Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1965—PAGE 13 TENNESSEE School Commissioner Expects All Districts To Qualify For Funds Tennessee Highlights : NASHVILLE tate Education Commis sioner J. Howard Warf said i on June 1 he had received assur ances from federal officials that Tennessee’s 152 public-school sys tems will lose no federal funds 1 for the current fiscal year. Release of the federal allocations, Warf said, is contingent upon a state ment by local school officials certifying ' that their boards of education have authorized them to file a plan of de segregation by June 15. According to an announcement last : month by the U. S. Department of Health. Education and Welfare, about $3 million in federal funds for 40 Ten nessee school systems had been held ' up pending adequate plans for com pliance with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. School systems included those serv ing children of military or federal ci- i vilian personnel. Processing Statements Warf said his office was processing the statements necessary to assure that , all school districts received their allo cation of federal funds for the current year and that they would be forwarded to federal authorities within the next few days. “As far as I can determine,” the com missioner continued, “all systems will receive all of the funds to which they are entitled for the current fiscal year.” The State Education Department’s newly created office of equal oppor tunity also is studying desegregation plans from local school districts for the 1965-66 year. Following a May 11 deadline which had been set by Warf for presentation of the plans, state officials said most systems had indicated they would com ply with the federal requirements. ‘Every Effort’ Robert K. Sharp, director of the equal opportunity office, said: “Generally speaking, the superin tendents are making every effort to comply. So far, there has been no out right refusal.” Sharp explained that some time Would be required to study the de tailed plans submitted by local school officials. These, too, will be forwarded to the U. S. Office of Education when the State Education Department deter mines if all of them meet federal guidelines disclosed last month. All of Tennessee districts had signed Assurances of Compliance or presented court orders and desegregation plans prior to the new guidelines, which call for at least four grades to be desegre gated by the opening of school this fall. Warf however, has encouraged sys tems to drop racial barriers in all 12 grades when schools reopen in Sep tember. 22 Acceptances The commissioner said federal of- ficials had accepted desegregation plans offered by 22 Tennessee systems, and mat the remainder were pending. While the U. S Office of Education re quested additional information in “sev eral” instances, the commissioner said none had been refused as unacceptable. Because the federal guidelines had not been released at the time the As surances of Compliance were submit- ed. Warf said he doubted that some of the systems had taken adequate ac tion. He then called upon all districts to present specific plans under the timetable prescribed by federal au- thontjes. The U. S. Office of Education on May 5 save approval of the State Board of Ednca+’on’s plans for desegregation of six colleges and universities, 15 voca tional and technical schools, four spe cial schools, the State Library and Archives and the Educational Tele- Vision program. This action released about $10 mil- on in federal funds for the various mstitut* ons. Our public institutions would not have been eligible for their share if the board’s Assurance of Compliance had not been accepted,” Warf said. New System Many of the vocational and technical schools, part of a new statewide sys tem, will begin operation this year. Also released at the same time were *22 million in funds under the Higher Education Facilities Act and $1.2 mil- on in federal funds toward construc tion of three junior colleges and a state regional technical institute, which is «nder way at Chattanooga. At the public-school level, several systems were reported to have taken action to meet the new requirements. The Tipton County Board of Educa tion and the Covington Board of Edu cation adopted a “free-choice” plan, under which students may attend any school they wish next fall. Students were asked to notify school officials by June 5 if they wished to transfer to schools other than the ones they have been attending. ‘Total Desegregation’ At Decatur, the Meigs County Board of Education adopted a plan calling for “total desegregation, including strict zoning regulations, desegregation of school facilities, staff and all trans portation facilities.” Noting that the schools could not be operated without federal and state funds, the plan specified that “vacan cies that occur among all school per sonnel shall be filled on the basis of qualifications without regard to race, color or creed.” The Giles County and Morristown school boards also reportedly took ac tion to meet the new federal desegre gation guidelines. At Lebanon, the Wilson County school board voted to transfer five white teachers to Negro schools and to move five Negro teachers to predomi nantly white schools this fall. Spokes men said the white teachers would be assigned to West Elementary School and the Wilson County High School, while the Negro teachers will be trans ferred to Watertown High School, Leb anon High School and Mount Juliet School. The Wilson County district was one of the seven Tennessee districts re porting teacher desegregation during the past year. Negro School Closings Warf said several systems had indi cated plans to close all of their Negro schools at the beginning of the next school year, transferring both students and teachers to biracial classes. In other action during the month, a complaint of racial discrimination at the University of Tennessee Hospital in Knoxville was withdrawn. James Quigley, assistant secretary of HEW, advised Tennessee congressmen of the action and supplied them with copies of correspondence. Mrs. Ruby Bishop, a white Knoxville woman who filed the complaint, said Dr. Andrew D. Holt, IJT president, had given instructions in her