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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JANUARY, 1965—PAGE 5
TENNESSEE
Nashville To Drop Grade-a-Year
NASHVILLE
D esegregation of public schools
in Nashville and Davidson
County will be extended to all
grades by the fall of 1966, two
vears ahead of a court-approved
schedule.
The Metropolitan Board of Educa
tion voted unanimously on Dec. 10 to
adopt a report submitted by a special
board committee which recommended
the action.
Consolidated at the beginning of the
current year under Nashville and
Davidson County’s metropolitan gov
ernment, the school system lowered
racial barriers in the eighth grade as
it eontinued a grade-a-year plan ap
proved by federal courts.
I Under the existing plan, the ninth
grade will be desegregated next Sep
tember.
The board’s new action called for
desegregation to be extended to the
10th, 11th and 12th grades in the fall
of 1966, instead of proceeding with one
grade each year.
Transfers Limited
Also approved by the board was
another committee recommendation
that students who desire to transfer
from one school zone to another be
allowed to do so “only for the purpose
of improving the educational oppor
tunity of the specific student” and
with the approval of the director of
schools.
Including 1,637 Negroes who are en
rolled with three white students, the
i Nashville-Davidson County district this
year has an estimated 3,438 of its
18,676 Negro students attending biracial
classes in the first eight grades at 42
schools.
The district, operated as two sepa
rate systems last year, reported 773
j Negroes in biracial classes in the Nash-
i ville division and 244 in the Davidson
County division during the 1963-64
school year.
Desegregation began in the Nashville
schools in the fall of 1957 under a
federal court order. (Kelley et al v.
Nashville Board of Education.)
‘Nashville Plan’
The “Nashville plan” for desegrega
tion, containing grade-a-year and
transfer provisions, was upheld by the
US. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
in 1959 and the U.S. Supreme Court
later the same year declined to review
the case.
Biracial classes in the Davidson
County district began in January, 1961,
under a federal court order which
directed desegregation of the first four
grades—the same level which by that
time had been reached by the Nashville
district.
Both systems were scheduled to pro-
ceed by desegregating one additional
grade each year.
The Davidson County desegregation
Plan, as approved in Maxwell v. Board
°f Education of Davidson County, also
contained a provision to allow students
0 transfer from schools where their
race was in the minority.
1 i j school systems, however, de-
aR provision from their plans
i ~ ter the U.S. Supreme Court struck
,^ n . transfer clause on June 3,
/W, in decisions affecting the David-
n County and Knoxville systems.
Requests from NAACP
The board’s latest action came after
c Pea ted requests for desegregation of
snk gradeS 30(1 teaching staff had been
“bmitted by the Nashville branch of
e National Association for the Ad-
cement of Colored People,
k rs . C. M. Hayes, representing the
] | > fold the board on Sept. 10 that
j action would be taken if full
did ® re § at ‘ on of both staff and students
J not occur by January, 1965.
man 'f? S at time that board chair-
C. R. Dorrier named the special
Virginia
(Continued from Page 4)
corirpt^ construed in light of existinj
“Tim°u S '” accordin g to Davidson . .
to es have changed so that it is hare
carry out the will.”
We a nu. William McC-lenny, common
arm, j S a tt°rney of Amherst County
that tn t * le w ^l clearly sets fortl
dent 6 sc ^°°l is to educate white stu
le„p’ and he contended that the col
a c n, , as keen unable to show that an;
court 1 controvers y exists to warrant i
tn ari . Case ' allegation has beei
t Urri e ky the school that it has had ti
L Ca down qualified Negro applicant:
M^ Se of the provisions of the will
fenny declared.
the lrcu ‘t Judge C. G. Quesenbery tool
case under advisement.
Tennessee
Nashville and Davidson County
school officials announced plans to
extend desegregation to all grades by
the fall of 1966, two years earlier
than set out in a court-approved
schedule.
