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SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—JUNE, 1965—PAGE 7 ARKANSAS 41 More Districts Make Known Compliance (Continued from Page 6) cial part of a freedom of choice plan, that actual desegregation in substantial amounts must occur under it. Little Rock Requests At Little Rock, 150 ninth-grade Ne gro students and 69 sixth-graders re quested assignment to white or deseg regated senior and junior high schools next fall. This does not include Negro students already in desegregated schools, nor does it include requests by pupils who will enter the first grade in September. At North Little Rock, 107 Negro stu dents chose white or desegregated schools, a disappointing number to the North Little Rock Council on Human Relations which had hoped for at least 400. This does not include those who will enter the first grade in the fall. At Hampton, Supt. George McDaniel said 22 students had requested trans fers from the Negro school to the white school. The district has 374 white and 205 Negro pupils. At Wynne, 16 Negro pupils requested white schools. The district has 1,856 white and 875 Negro pupils. At Dumas, 36 Negro children enrolled in the white elementary school and 21 in the white junior-senior high school. The Dumas school enumeration is 868 white and 1,265 Negro. At Watson, 21 Negroes chose the white schools. The district’s enumera tion is 274 white and 255 Negro. In Desha Central, 19 Negroes en rolled in the white school. The enumer ation is 270 white and 354 Negro. In the Desha-Drew District at Tillar, 25 Negro students chose white schools. The enumeration is 187 to 390 Negro. At McGehee, 24 of the 549 children now enrolled in the Negro school chose to attend the white school next fall. I The district has 922 white students. Negro parents at Scott, in the Pulaski County District, met on May 2 and voted to request that their children be admitted to the white schools in Sep tember. There are two Negro schools at Scott. The Negroes also voted to ask the PTAs of the white schools at Scott to meet with them and discuss this situation, but the white PTAs declined. Intentions Made Known . At least 41 more districts let their intentions to comply with the Civil Rights Act be known during May. There are probably many others either working on plans or waiting for ap proval of their plans in Washington for it is known that in the past many dis tricts have avoided publicity during these stages. LEPANTO—Lepanto will desegregate the top six grades this year. It has 37 Negro pupils in those grades. Freedom of choice will apply starting in 1966-67 to the fifth and sixth grades, and then to the four lower grades in 1967-68. The district has 1.200 white and 116 Ne gro pupils. KENSETT—Supt. Aubrey Solomon said that grades 9 through 12 will be completely desegregated this fall. Free dom of choice will apply to the lower eight grades. Kensett has 450 white and j 120 Negro pupils. PLUM BAYOU-TUCKER in Jeffer son County—All 12 grades will be de segregated in September under freedom of choice. Thereafter freedom of choice will apply in the first and seventh grades. The district has 109 white and | 233 Negro students. HERMITAGE—Using freedom of choice, Hermitage will open the first three grades this year, three more grades next year and the top six grades in 1967-68. It has 444 white and 474 Negro students. HOT SPRINGS—The desegregation plan now covering the first four grades will be extended to grades five and six in the fall. PALESTINE—All 12 grades will be desegregated under freedom of choice this year. The district has 314 whites and 283 Negroes. HAMBURG—Using freedom of choice, Hamburg will open grades one, two, three and 12 this year, grades four, five, six and 11 the following year and grades seven, eight, nine and 10 in 1967-68. Supt. S. P. Portis said buses ’ 3nd faculty meetings would be deseg regated also. The district has 984 whites and 398 Negroes. Harrisburg, weiner and | CHERRY VALLEY—Beginning in Sep tember, these districts will not have Negro schools any more but all students will attend the formerly white schools. I Cherry Valley has 310 white and 48 Negro students, Harrisburg 1317 and 34 and Weiner 622 and 42. TRUMANN—Grades one, eight, nine, | 19, 11 and 12 will be completely deseg regated in September. The rest of the grades will be covered in the following two years. Trumann has 1,967 white and 96 Negro pupils. MORRILTON—Under freedom of choice, the top six grades will be de segregated this year and the bottom six grades next year. DE QUEEN—The school board voted May 3 to comply but has not drawn up a plan. The district has 63 Negro chil dren in the elementary grades and 25 in grades nine through 12 who attend high school in Sevier County District with De Queen paying tuition. De Queen has about 1,000 white students. SEAttCY—The top three grades will be completely desegregated this year. Freedom