presence that the institution would comply with the Civil Rights Act in the operation of the hospital. “This compliance is what I was seek ing,” Mrs. Bishop wrote Quigley. “Therefore I withdrew my complaint.” Mrs. Bishop had complained of seg regation of Negro patients, lack of de segregation in the nursing school teaching staff, employment of Negroes only in housekeeping jobs and of Ne gro girls meeting difficulty in admis sion to the nursing school. In the Colleges Forty-four Tennessee colleges and universities have agreed to meet pro visions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the U. S. Office of Education said on May 20. Seven of the institutions are state- supported. Their plans for desegrega tion have been approved by the fed eral agency. They include the Univer sity of Tennessee, Middle Tennessee State University at Murfreesboro, Memphis State University, East Ten nessee State University at Johnson City, Tennessee Technological Univer sity at Cookeville, A&I State Univer sity at Nashville and Austin Peay State College at Clarksville. Others listed by the federal agency included: Belmont College, David Lipscomb College, Fisk University, Vanderbilt University, George Peabody College for Teachers, Meharry Medical College, Trevecca Nazarene College, all at Nashville; Christian Brothers, Le Moyne and Siena Colleges, Southwest ern at Memphis, Southwestern College of Optometry and Owen Junior Col lege, all of Memphis; Covenant and Tennessee Temple Colleges and Uni- Legal Action Court To Hear More Arguments U. S. District Judge Bailey Brown was to hear additional arguments June 4 in the Jackson school desegregation case. During a one-day hearing at Mem phis on May 28, witnesses for the Jack- son school board and for Negro plaintiffs offered conflicting testimony concerning boundary lines for eight elementary and three junior high school zones. Two witnesses for the National As sociation for the Advancement of Col ored People produced charts they said showed that Jackson school zone lines follow racial patterns. The witnesses were Roger W. Bardwell of Arlington Heights, Ill., head of the Elk Grove, Ill., school system, and Dr. Merrell Her man, assistant superintendent of Villa Park, Ill., schools. Nashville attorney Avon N. Williams Jr., on behalf of Negro plaintiffs, charged that the school board had ger rymandered school zone boundaries to preserve racial segregation. Supt. C. J. Huckaba told the court that boundaries were drawn on the ba sis of “the size of the school and the location of the residents.” On cross- examination, Huckaba agreed with Williams that one Negro school zone has no white students residing within its area. Gerrymandering Issue The Jackson case is one of the first Tennessee lawsuits cases in which Ne gro plaintiffs have gone into court to contest alleged gerrymandering of school zones. In addition to the controversy over school zones, the NAACP also is seek ing court-ordered faculty desegregation and a ruling that the school board must pay attorney fees for the plain tiffs. Attorney Russell Rice, counsel for the Jackson City Commission (which also serves as the board of education), questioned Bardwell about his role in the hearing. Bardwell said he had been asked by the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund to study the Jackson zones. Brown overruled Williams’ objections to questions about how Bardwell will be paid. “My expenses have been paid,” Bardwell told the court. The Jackson district, which volun tarily began desegregation in 1962, was ordered by Judge Brown in 1963 to place a gradual desegregation plan into effect. (Monroe et al v. Board of Com missioners of the City of Jackson et al.) Under the previously approved schedule, racial barriers were dropped through the sixth grade last fall with the seventh and eighth grades to be grades in 1966 and 11th and 12th grades in 1967. About 125 Negro students at tended biracial classes in the district during the past year. versity of Chattanooga, all of Chatta nooga; Lambuth and Lane colleges and Union University of Jackson; Knox ville College, Knoxville; Bethel Col lege, McKenzie; Carson-Newman Col lege, Jefferson City; Cumberland Col lege, Lebanon; Freed-Hardeman Junior College, Henderson; Hiwassee College, Madisonville; Lee College, Cleveland; Lincoln Memorial University, Harro gate; Martin Junior College, Pulaski; Maryville College at Maryville; South ern Missionary College, Collegedale; Tennessee Wesleyan, Athens; Tuscu- lum College, Greeneville; University of the South, Sewanee; William J. Bryan College, Dayton; Steed College and King College, Bristol; and Morristown College at Morristown. The Office of Education said the col leges and universities, which this year will receive about $15 million in fed eral funds, had signed Assurance of Compliance forms, committing them to policies of nondiscrimination in all phases of admission and treatment of students. ★ ★ ★ The statewide National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peo ple organization has announced a cam- None of Tennessee’s 152 public- school districts is expected to lose federal funds payable during the current fiscal year, according to State Education Commissioner J. Howard Warf. Additional arguments in the Jack- son school desegregation case were set for June 4 before Judge Bailey Brown. The Madison County Board of Education denied charges that Ne groes were not given sufficient time to register for the 1965-66 school year. U. S. District Court was asked by the Obion County Board of Educa tion to close its school desegregation case. Franklin County’s desegregation Madison Board Denies Time Was Insufficient The Madison County Board of Edu cation filed a brief in U. S. District Court on May 11, denying charges by plaintiffs that Negroes were not given sufficient time to register for the 1965-66 school year. Jack Manheim, county attorney, said in the brief that 68 Negro students reg istered for biracial elementary schools and 24 others enrolled in predominantly white high school classes. Manheim, replying to a motion by Negro plaintiffs for “further relief,” said that an additional half-day had been allocated to the registration period this year and that notices to