A plan calling for the employment
of teachers and other school person
nel on an nonracial basis was filed
in U.S. District Court by the Wilson
County Board of Education.
Desegregation of all grades in the
Franklin County school district by
the fall of 1966 was approved by
U.S. District Court as school officials
and plaintiffs agreed upon a “com
promise” plan.
The Giles County Board of Edu
cation, complying with a Chancery
Court ruling, paid a Negro band
instructor who lost a teaching po
sition his salary through Dec. 10.
committee to give the request “the
kind of study it deserves.”
Serving on the committee were Dor
rier, Walden S. Fabry and Dr. Arna
Bontemps, who said about 1,400 stu
dents now are attending schools out
side their zones.
In connection with transfers of stu
dents from schools within their own
zones to those outside the zones, the
board adopted the committee report
which stated:
“The consensus of the board’s feeling
further indicates that a great many
students are now attending schools
outside their school zone. We do not
propose to require any student who
is now out of zone to change schools
if he does not desire to do so. However,
in the future it is recommended that
transfers out of zone will not be al
lowed except on specific permission of
the director of schools who will allow
transfers only for the purpose of im
proving the educational opportunity of
the specific student.
“While this provision allows a stu
dent now out of a zone to continue so,
it also requires that once he has com
pleted the grades offered in his present
school he must move to the appropriate
school in his own zone.”
Prior to the consolidation of the two
systems, Nashville officials took the
position that they were complying with
the terms of the federal court rulings
approving the gradual desegregation
plan and that they were without au
thority to change them.
‘Lagging’ Charged
In her September statement that legal
action was planned, Mrs. Hayes said
school desegregation was “lagging” in
Nashville and that visits to schools
showed that inadequate instructional
materials and facilities were “denying
children the right to receive their best.”
The grade-a-year “Nashville plan”
was used previously by other Southern
cities as a guide for school desegrega
tion following its approval by the fed
eral courts.
Miscellaneous
Highlights
School officials said the instructor
was dismissed because of lack of
average daily attendance.
Controversy continued over a
scheduled appearance by Alabama
Gov. George C. Wallace before the
Tennessee School Boards’ Associa
tion statewide convention in Nash
ville.
Gov. Frank G. Clement was urged
in handbills signed by “the United
Klans of America, Inc.,” to abolish
the Governor’s Commission on Hu
man Relations.
The 1965 General Assembly opened
its biennial session on Jan. 4, with
the Davidson County Independent
Political Council recommending re
peal of state laws invalidated by
federal court decisions and the Civil
Rights Act. The proposal was pre
sented to the Nashville and Davidson
County delegation to the assembly.
Three other urban-area school dis
tricts in Tennessee now have declared
all 12 grades desegregated. They in
clude Knoxville, Knox County and
Shelby County.
Legal Action
Board Offers Plan
For Desegregation
Of Sehool Personnel
The Wilson County Board of Edu
cation on Dec. 31 submitted to U.S.
District Court at Nashville a plan call
ing for the employment of teachers
and all other school personnel “without
regard to race.”
U.S. District Judge William E. Miller
had ordered the board last July to offer
a plan for desegregation of teachers
and school personnel to become effec
tive at the beginning of the 1965-66
school year. The court had set Jan. 2,
1965, as the deadline for presenting
the plan.
In the proposed plan, the board noted
that the Wilson County district, in
Middle Tennessee, has started a pro
gram to eliminate “racial segregation
of faculties and other school personnel”
but said this “will necessarily be a
gradual process, as many administrative
problems will be involved.”
The board’s plan called for “the se
lection and employment of all person
nel . . . henceforth (to) be based on
the qualifications, personality, and
suitability of the individual without
regard to race.”
While the board said it could not
state the exact number of teachers
who will be assigned to specific schools
under the plan, it proposed desegrega
tion of faculties which are presently
all-white as well as the employment
of white teachers for now all-Negro
teaching staffs.
Plan for Address By Gov.
