee.
Perez based his motion on a resolu
tion of the Democratic National Con
vention at Atlantic City “to continue
the nation’s march toward equal op
portunity and equal treatment to all
Americans, regardless of race.”
show why it cannot desegregate all
grades next year. They objected to
the absence of any proposal for deseg
regating teaching and supervisory per [
sonnel in the system.
The case is Williams v. Iberville
Parish School Board.
★ ★ ★
Court Orders Trade School
Opened to Negro Students
Desegregation of the city-owned Del.
gado Trades and Technical Institute at
New Orleans was ordered by a federal
district judge Sept. 9. The case, Wil
liams v. Delgado Trades and Technical
Institute Board of Managers, was
brought in behalf of Leonard Williams
John A. Sargent Jr. and James E. Deso-
bry, New Orleans Negroes who alleged
they had sought admission to the school
but were denied because of race.
An injunction granted by Judge Her
bert W. Christenberry restrained the
board of managers from denying ad
mission to the plaintiffs and other per
sons similarly situated. Judge Christen
berry said he recognized there would
be problems involved in desegregating
the institute and directed attorneys for
the plaintiffs and for the school to work
out a policy for admission.
“I do not anticipate any attempt to
void or evade this court order,” Judge
Christenberry said from the bench.
About 55 Applied
During the court hearing on the case,
Germinal Messina, chairman of the
board of managers, and Octo H. Jones,
registrar, testified that Negroes had
been turned away in the past. About 55
had applied for enrollment over the
past five years.
“Isn’t it fair to assume,” asked Judge
Christenberry. “that some of the 55
would have been admitted if they had
not been Negroes?”
“I would assume so,” said Messina.
Alfred P. Giarrusso, co-ordinator of
guidance counseling services, testified
that he had interviewed plaintiffs
Williams and Sargent. He said he found
Sargent qualified for admission.
Williams, he said, scored 86 on an
intelligence test, and he considered a
score close to 100 a requisite for en
rollment. Giarrusso said that of the 55
Negroes who have taken the admis
sion examinations, about 15 per cent
passed.
Judge Christenberry ruled that the
policy of the board to bar Negroes
unquestionably constituted state action
since two state officials are members of
the board and the school draws most
of its financial support from the state.
★ ★ ★
Southern University at New Orleans,
a branch of the state’s largest Negro
institution, was enjoined by federal
district court from enforcing two state
laws that excluded white students from
its academic programs.
(See LOUISIANA, Page 6)
Colleges
(Continued From Page 1)
Mississippi—The University of Mis*
sissippi voluntarily accepted a secon
Negro student, a freshman in the L
eral Arts College. Irvin Walker,
fourth Negro to enroll since Ole
desegregated in 1962, is the first
enter without the necessity of a fea e
court order. .
North Carolina—Atlantic Chnsujw
College in Wilson, supported by
Disciples of Christ, began the>
school year with a desegregation P° - g
South Carolina—Wofford j e _
Methodist school at Spartanburg, ^
segregated by admitting a Negr ^
student. Newberry College, a h , ;t
institution at Newberry, re P° . n or
never had a policy on segrega gt
desegregation. Lander Co e " , en t
Greenwood accepted a Negro
during the summer session. e ] a ted
Tennessee—Two church - i Q jj e ge
schools — Carson Newman
(Southern Baptist) at Jeffe r = tjjr-
Southwestern at Memphis
terian) desegregated this fa • £ 0 1-
Texas—Trustees of Tyler y*Lj. e gate
lege in Texas voted to ® publi c
and two Negroes entered tn
school. allege-
Virginia—Randolph - Macon ^ a
for men, at Ashland open polici'
newly adopted desegrega 1° eV joUsb
Two public colleges that P
admitted Negro students o ,. first
mer sessions have accept e a fab
students of another race ^ on , f°
term. They are Mary Was ^ Virg^
women, at Fredericksburg, petej"®
State College, for Ne f oe haS a v, ’ hl ’
burg. Virginia State also tim*
department head for