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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—MAY, 1965—RASE 9
WASHINGTON REPORT
HEW Provides First Guidelines
And Deadlines for Compliance
(Continued from Page 1)
TEXAS
School Boards Told New Rules
Require Them To ‘Integrate’
they may not be executed by school
systems in which race, color or na
tional origin of pupils is a factor in
assignments or transfers. Teaching
staffs, transportation and other services
must also be desegregated and all
“practices characteristic of dual or seg
regated school systems” must be
eliminated.
In the absence of these criteria, de
segregation plans rather than assur
ances of compliance must be submitted.
The Office of Education has accepted
about 19,000 of 22,400 assurances re
ceived from local districts.
Colleges and universities have sub
mitted 1,918 assurances of compliance,
the Office of Education reported May 3.
Court desegregation orders must be
final and must apply to the entire
school system—not just to certain
named individuals—in order to meet
the requirements of Title VI, the new
policy statement declares. School dis
tricts must also furnish information on
their compliance with court decrees.
Court Order
Court orders have been submitted to
the Office of Education by 81 school
districts and 20 had been accepted at
the end of April. The districts whose
court orders had been accepted are:
Texas: A&M Consolidated Independ
ent School District, Bryan, Carrollton,
Farmers Branch ISD, Hamshire-Fan-
nett ISD, Longview ISD, Texas City
ISD, and Waco ISD.
Florida: Bay County, Brevard Coun
ty, Duval County, Escambia County,
Hillsborough County, Leon County,
Orange County, Volusia County.
Georgia: Atlanta, Bibb County, Mus
cogee County.
Alabama: Huntsville.
Virginia: Norfolk.
All voluntary desegregation plans
must have a “target date” no later than
the fall of 1967 for desegregation of all
(Continued from Page 1)
ment of Policies” set a June 30 dead
line for submission of desegregation
plans by local school districts and said
all voluntary desegregation plans must
have a “target date” of fall, 1967, for
completion.
A voluntary plan of desegregation
is one of three methods a school district
may use to comply with the HEW
regulations. School districts also may
either sign an “Assurance of Compli-
ence” form (HEW-441) or submit a
court-ordered desegregation plan being
followed by the district.
In his new memorandum on compli-
ance guidelines, Keppel declared that
the HEW-441 form could be used by
school systems only when race, color
or national origin is not a factor in
assignments or transfers. All “practices
characteristic of dual or segregated
school systems” must be eliminated,
he said.
Majority Signed HEW 441
A majority of the districts attempting
to comply have signed the HEW-441
statement, although many of them have
been asked to supplement this with a
specific plan of desegregation. An esti-
J^ted 1,808 districts have signed
Statements of Compliance” and HEW
has approved 880 of these.
Another 574 districts have provided
v oluntary desegregation plans to the
federal education agency and 15 of
these have been accepted. Seventy-two
districts provided court-ordered de-
Se gregation plans and the government
has announced approval of 23.
All the school districts in Florida,
Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia have
submitted compliance plans under one
of the three methods. All but a few
districts have agreed to comply in Ala
bama, Arkansas, North Carolina, South
Carolina and Texas.
Only five of Louisiana's 67 districts
ave tried to comply and in Mississippi,
45 of the state’s 150 districts.
grades. The Commissioner of Education
has discretion to modify the target date
on or before Jan. 31, 1966.
Four Grades This Fall
The “substantial good faith start” re
quired this September must provide for
desegregation of at least four grades,
including the first grade of elementary,
junior and senior high school and the
last grade of high school. However, the
commissioner may waive this require
ment in “exceptional cases,” provided
at least two grades, including the first
grade, are desegregated for the 1965-66
school year.
The policy statement also lists the
following requirements for a “sub
stantial good faith start” this fall in all
grades, whether or not they are de
segregated:
• Assignment of new pupils without
discrimination.
• No use of public funds to maintain
segregation by sending pupils to
schools outside their district.
• Transfer rights for pupils original
ly assigned on a discriminatory basis
who want courses not available in the
schools they are attending.
• Steps toward desegregation of fac
ulties.
The guideline states that “freedom-
of-choice” assignment plans are ac
ceptable, provided they offer pupils an
opportunity to make a genuine choice.
Where plans are based on geographic
attendance areas, racially separate at
tendance zones must be abolished and
a single nonracial system of attend
ance zones established.
‘In Sufficient Time’
Desegregation plans must be made
known to pupils and parents “in suf
ficient time to enable them to under
stand and take advantage of their
rights . . . for the coming school year.”