of choice will apply to the lower nine grades starting next year. Searcy has 2,374 white and 165 Negro students. GRANT COUNTY—All five school districts have agreed to comply but two of them, Sheridan and Poyen, have no Negro students. Leola, with 125 white and 13 Negro students, will de segregate completely in September. Prattsville, with 129 white and 68 Ne gro students will desegregate four grades at a time starting this year and starting from the top, Grapevine, which has 129 white and 68 Negro students, has not announced its plan. CONWAY—It will use freedom of choice in the top three grades this year, the next three grades next year and m all 12 grades in 1967-68. By the third year, the top six grades of the Pine Street School for Negroes will be closed. Conway has 2,867 white and 607 Negro pupils. BAY—It will desegregate completely this year. The district has 1,180 white and 20 Negro students. BLEVINS—Freedom of choice will apply to all 12 grades this year. The district has 257 white and 309 Negro pupils. JEFFERSON COUNTY—Sherrill, Al- theimer and Watson Chapel chose freedom-of-choice plans. Sherrill, 166 white and 433 Negro, will open all 12 grades this year but thereafter only entering first-graders would have a choice. Altheimer, 302 white and 991 Negro, will open all 12 grades this year, thereafter only grades one and seven. Watson Chapel, 1,812 white and 1,465 Negro, will apply freedom of choice this year to grades one through seven and 12, to grades eight and 11 in 1966 and to grades nine and 10 in 1967. LEE COUNTY—Haynes, Moro and Brickeys announced freedom-of-choice plans. Moro, 314 white and 435 Negroes, will desegregate four grades at a time starting from the bottom this year. Brickeys, 143 white and 536 Negro, is waiting for Washington approval be fore announcing its plan. Haynes, 71 white and 318 Negro, will desegregate grades one through four this year, five next year and six in 1967. Above the sixth grade, Haynes students attend Forrest City schools and this will be continued, according to Foster Norton, the Haynes principal. LAKE VILLAGE—Freedom of choice will apply to the first two grades this year, to the next four grades next year and to all grades in 1967. The district has 948 white and 1,115 Negro stu dents. OZARK—The Negro school, Carver, will be abandoned in the fall and all children will attend the white schools. Ozark has nine Negro pupils and 1,239 whites. This will be Ozark’s third at tempt to desegregate. The admission of Negro students to the Ozark High School in 1957 and 1958 failed when the Negroes withdrew because of har- rassment. WABBASEKA—Freedom of choice will apply this year to grades one, seven, 10 and 12, to grades two, three, six, eight and 11 in 1966 and to all grades in 1967. The district, which has 159 white and 634 Negro pupils, has two schools for Negroes and one for whites. LINWOOD—Linwood, 141 white and 460 Negro, will use the freedom-of- choice system this year in grades one, seven, eight and nine and will cover all 12 grades by 1967. EMERSON—Emerson published a legal notice in the Magnolia Banner News announcing that freedom of choice would apply this year to the first grade. The district has 269 white and 444 Negro pupils. MARKED TREE—It will apply free dom of choice to three grades a year, starting this year and starting at the bottom. The district has 1411 white and 467 Negro pupils. STUTTGART—The board announced its plan May 27. It applies freedom of choice to the first four grades this year, the next four grades in 1966 and the top four grades in 1967. The board pointed out that it is considering build ing a new high school and that the present white high-school building is not large enough to accommodate de segregation. It also promised desegre gation of buses and faculty. The choice plan this year will apply to the first focr grades in three attendance zones covering the district BRYANT—Supt. Joe Lyman an nounced May 27 that all 12 grades would be desegregated in September. Until now, the district’s 25 Negro stu dents were sent to Pulaski County (rural) School District schools on a tuition basis. The district has 1,416 white students. HORATIO—The school board voted May 26 to desegregate all 12 grades in September. The enrollment this year is 400 white and 25 Negro, but the Negro students were sent to the Sevier County District school at Lockesburg with Ho ratio paying their tuition. MISSISSIPPI COUNTY — Osceola, Luxora, Shawnee and Wilson Districts all published legal notices of their in tentions in the Osceola Times of May 27. Osceola, Shawnee and Wilson said that entering first-grade pupils could register at any school of their choice. Luxora extended the preference privi lege to the first two grades. Their 1964 school enumerations were: Osceola, 2,- 040 white and 1,412 Negro; Luxora, 598 white and 428 Negro; Shawnee, 490 white and 679 Negro; Wilson, 657 white and 644 Negro. ★ ★ ★ Effects on Negro Teachers’ Jobs Beginning to Appear If the Arkansas districts put into ef fect the desegregation plans they have announced, numerous Negro classes and some Negro schools will disap pear within one to three years. Appar ently the effect of this is not yet being felt. T. E. Patterson of Little Rock, ex ecutive secretary of the Arkansas Teachers Association (Negro), said May 26 that he knew of only two places so far where Negro teachers were los ing their jobs. At Monticello, four Negro teachers have been asked to resign, but Patter son said he has advised them not to do so while an effort is made to re solve the situation in some other way. At Searcy, the contracts of six Negro teachers were not renewed for 1965-66, Patterson said. They were teaching in a school which was educating 141 Negro students this year from five other dis tricts, but next September all the dis- trits will keep their Negro students, Patterson said. ★ ★ ★ Organizations Turn Again to Prospect Of Eventual Merger The Arkansas Education Associa tion (mostly white) and the Arkansas Teachers Association (Negro) have again changed courses, this time back toward merger, eventually. They ap pointed a joint committee two years ago to work toward merger but the joint committee decided not to work on merger but to work on mutual educa tional problems. (SSN, February.) The new policy position was an nounced May 3 by Forrest Rozzell, ex ecutive secretary of the AEA, at a meeting of the Arkansas PTA Congress at Little Rock. It was established in policy statements adopted the previous month by the joint committee and by the AEA board, he said. The joint committee in its statement said its ultimate objective was “a single, all-inclusive state professional associa tion and affiliated locals, in which all members of the education profession, regardless of race, creed or area of edu cational responsibility, are actively in volved in co-operative efforts.” It listed some immediate goals, de claring that problems unique to the members of the ATA must be “frankly and courageously” dealt with. It said compliance with the Civil Rights Act will be encouraged in ways to serve the eduational needs of all children and to protect the personal and pro fessional rights of all teachers. The statement called for encouragement for the use of new programs to eliminate salary differences between white and Negro teachers and to provide com pensatory training for all culturally and economically deprived children. Rozzell read a policy statement adopted April 28 by the AEA Board that expanded on the provision in the AEA constitution regarding member ship, which did not by itself bar Ne groes. It said Negro teachers were wel come as members—it already has a few—but that no campaign for Negro Both Sides Agree In University Suit A judgment agreed to by both sides, declaring discrimination unlawful in any of the operations of the University of Arkansas, was issued May 6 by Federal Judge J. Smith Henley. The trial of the lawsuit (Whitfield v. Raney) had been scheduled for that day. Instead the attorneys for the plain tiffs, Harold B. Anderson of Little Rock and John Walker of New York and Little Rock, approached Judge Henley and the attorney for the university, Griffin Smith of Little Rock, the day before about writing a judgment. In conference they all agreed. The document is a judgment, not an injunction. “This is softer than an in junction,” Anderson said. “The plain tiffs would be entitled to an injunction if the university should violate any terms of the judgment but we have every good reason to believe that the university will abide by the agreement in all good faith.” Smith said the judgment covered generally what the university would have to do to abide by the 1964 Civil Rights Act and that the University recognized that. There was no indica tion that the university was going to violate the Civil Rights Act in any way, Smith said. “The judgment leaves the university a measure of discretion on how it goes about complying with the clearly enunciated law. It doesn’t hold a club over the university’s head be cause there was no indication that the university had any intention except to comply with the law,” Smith said. Dr. David W. Mullins, president of the university, said the university would abide by the order and would comply in good faith. Points Covered The points covered in the judgment: “It is, therefore, with the consent of all parties, considered, ordered, ad judged, and decreed: “1. That it is unlawful for the Uni versity of Arkansas to discriminate in the award of scholarships or the ac ceptance of applications therefor on the basis of race or color. “2. That it is unlawful for the Uni versity of Arkansas to discriminate in the acceptance and recruitment of ath letes or students on the basis of race or color. “3. That it is unlawful for the Uni versity of Arkansas to discriminate in the acceptance