parents had been distributed on March 31. The plaintiffs protested the registra tion on April 14, two days before the registration began. U. S. District Judge Bailey Brown made no immediate rul ing on the motion and the registration was conducted as scheduled. Time for Selection Attorneys for the plaintiffs contended the registration allowed “an insufficient amount of time” for Negro parents to select a school. Brown set June 25 for further argu ments in the case. Manheim noted in his brief there had been no desegregation of teaching staffs but contended this factor did not ad versely affect the constitutional rights of the plaintiffs. He also denied charges of racial discrimination in the routing of school buses, in activities related to faculty training and in other phases of the school system’s operation. Madison County, which operates schools surrounding Jackson, is under a federal court order to desegregate its classes. Sixty-eight Negroes attended biracial classes in the first eight grades during the past year. Under the court- approved plan, high-school grades will be desegregated this fall. ★ ★ ★ Obion County Board Asks End of Lawsuit Attorneys for the Obion County Board of Education on May 14 asked U. S. District Court to close the school desegregation case which has been pending since 1962. paign to establish NAACP chapters on all college campuses. The Rev. Frank Gordon of Knoxville, state chapter president, said the de cision was made at a conference at tended by representatives of 20 chap ters in Nashville on May 22. In other action, the group also ad vised parents against signing freedom- of-choice plans advanced by local school boards. The Rev. Mr. Gordon called such plans “a devious way set up ... to maintain present patterns of segregation unless Negro parents and pupils are willing to enter into a com plex transfer procedure . . . and suffer the attendant economic and physical pressures.” ★ ★ ★ Dr. Stephen J. Wright, president of Fisk University at Nashville, has been named president-elect of a division of the National Education Association. Dr. Wright was chosen on May 4 as the first Negro to head the Association for Higher Education. He will serve as president during 1966-67. President of Fisk since 1957, Dr. Wright was elected to the post during a meeting of the association in Wash ington, D. C. plan was approved by U. S. District Judge Charles G. Neese. The U. S. Office of Education listed 44 Tennessee colleges and uni versities among those which have agreed to revise entrance require ments in keeping with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. A campaign to establish chapters on all college campuses was launched by the NAACP. Chancellor Alexander Heard of Vanderbilt University said the end of racial discrimination will not re move socio-economic differences be tween the races. NAACP executive director Roy Wilkins urged Memphis Negroes to “keep up the pressure” for desegre gation. In reply to a motion for further re lief filed by Negro plaintiffs, the board declared in a brief that it had “honestly and sincerely endeavored to carry out the court order in letter and in spirit.” The board said it was “gratified that integration . . . has been harmonious and without incident.” Filing of the brief came one week after Negro plaintiffs charged in a pe tition that the school district practices racial discrimination in athletics, school organizations and in other school-re lated activities. Charges Humiliation’ Nashville attorney Avon N. Williams Jr., counsel for the plaintiffs, alleged in the petition that teachers “frequently expose Negro students to . . . the hu miliation of being called such nick names as ‘chiggers’ and ‘blacks.’ ” The board’s answer specifically de nied this charge. Supt. C. D. Parr said: “We’ve done the best we can with this thing. It’s a shame that charges like these have to be leveled.” Parr said he had received no com plaints from Negro parents but that some white parents felt their children were not being treated as well as Ne gro students. “This may be true, to some extent,” he continued, “I am sure some teach ers, in their desire to make sure that Negro students are not treated un fairly, sometimes may go overboard slightly to comply . . .” As to Personnel The board acknowledged that it had taken “no steps to integrate the teach ing and other sustaining and operating personnel in the schools” but pointed out it had not been ordered to do so by the court. The question of whether teaching, supervisory and supporting personnel should be desegregated, the brief stated, “is not a matter which can be properly determined in this type suit.” U. S. District Judge Bailey Brown, who set June 18 as the date for hear ing arguments on the plaintiffs’ mo tion, ordered desegregation of all 12 grades in the Obion County district ef fective in September, 1962. (Vick v. Obion County Board of Education.) An estimated 120 Negro students attended biracial classes in the Northwest Ten nessee district during the past year. ★ ★ ★ Court Approves Plan For Franklin County U. S. District Judge Charles G. Neese on May 5 approved an amended plan for desegregation of schools in Frank lin County. Under the plan, all elementary schools will be desegregated this fall under a freedom-of-choice method. All high schools would be desegregated in the fall of 1966. Neese overruled objections of plain tiffs, which include both white and Ne gro parents, and said there was no need for further hearings at the present. But he said the court would resume juris diction if school officials fail to carry out the court-approved steps. Racial barriers were lowered under court order last year with the admis sion of Negroes to two previously all- white schools. (Hill et al v. Franklin County Board of Education.) On June 23, 1964, Neese approved a revised plan submitted by the board, but the case remained in litigation be cause of objections raised by the plain tiffs. Neese on Dec. 29, 1964, accepted what was called a “compromise” plan, ac celerating the pace of desegregation compared with the previous plans un der consideration. His latest order ap proved the two-step desegregation plan (See VANDERBILT, Page 14) 44 Colleges Sign Compliance Forms