School districts must also provide for
publication of the plans “in a con-
All the public colleges and universi
ties in eight Southern states have re
ported to the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare that they want
to comply to continue receiving federal
funds. These states are Alabama, Ark
ansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
Only a few have failed to report so far
Washington County—Will desegre
gate all grades next fall.
Floyd—Will desegregate first three
grades next September and others by
fall of 1968.
Cochran — Will desegregate all
schools in city system next September
with criteria on school requested,
availability of subjects and accessibility
of pupil affecting action on transfer ap
plications.
★ ★ ★
Gracewood State School and Hospital
for the mentally retarded will complete
a desegregation program by June 1, of
ficials said. The hospital, near Augusta,
has 1,600 white and 200 Negro patients.
★ ★ ★
A grant of $71,002 to the Atlanta
Board of Education to assist it in deal
ing with desegregation problems will be
made under the 1964 Civil Rights Act
by the U.S. Office of Education.
★ ★ ★
A controversy arose in Atlanta over
tearing down the old C. W. Hill Ele
mentary School, which is in an urban
renewal area where a new municipal
exhibition hall is to be constructed.
Negro parents protested loss of the
school and, more particularly, the
alternate temporary quarters officials
wanted to arrange for Negro children.
These are “mobile classrooms.” Such
classrooms are used elsewhere at white
Something’s Out of Balance
Here
Memphis Commercial Appeal
spicuous manner” in local newspapers.
The school districts whose desegre
gation plans have been accepted in
clude:
Kentucky: Spencer County, Stanford
City, Jenkins City, Adair County, Jef
ferson County, Pikeville City, Hender
son County and Owensboro City.
Arkansas: Beebe Special School Dis
trict and Bald Knob.
Virginia: Fairfax County.
Florida: Palm Beach County.
North Carolina: Craven County.
Statements of compliance have also
been accepted from state departments
of education in Arkansas, Florida, Ken
tucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Okla-
home, Texas, Tennessee and West Vir
ginia.
Officials reported, however, that the
Office of Education was holding up
about $150 million in federal aid funds
(as of May 3) for districts that had not
furnished satisfactory evidence of com
pliance with Title VI. About $42 million
of that total is for “federally impacted”
districts near military installations in
the Southern and border states whose
application for funds were reported
stalled pending the filing of acceptable
desegregation plans.
in the other three states, Louisiana,
Mississippi and Virginia.
For the 11-state area, 209 of the 221
public colleges and universities have
signed compliance statements. At least
201 of the 298 private and church-re
lated colleges have submitted compli
ance forms.
as well as Negro schools but Negroes
say they reflect a tendency on the part
of education officials to give Negro stu
dents second-best facilities.
Dr. Rufus Clement, a Negro member
of the Atlanta Board of Education, was
named head of a special committee to
try to solve the Hill School problem.
The board urged aldermen to delay
building the proposed exhibition hall
and to keep the Hill School at its pres
ent location until a new building can
be constructed.
M iscellaneous
Year’s Wait Seen
On Merger Plan
Dr. Zach Henderson of Statesboro,
new president of the Georgia Educa
tion Association, said it will be at least
another year be
fore the white
teachers’ organ
ization reaches a
final decision on
desegregation.
The GEA must
desegregate next
year or disaffiliate
from the National
Education Asso
ciation. The GEA
board has recom
mended removal
AUSTIN
exas school boards were told
flatly that new federal regula
tions require them to “integrate.”
The word came from federal, state
and local board sources.
Texas Association of School Boards
advised its members in a special bul
letin: “What the regulations really say
is ‘integrate.’ ”
More than 1,320 Texas districts have
signified intention to comply with the
1964 Civil Rights Act as a requisite for
receiving federal funds. About half of
these had been approved by the U.S.
Office of Education by May 1, and other
acceptances of local plans or “assur
ances” were being made steadily. The
districts being approved first were 378
which have only white pupils, and a
group of others which have desegre
gated completely, most of them with
few Negro students.
The state association of school boards
quoted a U.S. Office of Education mem
orandum:
“ ‘The issue is really whether South
ern schools are going to desegregate
with—or without—continuing to re
ceive federal financial assistance. Even
if federal aids are discontinued, segre
gated school districts still face the
prospect of private litigation brought on
behalf of Negro pupils in the com
munity. And the 1964 Civil Rights Act
increased the inevitability of desegre
gation by authorizing the Attorney
General to bring a suit in the name of
the United States.’ ”
The federal directive added that
“desegregation of teachers and pro
fessional staff is ultimately in the
picture.”
Similar Advice
Similar advice came from Dr. J. W.
