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PAGE 14—MAY, 1965—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
SOUTH CAROLINA
ost All
COLUMBIA
S outh Carolina, the last state to
experience school desegrega
tion in any form in this century,
may have Negroes in school with
whites in almost all its school dis
tricts and most of its colleges by
September.
The turnabout has been enormously
accelerated by the passage of the 1964
Civil Rights Act which may cut off
vitally needed federal funds to non-
conforming districts and institutions.
The guidelines announced by the
U.S. Office of Education April 29
prompted widespread comment and
some criticism from the state’s educa
tors and political leaders.
Requirements for plans to desegre
gate faculties in the future caused the
greatest stir, although a number of
schoolmen who had investigated closely
were already aware of and working
to meet the provisions of the guide
lines.
Letters to Districts
In the wake of the guidelines came
the disclosure from the U.S. Office of
Education that U.S. Commissioner of
Education Francis Keppel had written
letters to 72 South Carolina school
districts saying that plans submitted by
them had been reviewed and found
inadequate.
Earlier, federal and state officials
had refused to identify districts that
had submitted plans of desegregation.
Information had come only from local
sources and it was far from complete.
The list of districts that received
Keppel’s letter added to those known
to have attempted compliance.
As April ended, 95 of the state’s 108
school districts and 20 of its public
and private colleges reportedly had
indicated they would comply with the
provisions of Title VI of the act.
Of the 95, five already are desegre
gated under court order, 88 have sub
mitted “freedom-of-choice” plans of
desegregation and two have signed
compliance forms, the last now consid
ered probably fruitless in the light of
comments by officials of the U.S. Office
of Education.
Rural Districts
A number of rural districts, with
heavy Negro population percentages,
have agreed to desegregation plans.
At month’s end, no plan submitted
from the state had been accepted by
the Office of Education, although both
sides indicated the breakthrough was
likely to come soon.
State Supt. of Education Jesse T.
Anderson indicated repeatedly that he
believed the basic S.C. plan, almost
identical to those approved by U.S.
District Judge J. Robert Martin in sev
eral cases, came close to meeting the
requirements and faces no unsur-
mountable difficulties.
David S. Seeley, director of the fed
eral Equal Educational Opportunities
Program, has agreed.
Facility Desegregation
One major issue to be resolved is a
firm promise of future faculty desegre
gation. Individual notice to Negro par
ents that they may transfer their chil
dren to white schools, subject to
specified administrative limitations, ap
parently also will be required.
It seemed likely that the first plan
approved in the state would come from
Richland County District 1 (Columbia).
School board officials have conferred
with Washington officials and on April
20 submitted additional information
requested. The board refused to say
what it was. But Supt. Anderson said
he believed it would meet the test.
The district did not receive Keppel’s
letter.
At a meeting of the State Board of
Education April 16, Anderson showed
some irritation at the slow pace of
approval.
“They say they’re working as hard
as they can but don’t know when
they’ll get around to us,” Anderson
said.
Anderson noted
that approximate
ly $1.9 million due
South Carolina
under the Voca
tional Education
Act and other
sums due districts
under the im
pacted area plan
were being held
up pending ac
ceptance.
In the meantime a number of dis
tricts are accepting transfer and initial
assignment applications from Negroes.
Districts May Be Desegregated in September
Two presently segregated one-dis
trict counties—Kershaw (Camden) and
Aiken—have passed their deadlines and
announced results.
In Kershaw, two Negro children re
quested initial assignment to the first
grade and 58 others were seeking trans
fer to white schools. Forty-four wanted
to enter schools in Camden, the county
seat. Another 11 made application at
Bethune and five at Blaney School in
Elgin.
In Aiken, three of nine attendance
areas received applications. The Gregg
area, a textile region, got the most—44.
They ranged from the first through
the 12th grade.
The City of Aiken got 32 from the
first to the 10th grades. There were two
in North Augusta.
