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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—DECEMBER, 1964—PAGE 9 Arkansas (Continued from Page 8) n0 unced its voluntary plan last spring, Kegro group, led by Dr. Hill, criti cized it vigorously for allegedly ignor- jj,g the junior-senior high students and for other reasons. Board President Comments Leon Hoisted, president of the school board, commenting on the Human Re lations Council meeting, said the school board had not yet even discussed the next step in desegregation and proba bly would not until after the first of the year. “Right now we don’t know what the next step will be,” he said. •‘It may be two grades or three grades or may include all 12.” When the board adopted its present plan, which covers the first two grades, it took two things into consideration, he said. “We wanted to comply without having to be pushed into it but at the same time we wanted the degree of compliance to be satisfactory for all our school patrons, white and Negro.” He said the board was pleased with the working of its plan so far. “Every thing has gone fine. There has been no trouble whatsoever. We wanted to see how the city would accept integration, *, and I think that it has been accepted very well.” He said the board would have this in mind when it considers the next step. ★ ★ ★ Negroes with Whites Increase 260 Per Cent North Little Rock was one of 11 dis tricts that started voluntary desegrega tion in Arkansas this year, without any incidents being reported, for a total of 24 of the 228 biracial districts in the state. In one of the new districts, Forrest City, a single Negro boy was assigned to a white junior high and later with drew, leaving 23 districts which have 930 Negro students attending schools with whites. 1 The districts and the number of Ne groes in desegregated schools the last two years are: District 1964 1963 Alma 16 0 Atkins 26 0 Batesville 11 0 Bentonville 4 3 Charleston 18 18 Danville 12 0 Dardanelle 15 0 Dollarway 2 2 Fayetteville 67 56 Forrest City 0 0 Fort Smith 290 31 Cosnell 20 20 Havana 12 0 Hot Springs 13 6 Hoxie 1 1 Little Rock 213 123 Mansfield 12 14 Little Rock 8 0 01a 14 0 Pine Bluff 11 5 Pnlaski County 53 25 Bussellville 32 0 Te xarkan a 5 0 V ®n Buren 75 55 totals 930 359 Action Gov. Faubus Wins Another Term p a ^fkansas voters gave Orval Eugene term ^ s ^ xt ^ 1 consecutive two-year tj Q 35 governor in the Nov. 3 elec- 337,489 votes for him to 254,561 for hus • ° P Rockefeller, Republican. Fau- of , 1S , Rest governor in the history ! tert tl3 ^ ansas earn m °re than three school desegregation, and bus’ ISSUes in general, dominated Fau- 1 tcr Jns Campa ^® ns for third and fourth ®ten ’ k ave had lesser roles since Th' i ^Pecifi ^ me ’ ne fther candidate talked *aub C f^ y a h°ut school desegregation. Act ^ °PP°sition to the Civil Rights who k * s we h known. Rockefeller, faci a ] as „ a l°ng record of interest in fiigjj. a h’ s * also opposed the Civil tribuf ct on grounds that it is con- '^tion^ to centralization of the government. NORTH CAROLINA 84 of 171 Districts Report Desegregation; 39 Newly Desegregated for 1964-65 Term WINSTON SALEM C chool desegregation is a real- ^ ity in nearly half of North Carolina’s 171 school administra tive units, a statistical survey made by the State Department of Public Instruction for school superintendents revealed Dec. 1. The survey, the first of its kind taken in North Carolina, revealed the follow ing • Of the state’s 171 school systems, 84 or 49.1 per cent have desegregated. Of these 84 systems, 39 were desegre gated for the first time this fall, all but five voluntarily. • A total of 274 schools are desegre gated. These include 264 predominantly white schools with Negroes attending and 10 predominantly Negro schools with whites attending. Most of the pre dominantly Negro schools were origin ally all-white, but are located in com munities changing from white to Negro. The 274 schools represent 12.8 per cent of the state’s 2,135 schools. There are 180 white children attend ing predominantly Negro schools. These include eight at the Bethune School in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, the first school in the state to have reverse integration, 120 at Hanes Junior High School in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County, 50 in Greensboro and two in Fayetteville. • One Negro teaches at a predomin antly white school in Winston-Salem/ Forsyth. The faculty of the mixed Hanes Junior High in that system is biracial, including 11 white staff mem bers and six Negroes. A total of 47 white teachers work at predominantly Negro schools in the state. • The number of Negroes attending desegregated schools has increased from 1,865 in 1963-64 to 4,918 in 1964-65. This total is 1.41 per cent of the 349,282 Negroes enrolled in North Carolina schools. In past years, North Carolina school systems have not officially kept records on racial desegregation. Most available information has been gathered through newspaper stories. This year, nearly half the school units desegregating for the first time did not even announce they were taking these steps. There was no violence in any area where racial mixing took place in schools for the first time. ★ ★ ★ Durham Board Rules Out Uniracial Organizations Organizations active in local public schols should not be permitted to prac tice