Edgar, Texas commissioner of educa
tion, and others advising local admin
istrators in a series of meetings to ex
plain new federal programs including
the elementary-secondary education
law by which Texas is eligible to re
ceive $86 million in the next fiscal year
to help educate children of families be
low $2,000 annual income. Past federal
aid programs have paid less than $40
million a year toward the billion-dollar
annual cost of public schools in Texas.
South Texas districts with large
numbers of Latin-American students
stand to gain most from the new fed
eral program. Some are eligible for
funds covering more than 20 per cent
of their students, while most Texas
counties are in the range of 10 per cent
eligible students.
While some Negro teachers are being
assigned to teach racially mixed classes,
others are losing jobs by the same
process.
An example is West Columbia, a
small town near Houston. The Negro
high school of Columbia-Brazoria
school district will be consolidated in
September with the all-white Colum
bia High School. Five Negro teachers
are being retained during the merger,
and eight are being released.
Qualifications Basis
Although some teachers called the
action discriminatory, school officials
said they are offering contracts on the
basis of qualifications, not race.
The district is completing a 12-grade
desegregation next fall.
At a Houston meeting where the new
federal programs were being discussed,
Dr. S. M. Nabrit, president of Texas
Southern University (primarily for Ne
groes), said it is inevitable that some
poorly prepared Negro teachers will be
displaced by desegregation.
“In fairness to the whole idea, this
of the word “white” from the organ
ization’s constitution but two-thirds of
the members must approve at the an
nual convention in 1966.
★ ★ ★
Eugene Cook, attorney general of
Georgia and a longtime foe of desegre
gation, told the Atlanta Lions Club that
because of federal court decisions and
new laws Georgia will have “complete
and total desegregation.”
★ ★ ★
John T. Gill HI of Atlanta became
the first Negro elected to a major of
fice at Georgia Tech in Atlanta when
he was named managing editor of The
Technique, the student newspaper.
Georgia Tech was desegregated vol
untarily in the fall of 1961.
Texas Highlights
School administrators were told
flatly that federal regulations require
them to “integrate.” Most districts
sought to comply to receive federal
funds.
Some Negro teachers lost their
positions as faculty desegregation
increased.
Baptist Student Union members
praised the denomination’s schools
for desegregating in Texas.
(faculty desegregation) is the thing we
want to see happen in the long run
anyway,” Dr. Nabrit was quoted by the
Houston Post.
At Tyler, the school board announced
plans to complete desegregation by
1967, eight years earlier than originally
scheduled on its grade-a-year plan.
Supt. Ed Irons told board members he
does not believe federal courts will ap
prove stairstep desegregation for the
future.
In The Colleges
Baptist Students
Laud Desegregation
At Waco, 750 members of the Bap
tist Student Union from throughout the
state adopted a resolution praising the
denomination’s 10 schools in Texas for
desegregation policies. A Negro was
elected to the student’s executive com
mittee.
★ ★ ★
At Austin, some University of Texas
students picketed an off-campus lounge
for refusing to serve Negroes. Pickets
were heckled by other students.
The state university’s Student As
sembly governing body meanwhile
voted down a proposal to participate in
demonstrations for desegregating pri
vate housing of students. University-
owned housing is all desegregated.
★ ★ ★
The University Interscholastic
League, which sponsors athletic and
academic competition for the state’s
public schools, announced plans to drop
its all-white status. The organization,
governed by local school officials, has
been sponsored by the state university.
Negro schools in Texas have had a
separate organization for student com
petition.
★ ★ ★
Southwest Conference schools were
said to be recruiting Negroes for ath
letic scholarships for the first time.
Several of the state’s outstanding Ne
gro high-school athletes were being
sought by the University of Texas,
Southern Methodist University, Texas
Tech and other teams, mostly for foot
ball.
Miscellaneous
Minister Resigns
Over Race Policy
Dr. Kenneth Owen White, pastor of
the 3,700-member First Baptist Church
in Houston, resigned publicly on April
25 after church members turned down
his plea for desegregated membership.
An assistant minister also resigned. The
resignations were accepted by the con
gregation.
Dr. White, 63, said he is taking a
Baptist state missions assignment at
half the $15,000 annual salary of the
Houston pastorate. He is a former
president of the Southern Baptist Con
vention.
★ ★ ★
Willie Mae Johnson, a 17-year-old
high-school senior from Washington,
D. C., was declared winner of the “Miss
Tan America” pageant in Dallas, after
sponsors earlier had announced Ruth
Antionette Batton of Jackson, Miss., as
the winner. Miss Batton is a high-
school English teacher. Sponsors of the
beauty contest said an error was made
in scoring judges’ votes.
THE REGION
One-Third of Districts Approved
Georgia
(Continued from Page 3)
HENDERSON