(The Aiken District announced last
October that it would accept Negro
students in its white schools in Sep
tember, 1965.)
There are many similarities between
Aiken and Camden. Both are located
on the state’s sandy Fall Line. Both
are genteel centers of winter sport and
recreation with numerous wealthy
residents from the North. Fox-hunting,
horse racing, polo and golf have been
a way of life for generations. Of late,
both communities have attracted major
industry.
89 Compliances Reported
A telephone survey of all 108 districts
by Education Writer Jack Bass of The
State newspaper of Columbia (printed
on April 11) turned up 89 complying
districts and a number of others who
were working on plans.
At that time, all districts in the fol
lowing counties had indicated a desire
to comply (number of districts in par
entheses) :
Abbeville (1), Aiken (1), Bamberg
(3) , Beaufort (2), Berkeley (1),
Charleston (8), Chester (1), Colleton
(1) , Darlington (1), Dillon (3), Fair-
eld (1), Florence (5), Greenville (1),
Greenwood (3), Horry (1), Jasper (1),
Kershaw (1), Lancaster (1), Lee (1),
Lexington (5), McCormick (1), Marion
(4) , Marlboro (1), Newberry (1),
Oconee (1), Pickens (1), Richland (3),
Saluda (1), Spartanburg (7), Sumter
(2) , Union (1), Williamsburg (1), and
York (4).
Thus, from this survey it was learned
that all 70 districts in these 33 counties
(out of 46) had attempted compliance
or were under court order. It also
showed 19 additional districts in the
same category.
Gressette’s County
Keppel’s letter noting inadequacies
in submitted plans added slightly to
this list. One of these additions, was
the St. Matthews District in Calhoun
County, home of State Sen. L. Marion
Gressette, chairman of the state’s
School (Gressette) Committee which
was established a decade ago to fight
desegregation moves.
There was no indication yet that
any of the three districts in Clarendon
County had submitted forms, although
the superintendents in all three told
Reporter Bass they were working on
plans. Clarendon’s Summerton District
was involved in the 1954 Supreme
Court decision but has taken no steps
to comply with the court order.
One of the major criteria laid down
in Keppel’s guidelines offers no diffi-
Legislative Action
The Education and Public Works
Committee of the South Carolina House
reported out a limited compulsory
school attendance bill April 21.
With three dissenting votes, the com
mittee approved a measure that would
permit considerable local control.
The state has been without a com
pulsory attendance law for a decade.
The previous one was repealed in the
face of the 1954 Supreme Court decision
on desegregation. Since then, laws
against contributing to the delinquency
of a minor have been used occasion
ally to enforce school attendance.
The bill, unanimously approved by a
three-member subcommittee that stud
ied the subject, falls short of the man
datory measures sought by education
associations.
It provides that school officials re
port to judges with jurisdiction over
juvenile problems if a child between
the ages of seven and 16 is not in at
tendance. The court will investigate and
can order the parent or guardian to
South Carolina Highlights
A reported 95 school districts had
submitted evidence or plans of com
pliance with the U.S. Civil Rights
Act; 72 had received notice that their
plans were inadequate; a faculty
desegregation guideline stirred com
ment.
A vocational school with desegre
gated faculty and student body was
announced.
A federal judge modified his order
against Sumter District 2 to provide
greater flexibility in its administra
tion.
Schoolmen answered a suit against
the state’s tuition grants program.
A legislative committee approved
a limited compulsory school attend
ance bill.
culty in South Carolina. He said that,
at the very least, four grades must be
desegregated next fall. All S.C. plans
submitted offer free choice to all grades.
There also was evidence that re
quirements concerning transportation
and individual notice to parents will
be met by a number of districts.
But the faculty desegregation mat
ter, although not an immediate re
quirement, is likely to become thorny.
The order of full desegregation by 1967
has also drawn fire.
