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PAGE 16—JUNE. 1965—SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS
NORTH CAROLINA
Federal Agency Approves Plans
Of State Board, Eight Districts
Student Officers in Winston-Salem
Elected to the student government of predominantly white Wiley Junior High
School: (from left) Harold Kennedy III, secretary; Jane Ferrell Clay, vice-president;
Fred Butner, president. (See Miscellaneous.)
WINSTON-SALEM
ith the 1964-65 school year
approaching its close, de
segregation plans of the North
Carolina Department of Public
Instruction and of eight school
systems in North Carolina had
been approved as acceptable un
der the federal Civil Rights Act
of 1964.
Of the state’s 170 school systems, 152
had submitted plans for desegregation;
27 had promised to send plans by June
15, and one apparently had not sent a
plan. Among the plans submitted, 26
had been returned for revision in light
of guidelines set up by the U.S. Office
of Education.
The U.S. Office of Education had
approved plans of Craven, Cumber
land, Dare, Mitchell, Lenoir and Ons
low county systems and Fayetteville
and Raleigh city systems.
All eight systems except Dare and
Mitchell counties operate desegregated
schools. A state study of desegregation
in school systems, completed Dec. 1,
1964, indicated that Mitchell County
lists no Negroes in its school system,
and Dare County lists 99 Negro chil
dren.
Not Rejected
The 26 returned plans have not been
rejected, the U.S. Office of Education
reported. They are to be revised in the
light of recently announced guidelines.
No action has been taken on other
submitted plans.
One county, Currituck, was reported
to have refused originally to desegre
gate its school. The Currituck County
Board of Education, however, voted
May 5 to rescind its earlier action. It
voted to work out a plan of compli
ance with the Civil Rights Act.
The county lost federal funds uti
lized for vocational education, lunch
room supplies and for children of
government-employed personnel at
tending schools.
School districts with plans returned
for revision were:
Anson, Duplin, Guilford, Halifax,
Henderson, Hertford, Hoke, Iradell,
Johnston, Moore, Orange, Polk, Rowan,
Sampson, Union, Warren, Watauga
and Wayne counties and Asheboro,
Chapel Hill, Freemont, Glen Alpine,
Kings Mountain, Lumberton, Shelby
and Whiteville cities.
Promising Plans
Districts promising to send plans
were:
Alexander, Anson, Bertie, Camden,
Caswell, Chatham, Cherokee, Cleve
land, Columbus, Davidson, Davie, Dup
lin, Durham, Edgecombe counties and
Asheville, Concord, Greensboro, Hick-
ory, High Point, Kannapolis, Lexington,
Morganton, Newton-Conover and
Wadesboro cities and Winton-Salem/
Forsyth County system.
Most state plans offered freedom of
choice by parents of children. Second
most popular appeared to be geographi
cal.
Among plans publicly announced
were the following:
Washington city system—Freedom of
choice with whole system one district
and children assigned to schools with
out regard to race “on the basis of a
free choice to be expressed by the
parents of children presently enrolled
or to be enrolled.” During the past
year, seven Negroes were enrolled in
three predominantly white schools.
Fayetteville city—This plan, which
has been approved, calls for geographic
assignment of pupils.
Alamance County — Students in
grades one, four, nine and 12 will have
freedom of choice for attending schools
in 1965-66. A lack of classroom space
was cited as the reason for not permit
ting freedom of choice in all 12 grades.
Children in these grades may “attend
any school in the Alamance County
school system, regardless of race, color
or national origin, and enjoy the bene
fits of all services and facilities avail
able at said school.”
Lenoir County—Already approved,
this plan permits freedom of choice and
erases the previous racially drawn dis
tricts.
Chapel Hill city—All but 44 of the
system’s 4,600 students have been given
their first choice in a freedom of choice
system. The system is further planning
to build one high school to replace the
present predominantly white Chapel
Hill High School and predominantly
Negro Lincoln High School. On its
assignment policy, the board said:
North Carolina Highlights
North Carolina’s state desegrega
tion plans and eight civil rights
compliance statements by school sys
tems have been approved as accept
able under the federal Civil Rights
Act of 1964, it was reported at the
end of the school year.
The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People and
the North Carolina Teachers Asso
ciation reported that more than 500
Negroes had lost their jobs as teach
ers because of school desegregation,
but Dr. Charles Carroll, superintend
ent of the State Department of Public
Instruction, said he knew of no such
action against Negro teachers.
The U. S. Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals ordered the Durham City
Board of Education to revise its as
signment policy, calling some phases
of the plan objectionable.
Desegregation of colleges, public
and private, is increasing in North
Carolina, although the amount of bi-
racial attendance is small, a study
revealed.
“The only criteria concerned are: (1)
available classroom space, (2) main
tenance of reasonable equality of class
room size at the grade levels involved,
(3) continuity of educational pro
grams.”