racial discrimination, the Durham City Board of Education ruled during a meeting Nov. 9. The school board action came as a result of a complaint by two Negro parents, Dr. Howard Fitts and Dr. James H. Brewer, both of the North Carolina College facility. The fathers filed their complaints against the Rob Roy Boys Division of the N. C. Boys Foundation, which operates in Durham schools and which maintains a Rob Roy Bulletin Board at various schools. Both men claimed that their sons’ applications to Rob Roy were turned down because “quotas were reportedly filled.” Later, the parents said, the Rob Roy groups still sought more members after turning their sons down. The parents concluded that their sons were rejected because they were Negroes. Lew Hannen, school superintendent, told the board: “We’ve had an understanding with all these schools that race is not to enter into it. . . .in athletics, or clubs, or anything else. . Open Enrollment Durham schools are operating on an open enrollment system permitting Negro children to enter the schools of their choice. This has brought about desegregation of 14 of the city’s 25 schools with 436 Negroes attending pre dominantly white schools. This is the largest number in any school system in North Carolina. “We don’t have any right to condone any operation in any integrated school that tends to project segregation.” Hannen said, “I think that’s clear in all our minds.” The school board said it will inves tigate this situation and set a policy for all groups in all schools to abide by. North Carolina Highlights Eighty-four of North Carolina’s 171 school administrative units are operating at least one desegregated school. The Durham City Board of Educa tion advised that organizations in city schools will not be permitted to oper ate on a racial basis. All but one of the state’s 12 pre dominantly white colleges have Negroes enrolled. Person County must transfer 10 Negro children to the nearest pre dominantly white school if they so reguest, Judge Edwin M. Stanley of the U. S. District Court ruled. The North Carolina Advancement School opened on a fully biracial ba sis with Gov. Terry Sanford as speak er in Winston-Salem. A Negro leader contended that it will be unconstitutional for the state to spend monies from a $100 million school bond issue for segregated schools. Desegregation Speedup Program Is Reported The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education is reported to have approved at a closed meeting steps that would bring about faster desegregation of the school system. First step would be to reduce the status of three rural area union schools, schools with grades 1-12, by lopping off the senior high grades and the junior high grades and assigning the students to other schools. Step two would be to build two new schools in non-Negro communities where sites may be found rather than in the heart of all-Negro areas where the enrollment would continue to be Negro. No official comment has been made on this meeting, as reported by the Charlotte Observer Nov. 21. M iscellaneo us Governor Speaks At Inauguration to begin in about a year, will be the School of the Arts, also to be set up in Winston-Salem. Parents and friends of 82 boys en tering the school on a six-week ex perimental basis attended the opening ceremonies. The school is designed to reach pupils of junior-high-school age with above-average potential, but be- low-average achievement. It is design ed to inspire the pupils to want to achieve in school and not become po tential high school dropouts. The school also works with teachers, giving them experience in working with these children and more knowl edge on what they can do in their home schools. General programs are set up on a 12- week basis for visiting students and teachers. They are housed and board ed in the school plant. The first group will be invited to return under the full 12-week pro gram as much as feasible with their home school districts. They will be joined by other students for the full program. Everything at the Advancement School is operated on a fully biracial basis. This includes not only the stu dent body and visiting teachers but the permanent staff of administrators and faculty. Hopes for Leadership Gov. Sanford told the student body: “I would have North Carolina to be come the leader in education. There are better ways of educating our youth. You stu dents are chosen to help us find these ways. Your help will help us. You are not limit ed in what you can do here. “This program can become uni versal. We seek to be the best in ed ucation. “You are part of LINC, which joins together all the forces of education and puts to use the best of what is learned. LINC belongs to everybody who has something to do with schooling of our youth. . . “Winston-Salem should become the center of experimental education in America. Along with the Governors School, the School of the Arts and other programs, this school will repre sent the spirit of North Carolina.” ★ ★ ★ Of Special School Gov. Terry Sanford addressed the opening ceremonies of the North Carol ina Advancement School Nov. 8 in Winston-Salem. This was the second special school to go into operation un der the Learning Institute of North Carolina, referred to as LINC. The first was the Governor’s School, operated each summer for gifted child ren in various areas at Salem College in