Thurmond Objects
Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-SC, wired
Secretary of Health, Education and
Welfare Anthony Celebreeze, expres
sing shock and urging him to rescind
the order. He said this attempt to
“force” total mixing of students, buses
and faculties within two years is “im
practical and unwise.”
In a subsequent statement, Thur
mond said the guidelines illustrate
“just how far these federal bureaucrats
are going to go in trying to run the
lives of the people.”
Democratic Sen. Donald S. Russell,
the state’s governor until his April 21
resignation, said the Office of Education
went beyond what the law requires in
setting up compliance rules and, as he
has done before, urged S.C. schoolmen
to go to the federal courts to seek
relief from “harrassment and hardship”
caused by the rules.
New Gov. Robert E. McNair turned
the guidelines over to Attorney Gen
eral Daniel R. McLeod and said he
would withhold comment until he had
McLeod’s opinion.
Finance Director P. H. Bomar said
he was “discouraged” by the guidelines.
enroll a child if it considers this to be
in the best interests of the child.
Education Committee Chairman Har
old D. Breazeale said the bill “provides
machinery to get at those you’re really
after.” He predicted it would pass the
House.
★ ★ ★
Education Leader Scored
On Floor of State Senate
Dr. Carlos W. Gibbons, executive
secretary of the South Carolina Educa
tion Association, was attacked on the
floor of the State Senate April 7 for
“wrongfully” leading South Carolina
public-school teachers down the road
to “integration and unionism.”
The accuser was Dorchester County
Sen. H. H. Jessen, an ex-sheriff. The
senator was riled, he said, by a petition
sent by teachers from two schools in
his county to Gibbons.
It said that since “the legislature ob-
From state NAACP President J. Ar
thur Brown came an indication that
Negroes would return to the federal
courts in an at
tempt to add fac
ulty desegrega
tion to plans or
dered by the
courts in five state
districts.
Voluntary plans
have been pat
terned after these
approved by the
courts. Russell, in
urging school dis
tricts to seek de
claratory judgments, said districts de
segregating voluntarily should not be
required to do more than those under
court order.
A survey of state education leaders,
published May 2, sought to determine
the effect of faculty desegregation. It
indicated three likely prospects:
• Some Negro teachers will lose
their jobs.
• A small number of white teachers
will quit.
• Most teachers will stay on the job.
To Seek Minimum
Walker E. Solomon, Negro executive
secretary of the predominantly Negro
Palmetto Education Association, said:
“I imagine some Negro teachers will
lose their jobs, but we’ll do our best
to be certain it is kept at a minimum.”
He produced statistics to support his
statement that the average Negro
teacher in the state is better qualified
than the average white teacher.
Printed in the 1963-65 annual report
of the State Department of Education,
the figures show that 98.1 per cent of
8,820 Negro teachers have college de
grees as opposed to 94.4 per cent of
the state’s 14,871 white teachers.
Solomon said more than half of the
Negro teachers with masters degrees
obtained them out-of-state, often at
major universities. This, he argued,
refutes suggestions that Negroes often
get bachelor degrees at inferior col
leges.
Dr. Carlos Gibbons, executive secre
tary of the presently all-white S.C.
Education Association, said he knew
of one white teacher in desegregated
Charleston who quit rather than teach
mixed classes there.
Sees Few Resignations
He said he believes, however, that
the majority of professional teachers,
although “somewhat displeased with
the impact and rapidity of desegrega
tion,” will continue to teach. He thinks
a “very small percentage” will quit.
Dr. George Hopkins, director of
teacher education and certification for
the State Department of Education,
agreed.
Both Drs. Hopkins and Gibbons be
lieved teachers could reasonably ex
pect more attention to be given their
salary status because of the additional
stress created by social change.
Mrs. Carolyn Brown, a Columbia
teacher and former SCEA official, said
she thought most white teachers would
rebel if assigned to an almost all-Negro
school, but doubted many would object
strenuously to a half-and-half situa
tion or less.