Gov. George C. Wallace of Alabama
was scheduled to address a statewide
convention of the Tennessee School
Boards’ Association in Nashville on
Jan. 7 as a controversy continued over
his planned appearance.
The Nashville branch of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People threatened demonstra
tions in protest to Wallace’s visit be
cause of his views on racial segregation.
A. A. Birch Jr., executive secretary
of the Tennessee Federation of Demo
cratic Leagues, a Negro political orga
nization, declared in a telegram to
Ernest W. Cotten, executive secretary
of the school boards’ association:
“It is deplorable that a man who has
openly and vigorously defied the power
and authority of the United States of
America should be asked to address
a group composed of persons in such
vital community positions throughout
the State of Tennessee as the Tennessee
School Boards’ Association.”
Birch urged Cotten to “cancel this
invitation without delay, and certainly
before you arouse the ire and ill will
of many more Tennesseans.”
Cotten, a former school superintend
ent, said he had no apology to offer
concerning the invitation to Wallace.
In announcing that the Alabama gover-
Bissell, Nashville Tennessean
nor would keynote the convention pro
gram, Cotten said Wallace has a
“brilliant record as Alabama’s chief
executive.
The association official cited educa
tion accomplishments which he said
Wallace had brought about in Alabama.
Mayor Beverly Briley, who had been
scheduled to greet delegates to the
Plan in Fall of 1966
The board earlier this school year
assigned a Negro teacher to a pre
viously all-white staff at Lebanon High
School.
In the plan, the board called atten
tion to such factors as population
shifts, teacher resignations, applica
tions and qualifications. “Because of
the problems peculiar to the operation
of educational facilities,” it said, “it
is impossible for any board at this
early date to state the exact number of
teachers to be integrated on the spe
cific locations that will be involved.”
The board also said it ‘can only
employ teachers.” and that “it has no
legal power to enforce their accept
ance.”
Wilson County schools have been
desegregated since 1962, under a federal
court-ordered plan.
★ ★ ★
U. S. Court Accepts
‘Compromise’ Plan
U.S. District Judge Charles G. Neese
on Dec. 29 accepted what was called
a “compromise” plan for completing
desegregation of schools in Franklin
County by the fall of 1966.
Supt. Lewis H. Scott said the board
of education was given 30 days to file
a plan to carry out the court’s order
approving the proposal.
Under the order, Scott said, all
elementary schools in the lower Middle
Tennessee district will be desegregated
in the fall of 1965 with desegregation
of all high school grades scheduled
the following year.
Agreed Upon
Scott said the plan was agreed upon
by attorneys representing both the
board and plaintiffs in the suit, Hill
et al v. Franklin County Board of Edu
cation.
The court last year approved a de
segregation plan which called for bi
racial classes to be extended through
out the system by the fall of 1968 on
the basis of geographical zones.
Both the plaintiffs and the school
board, Scott said, agreed to withdraw
appeals of the court’s 1964 ruling as
the “compromise” plan was considered.
The district, which began desegrega
tion last year under a previous order
by Neese, has 62 Negroes attending
two previously all-white schools this
year. It has a total enrollment of about
6,400 students, including about 700
Negroes.
★ ★ ★
A Negro band instructor who lost
his Giles County teaching position at
the beginning of the school year has
been paid his salary through Dec. 10,
Supt. J. Marlin Goodwin said on Dec.
29.
The payment was ordered by Circuit
Judge Joe M. Ingram after Chancellor
John Templeton ruled that the instruc
tor, Zettie A. Murriel, had not been
given adequate notice of his dismissal
by the Giles County Board of Edu
cation.
Templeton ruled that Murriel, who
previously had been assigned to the
all-Negro Bridgeforth High School,
Wallace Stirs
convention only a few minutes before
the keynote address was planned, an
nounced Dec. 31 that he would not
attend.