of any student for resi dence in University dormitories on the basis of race or color. “4. That it is unlawful for the Uni versity to continue to make any other distinctions in the operation of the institution which are based solely on race or color.” Two Students Complained This is the result of a complaint by two Negro students, Robert Whitfield of Little Rock and Miss Joanna Ed wards of Pine Bluff, who entered the University in September, 1964, and were refused accommodations in university dormitories. They sued over that but included in their complaint also a wide range of requests, asking the court to end discrimination in the recruiting of students and athletes, faculty, the as signment of teachers, etc. Although only scholarships, athletes and housing were mentioned by name in the judgment, Anderson said the plaintiffs considered that the fourth point covered all others and that if any discrimination occurred, relief could be obtained under it. The university has been desegregated as far as accepting students for classes since 1948. This judgment makes it the eighth and last member of the South west Athletic Conference to adopt a policy of desegregation in athletics. Intentions teachers as members would be made as long as the joint committee was still working. It said any active member could run for any office, that appoint ments would be made on the basis of professional qualifications only, and that AEA staff employes would be se lected on the basis of competence without regard to race or creed. ★ ★ ★ School Construction Affected by New Law The Civil Rights Act applies to school construction paid for wholly or partly with federal money, the state education department was informed May 19 by Michael Russo of the De partment of Health Education and Wel fare, who spent the day in Little Rock explaining the matter to state officials. It prohibits racial discrimination by the contractor in hiring workers for the school construction, he said. For the first offense, $25 per employe will be de ducted from the federal aid available to the contractor; for a second offense, the contract would be cancelled and the contractor would forfeit the rest of the money due him under the contract. Russo furnished an 11-page model contract, approved by HEW attorneys in Washington. J. Marion Adams, as sistant state education commissioner, said “Sure, we’re going to use the sug gested contract” and reminded that the state board of education has signed a statement of compliance with the Civil Rights Act and is pledged to follow the law. ★ ★ ★ Keppel Says States May Be Required to Halt Funds In reply to a question from the state legislature as to whether the state could be required to withhold state funds from a local school district for failure to comply with the 1964 Civil Rights Act, U. S. Commissioner of Ed ucation Francis Keppel said on May 6 that the answer was yes. State Rep. Jack Oakes of Woodruff County asked that question and two others in a resolution adopted by the Arkansas legislature earlier this year. State Education Commissioner A. W. Ford wrote to Keppel. Keppel’s letter of reply was made public May 10. This restriction applies to what are known as “continuing federally-assisted programs,” such as vocational agricul ture, home economics, Smith-Hughes Act programs, vocational training, dis tributive education, trade school pro grams and those under the National Defense Education Act, in which statq and federal money is intermingled. For these programs the Arkansas allotment of federal money this year is $5,227,689, to which $1,088,946 is added in state money. (This has no effect on the normal state aid to local school districts which is now running at about $60 million a year). Ford commented that the answer he got from Keppel was a continuation of the tough line being taken by the U.S. Office of Education. Later that day, Gov. Orval E. Faubus said this was an example of the kind of thing the Southern governors met May 9 at Atlanta to talk about. (See Georgia report.) Faubus attended that meeting and one May 18 at Washing ton when the governors met with their congressional delegations. He was hope ful that the pressure by the Office of Education would be eased. The atti tude, he said, is “Let’s implement the law but let’s do it with reasonableness and logic to eliminate possible blow ups.” ★ ★ ★ The Pulaski County (rural) School Board decided May 11 to delay con sideration of whether to close two small old Negro elementary schools at Mt. Zion and Alexander. The closing has been recommended by the U. S. Office of Education and by Supt. E. F. Dunn. The board refused to close them at its April meeting but afterward Dunn said he had talked to the members indi vidually and thought the consensus now was to close them. Instead, the board voted to wait to see if the gov ernment approves its freedom-of-choice plan for another year. (See LITTLE ROCK, Page 8)