“A person who is a professional
classroom teacher is going to approach
viously will do nothing to alleviate
our economic plight, (we) feel you . . .
should lead the teachers of South Caro
lina in some sort of positive action.”
Sen. Jessen said in a Senate speech
that Gibbons had secretly inspired the
petition.
Charges “Engineering’
Jessen also accused Gibbons of “en
gineering” the March vote of the SCEA
in which the organization dropped its
racial barriers.
“. . . When he did that,” Jessen
charged, “he integrated the school or
ganizations at the local level, as well
as the state level. I will tax my people
through the nose before I will freely
say we must integrate. I will give the
(U.S.) government back every dime be
fore I will do that.”
Gibbons said after an earlier attack
in a similar vein in the House that he
was merely acting on behalf of the
SCEA board when he made statements
concerning the desegregation resolution
before the SCEA’s March convention.
this thing in a reasonable way,” she
added.
Federal Funds Needed
Richland County District 5 Supt. John
W. Baucum, who announced that a
new vocational school in his district
would have a desegregated faculty
and student body, said: ‘We have had
some adverse reaction, but people in
general understand that we are trying
to provide training for teenagers to
enter the labor market and a district
with the financial ability of ours must
have federal funds to help us build
such a school.”
A veteran white teacher, who has
worked with Negro teachers in work
shops, thinks most are far better quali
fied than most people think.
Almost everyone interviewed agreed
that the greatest difficulties are likely
to come in rural areas of large Negro
populations and generally lower salary
schedules.
One superintendent summed the sit
uation up this way:
“People are going to be forced to do
things against their will and they are
going to feel, rightly so, that some of
their freedoms are taken from them.
Federal control is here.
“But people will adjust. It’s human
nature.”
★ ★ ★
Richland District
Plans Unsegregated
Vocational School
What is believed to be South Caro
lina’s first public school with a biracial
faculty as well as student body is
planned by Richland County School
District 5.
Supt. John W. Baucum said April
14 an area vocational school will be
built on a centrally located 30-acre
tract to serve students at the district’s
three high schools, two of which are
all-Negro at present.
Baucum said the school would have
both white and Negro instructors.
The district, commonly known as
Lower Richland, sprawls over the
southeastern part of the county that
has its seat in Columbia, the state’s
capital city. It is largely rural but
contains a fast-growing suburban area.
In 1963-64, it had 3,616 Negro and 1,987
white students in average daily at
tendance.
No Desegregation Yet
To date, there has been no desegre
gation in the district, but during April
Baucum submitted a “freedom-of-
choice” plan of desegregation to the
U.S. Office of Education in an effort to
comply with the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Half of the cost of the vocational
school will come from federal funds.
The school, to be known as Lower
Richland Vocational Center, will cost
$210,000. The site was purchased for
$16,000 and equipment will add another
$55,000. Construction will begin in June,
with completion expected by the end
of the year.
The faculty will consist of nine in
structors and a director.
Courses will be offered in auto
mechanics, auto body repair, general
electricity, plumbing, commercial cook
ing, masonry, carpentry, air condition
ing-refrigeration and farm machinery
mechanics.
Adult classes will be offered in the
evenings.
Legal Action
U. S. Judge Allows
More Flexibility
In Sumter Action
Federal Judge Robert W. HempWh
modifying a previous desegregation
der against Sumter School District
2 on April 26, gave the schoo ^
greater administrative flexibility^^
carrying out his 1964 order f° r gg
desegregation” during the
school term. e „
In a lengthy order that simul ^
ously chastised overly eager N e g rc | _ n
tivists and threatened white sc ^ 0< ^ ijgd
with contempt citations if they ^
to carry out his orders, Judge HefflP ^
agreed to a “freedom-of-choice ^
for the Sumter district similar t0 - u( jge
approved by his senior colleague,
(See OFFICIALS, Page 15)
Limited Attendance Bill Recommended
THURMOND
CELEBREZZE