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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.