Winston-Salem. The third school, Dr. Martin Luther King, Negro civil rights leader, listed quality biracial schools as one of three chief goals for Negro progress, as he addressed the Southern Political Science Association, Nov. 13 at Duke University. The other two areas were equality in job oppor tunities and elimination of slum hous ing. “Negroes are tragically unemployed,” King, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said. “A Negro with four years of college can expect to earn less in a lifetime than a white eighth-grade dropout.” SCLC Leader Questions Use of Bond Proceeds North Carolina approved a $100-mil- lion bond issue for education on elec tion day, but the Rev. F. H. LaGarde of Edenton, regional representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Confer ence, sent a telegram Nov. 12 to Gov. Terry Sanford, warning the state not to spend money for segregated schools. LaGarde wired: “In the state of North Carolina, 110 out of 171 biracial school units remain segregated. This means that most of the money from the $100-million bond issue will go to segregated schools, thus further the continuance of a dual system of education in the public schools of North Carolina. “Therefore, I believe that this $100- million state-sponsored bond issue is unconstitutional and in direct contra diction of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which forbids any state-supported seg regation. “So, I respectfully call upon you to call into session the General Assembly and to ask them to do the following: “—Withold issuance of bond money to school units that are segregated. “—Work out a realistic plan for a unified system of public school educa tion in the state of North Carolina in cluding children and personnel which would be educationally realistic, eco nomically sound, legally constitutional and morally right.” Legal Action Court Tells Board To Allow Transfers Judge Edwin M. Stanley of the U. S. Middle District Court in Greensboro ordered Nov. 19 that the Person County Board of Education transfer 10 Negro “to the nearest school attended pre dominantly by children of another race, beginning with the second semester of the 1964-65 school year.” The action was taken in connection with Clayton v. Person County Board of Education, filed Oct. 5, 1964, by par ents of 10 Negro children (SSN, No vember) . The children must make requests for transfer according to standard procedure by Dec. 20, ac cording to the ruling. On Nov. 25, the Person County school board filed its answer to the suit. The board claimed that Negroes are not forced to attend all-Negro schools, and that it has granted every request by a Negro to attend a white school. (Cur rently 29 Negroes are attending two predominantly white schools in the county.) The school board noted, however, that its schools are racial because child ren are assigned to schools by district with separate attendance zones for the two races. Some of these zones, the hoard admitted, do overlap. The court is expected to decide on overlapping school zones and the as signment of Negroes to predominantly white schools only on request. In the Colleges Negroes in 11 of 12 White Colleges Three community colleges were up graded to four-year colleges for the 1964-65 school year, and 11 of the state’s 12 predominantly white colleges have enrolled Negro students this year in North Carolina. The official state policy is to operate with no racial bar riers. Only the former all-Indian Pembroke College has no Negroes, but it has en rolled Negro students in the past. The three branches of the University of North Carolina have enrollments of 109 Negroes in Greensboro, 82 in Chapel Hill and 60 at N. C. State in Raleigh. Dormitory segregation at UNC in Chapel Hill was ruled out as a school policy when school officials learned that such a rule was on the books. Applachian State College has enrolled 70 Negro students. East Carolina, where opposition was expected to be strongest, has enrolled 45 with nothing said. Western Carolina has six students en rolled, including two freshmen, one a starter on its varsity basketball team. Other four-year college enrollments of Negroes are six at Asheville- Biltmore, six at Charlotte and 20 at Wilmington, all new schools. The junior college enrollment in cludes 49 at Gaston, 21 at the College of Albemarle and 15 at Central Pied mont. Less Than One Per Cent In spite of the widespread desegrega tion, only 0.96 per cent of the senior college enrollment is Negro, 404 stu dents among 41,848. Negroes represent 7.6 per cent of the junior college en rollment, 85 of 1,117. On the whole, Negro students com prise 1.1 per cent of the total enroll ment of senior and junior colleges, 489 of 42,965 students. Negro students comprise a much larger percentage of the industrial ed ucation centers of the state, although exact figures are not available. These are set up on a post-school basis but are not considered college-oriented. Enrollment at the five state-operated Negro colleges total 9,136 with only a scattering of white students. Most white students who enroll in Negro colleges usually remain not more than a year. The Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro is the only one that has awarded a degree to a white student, and this was at the graduate level. No Negro college under state supervision has awarded an undergraduate degree to a white student.