On the assignment of teachers, the
school board told the Lincoln Parent-
Teacher Association, “When consolida
tion of schools takes place, such con
solidation, in and of itself, would not
constitute cause for failure to reappoint
a teacher.”
Under the Chapel Hill plan, an addi
tional 87 Negroes have been assigned to
desegregated schools.
Granville County—A freedom-of-
choice plan has been adopted. The
county has no desegregated schools.
Harnett County—Freedom of choice
is permitted children of first, second
and ninth grades for 1965-66 school
year.
★ ★ ★
The Raleigh city system’s freedom-
of-choice plan has been approved by
the U.S. Office of Education as com
plying with the Civil Rights Act, but
Negroes do not fully approve. The
school board announced May 10 that all
assignments for 1965-66 had been made,
but gave no figures on the number of
mixed schools. Figures were promised
in the future.
In the Colleges
Desegregation in the 60 colleges of
North Carolina, both predominantly
Negro and predominantly white, nearly
doubled in the past school year, but the
total figures are small.
The state has 48 predominantly white
colleges, including 13 state-supported
(10 senior and three junior or com
munity) and 35 private (20 senior and
15 junior), and 12 predominantly Negro
colleges, including five state-supported
senior and seven private (six senior
and one junior).
All tax-supported senior and com
munity colleges are open to qualified
students without regard to race. Only
one of these institutions had no Negro
students enrolled in the fall of 1964.
There were 404 Negro students en
rolled in 10 tax-supported white senior
colleges and 85 enrolled in three tax-
supported junior colleges for a total of
489. This was an increase of 234 or 91.7
per cent over the 255 enrolled a year
ago.
Other Colleges
Negro students are enrolled in 14 of
the 20 white private or church-related
senior colleges. Four of the other six
colleges reported an open admission
policy. Three have enrolled Negroes in
past years, and the other two stated
“no policy of exclusion” based on race.
There were 72 Negro students en
rolled in these 14 colleges in the fall of
1964, compared with 38 a year earlier,
an increase of 90 per cent.
Four of the 15 white private junior
In the meantime, the Raleigh chapter
of the National Association for the Ad
vancement of Colored People expressed
its dissatisfaction with the city plan by
submitting a petition to the school
board, asking it to “adopt a realistic
program of integration of public
schools.” Mrs. Millie Dunn Veasey,
chapter president, called the plan “an
attempt to circumvent the Civil Rights
Act.”
“The school board should make the
assignments,” she said. Under the
Raleigh plan, parents select the schools
for their children, subject to such con
ditions as overcrowding.
★ ★ ★
Various school systems have per
mitted large numbers of Negro pupils
to transfer to previously all-white
schools under freedom-of-choice plans
offered. These include the following:
Robeson County—401 of 676 reassign
ment requests were granted. Racial sta
tistics were not announced. Robeson
County has schools for four racial
groups.
Hertford County—378 of 382 Negro
requests for transfers to all 12 grades
in 11 previously all-white schools ap
proved.
Beaufort County—121 Negro children
assigned to seven previously white
schools at a joint meeting of the two
school boards.
Madison-Mayodan city—60 reauests
for transfer granted desegregating all
grades but the sixth in the system. This
total may involve some white children
attending all-Negro schools. The system
has had no desegregation in the past.
Cherryville city—Six Negroes as
signed to two previously all-white
schools. No desegregation in the past.
Gates County—No requests for trans
fers reported. There is no desegregation
in this county with 1,592 Negro children
and 922 white children attending its six
schools.
★ ★ ★
In several cities and counties, school
boards had signed statements of com
pliance with the Civil Rights Act, but
had not acted on requests for assign
ment under freedom of choice. These
included:
Lexington City—141 Negro students,
living in both the city and Davidson
County, requested transfers to pre
viously white or desegregated schools
in the city and county. In the meantime
the Lexington City School Board an
nounced that it will not accept any
non-city students (with the exception
of 327 Negro students in agreement
with the county) in its schools.
Salisbury city—89 Negroes sought to
enter previously all white or predomi
nantly white schools.
colleges enrolled 29 Negroes, an in
crease of two over the previous year.
Seven of these 11 remaining schools
offer open admissions, and four re
ported no policy.
In summary, 29 of the 35 white pri
vate colleges have open admissions
policy, and 18 enrolled 101 Negro stu
dents, an increase of 65 or 55.4 per cent
over the preceding year.
Negro Colleges
All 12 Negro colleges, including five
public, six private senior and one pri
vate junior, have open enrollment
policies. The five state colleges enrolled
11 white students in 1964 and 12 in
September, 1963. The private schools
accepted 11 in 1964 compared with
three in 1963.
The total enrollment of Negroes in
white colleges is 590 of a total popula
tion of 78,714 in the state’s 48 pre
dominantly white colleges. There are
. 23 white students enrolled among 13,428
students in the state’s 12 predominantly
Negro colleges.