“Another commitment will prevent
the mayor from being there,” his pub
lic relations spokesman said. However,
Briley was to be represented by some
one from his staff.
★ ★ ★
Handbills Signed by ‘Klans’
Urge End of Commission
Handbills signed by “The United
Klans of America, Inc.” were circu
lated during December, urging Gov.
Frank G. Clement to abolish the Gov
ernor’s Commission on Human Rela
tions.
There was no comment from Clement,
who named the biracial commission a
year ago.
The handbills, which listed the ad
dress of the sending party as Post
Office Box 1003, Knoxville, stated:
“The governor’s Commission on
Human Relations, composed of whites,
Negroes and NAACP members, has
called on Governor Clement for $240,000
of your money to begin a massive in
tegration plan for Tennessee.
held a valid contract for the current
school year.
School officials said Murriel was not
given a position because of what they
called a lack of average daily attend
ance “justification” at the school.
Teaching positions, they explained, are
authorized on the basis of students in
average daily attendance.
Charges Discrimination
Goodwin said the dispute over Mur-
riel’s position was not related to racial
segregation. The teacher, in a new
Chancery Court suit, has claimed the
board’s failure to provide him a posi
tion constituted discrimination and
violated his constitutional rights.
The Giles County district, located
in Southern Middle Tennessee, has no
desegregated classes except in an adult
literacy program, Goodwin said. “We
have had no applications,” the super
intendent added.
Chancellor Templeton, in his deci
sion in the initial suit, said that the
board’s 28-day notice given Murriel
at the beginning of the year did not
meet the requirement of 30 days’ notice
set out in state law. He ruled that the
teacher was entitled to receive his
salary and, on Dec. 21, Judge Ingram
issued an injunction which ordered
the board to pay Murriel’s salary with
interest each month for the remainder
of the school year.
The court also ordered the board
to comply with a request by Murriel
to furnish information on other teach
ers in the district, including a record
of their tenure and subjects which
they are entitled to teach.
Seeks Damages
Following Templeton’s original order,
Murriel filed another Chancery Court
suit asking for a total of $10,000 in
“unliquidated” damages in addition to
his salary for the current year.
In this suit, the teacher claimed the
board had written him a second letter
of dismissal and offering his accrued
salary through the notice period plus
30 days.
The latest suit alleges that average
daily attendance figures are computed
during the five months showing the
largest attendance in any year and
that the board could not have de
termined at the beginning of the year
that there would be insufficient at
tendance at Bridgeforth to justify his
teaching position.
Chancellor Templeton said a hear
ing on the second suit would be held
as soon as the requested information
is furnished by the board.
Attorneys Joe W. Henry and Sam
Lewis represented Murriel in the liti
gation. Giles County attorney Clayton
Lee was counsel for the board.
Legislative Action
Organization Seeks
Repeal of Laws
Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson
County’s delegation to the 1965 Gen
eral Assembly, which opened Jan 4
in Nashville, was urged on Dec. 17
to support repeal of state laws that
(See TENNESSEE, Page 10)
Controversy
“The recently-appointed commission
was not authorized by the Legislature
and can be abolished by the governor.”
Containing a clip-out petition ad
dressed to the governor, the handbill
stated:
“We are opposed to the integration
program of the Governor’s Commission
on Human Relations. It is our belief
that the commission’s activities will
create ill will where none exists. In
the interest of domestic tranquility and
harmonious race relations we respect
fully request that you abolish the
recently-appointed Commission on Hu
man Relations.”
The commission, created by an ex
ecutive order issued by the governor,
has been preparing a legislative pro
gram for consideration by the 1965
General Assembly, which convened on
Jan. 4.
The handbill’s reference to the com
mission’s request for funds apparently
came as a result of the group’s an
nounced plans for a staff and its in
tentions of making studies dealing with
school desegregation and other civil
rights fields.
The Rev. Sam Dodson Jr. of Nash
ville is chairman of the commission,
which was designed to act in an ad
visory capacity.