An unpublished report said:
“It is fair to say that opportunities
for higher education are increasingly
being made available in North Carolina
to all students without regard to race
who qualify for admission to colleges
and universities in the state. As these
policies are progressively implemented,
better utilization of the state’s human
and material resources will inevitably
result.”
Bertie County—260 Negroes request
ed transfer to previously white schools.
Teachers were elected for the whole
system rather than for individual
schools as in the past.
★ ★ ★
The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County
school system received a $75,000 grant
to set up a center for students, 15-21,
with learning disabilities, it was an
nounced May 25.
Designed for 130 pupils with physical
artd mental disabilities, the center will
be set up at Central School. It will be
operated by the local special education
department in co-operation with the
North Carolina Division of Vocational
Rehabilitation.
The new program will begin in the
fall. The federal grant includes funds
for renovation of 14 classrooms for the
center. The school will diagnose and
evaluate disabilities, train and place the
disabled, provide remedial education,
improve trainability and develop new
information on vocational rehabilita
tion.
★ ★ ★
Negro Teachers’
Status Becomes
Statewide Issue
Rumors and reports that possibly 500
Negro teachers will lose their jobs be
cause of desegregation of schools in
★ ★ ★
Predominantly white colleges appear
to be seeking more Negro athletes.
Duke University may get one through
the National Achievement ScholEirships
for outstanding Negro students.
Three Negro student wall enroll at
Duke through the scholarship program,
and one is an outstanding basketball
player, Claudius B. Claiborne, 18, 6-2 of
Langston High School in Danville, Va.
Colleges signing Negro athletes to
grants-in-aid include Catawba and
High Point for the first time. High Point
signed two Negroes and Catawba has
signed one.
★ ★ ★
The North Carolina Memorial Hos
pital of the University of North Caro
lina in Chapel Hill will take immediate
steps to desegregate and comply with
the Civil Rights Act, Chancellor Paul
F. Sharp of the university announced
May 4.
The hospital was among 17 an
nounced as not complying with the act.
Sharp said:
“It is the university’s intention to
comply with the law. We had thought
that we were in accord with the law in
our hospital practices.”
Complaints had been made against
the hospital’s policy of not integrating
patients. The hospital policy was to
assign patients of different races to the
same room “if the arrangement is re
quested by both parties and if their
type of illness will safely permit it.”
North Carolina raised a statewide de
bate with the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People
and the predominantly Negro North
Carolina Teachers Association on one
side and the State Department of Pub
lic Instruction and state school systems
on the other.
The issue became a public problem
May 23 when the Asheboro city school
system announced that 12 Negro
teachers will not be rehired for the
1965-66 school year, with desegregation
of schools listed as a cause by Guy B.
Teachey, superintendent of Asheboro
schools.
“We are perhaps undergoing the
greatest social revolution of all times
and in any revolution someone is al
ways hurt,” Teachey said.
“In this instance, perhaps the Negro
school teachers will suffer the greatest
hardships as they compete for positions
in our educational systems, not only
with people of their own race, but with
teachers with degrees from some of our
most renowned colleges and universi
ties.”
10 of 24 Rehired
He said Asheboro has rehired 10 of
its 24 Negro teachers. Two, including,
the principal of the all-Negro Central
High School, which will not be re
opened, have resigned.
Asheboro, he said, will close its Cen
tral High, operated jointly with Ran
dolph County, which included 200 Ne
groes not within the city limits. They
will have to attend county schools. The
city also will not accept students who
live outside the city school district
These factors. Teachey said, caused the
dismissal of the 12 Negro teachers.
Lacv Presnell Jr., Randolph County
superintendent, said his system may
employ some of the discharged Ashe-
boro teachers, but he made no specify
statement. ,
Kelly Alexander, state president o
the NAACP, and Jack Greenberg
New York City, director-counsel of m e
NAACP Legal Defense Fund, said the
NAACP will investigate reported firM
of Negro teachers. Greenberg’s state
ment that 500 North Carolina Negro
teachers had lost their jobs started the
controversy in the state.
All of Randolph County will be i”"
vestigated, Alexander said.
Legal Action Taken
The NAACP took its first legal actio”
in the teacher situation May 27 in Ne
Bern. Julius Chambers of Charlotte.
NAACP lawyer, filed suit in a U-
District Court in behalf of Mrs.
J. Moore, 44, a Negro teacher in
Pitts County system. He sought a
liminary injunction to prevent the
County Board of Education from
missing her.
The NAACP charged that ^
Moore, a teacher in the system 12
had been advised that she will no ^
rehired next year because there may
a decrease in the Grifton Elemen ^
School where she has taught. This ^
crease in enrollment was said to
caused by the transfer of Negro ® ^
dents from Grifton to previously w
schools. .
Mrs. Moore’s case was to be n
June 10 in Trenton by U.S. Comm”’
sioner Eleanor G. Howard. j.
The North Carolina Teachers A-ss^
ation through its executive secre
E. B. Palmer, said:
(See NORTH CAROLINA, Page l7)
Biracial Enrollment About Double