1970
INTEGRATE
FACULTY
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Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools notes plan to integrate faculty at each school at the start of the second semester.
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School Board members were among 40 others, meeting at the Hotel Robert E. Lee to get a “first look” at the school assignment plan.
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City-County Board accepted a teacher transfer plan, with an estimated 500 to be moved. William F. Maready, Chairman of City County School Board, explained the plan to teachers; Eugene Johnston, assistant superintendent, headed the committee; Dr. James Sifford, director of research, noted a mathematical system, like a “draft lottery” to obtain a random name.
DEPRIVED OF QUALITY EDUCATION BY A DUAL SYSTEM
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Litigation of 56 Negro students asked for the injunction to Forsyth School lawsuit. The article “US Judge Hearing Forsyth School Suit” notes, “This litigation and another case filed by Jack Atkins, which contends that his granddaughter is being deprived of quality education by a dual system, are blocking the sale of about $24 million in school bonds.
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Attorney Womble notes the lawsuits started in 1968 blocked plans for new desegregated schools; the school board had no choice but to allow courts to take over plans.
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Dr. Jack Larson, a witness from Rhode Island College testified Negro high schools do not offer “culturally enriching” courses of speech, accounting, and art, provided at white schools. He indicated 36 elementary, 15 junior highs, and 7 senior high schools that are not adequately desegregated. Larson also commented “not enough blacks want to take the courses” and historically “the tendency has not been to offer culturally enriching courses in black high schools.”
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Womble noted two school studies in 1968 and 1969, noting Negro students “lost ground when they were transferred into white schools.
Listen to Joyce Mack Experience
1 NEGRO : 3 WHITE TEACHERS
INTEGRATION PLAN:
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Schools close one hour early, so an anticipated 2,100 teachers can meet in Reynolds Auditorium to learn about the integration plan. The ratio for each school to be one Negro to three white teachers starts on January 23 (the start of the second semester). About 500 teachers would need to be transferred to obtain a 1:3 ratio. Principals to retain 20 percent of the original staff.
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2nd night of teacher hearings of City-County School Board, hearing appeals of teachers chosen for transfer.
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600 PTA members from Mineral Springs, Prince Ibraham, send wires of support for Sam Ervin’s “school choice” plan. John Craven, principal of Glenn Jr. High, also noted as a leader of the Silent Majority encouraged contributions to be sent to account at Northwestern Bank at Kernersville. Craven said, “no one at the school oppose having Negro children or teachers in their classes, but only want to express support for neighborhood schools.”
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B.N .Cook President of the North Carolina Teachers Association (Negro teachers) commented: “Negro teachers will be more affected by the plan than white teachers will, since a greater percentage of the Negro teachers will be transferred”
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The Winston Salem chapter of the North Carolina Education Association requested the school board to postpone faculty integration until next fall to ensure less disruption.
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Negro leaders suggest Carver should become a high school for white and Negro students. However, the school board did not support the view, resulting in two suits filed as protest of the Carver decision and other issues. Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs gave testimony, noting renovating Carver to be used as a high school would have similar cost to for an addition to East Forsyth.
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Nine white teachers in Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools quit: not accepting transfers to Negro schools scheduled for midyear. Negroes who appealed did so based on hardships and travel concerns, but none appealed based on racial issues.
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The Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce board of directors voted to support faculty integration in the Winston-Salem City-County school system, “the chamber will do all it can to facilitate the transition.”
LISTEN TO MARION SIMPSON WIMBUSH ENCOUNTER
"SNOWED
OVER"
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A new organization, No Busing Our Children, is formed to voice opposition to school busing and teacher transferred, made plans to demonstrate in front of schools. Group plans were made at Hanes Hosiery Recreation Center. Boyd Hanes noted the organization has the same plans as Silent Majority and said, “I do not want my children going to a black school, and I do not want black teachers to teach my children.”
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Black students in the House of Commons, a youth club sponsored by the Experiment in Self-Reliance, expressed concerns about integration, as it may mean the “obliteration of identity’ and a sense of being “snowed over.” A student expressed concerns about the preparedness of white teachers to teach black students effectively, providing the following context, “I have a black history teacher…On the first day of school, we pulled out that little American history book. We looked at it for a while and put it away that same day. From then on, we talked about current issues, issues relevant to the black man today.”
LISTEN TO DD ADAMS EXPERIENCE
LISTEN TO FLEMING EL-AMIN STORY
FIRST DAY OF FACULTY INTEGRATION
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The news article, Day Is Uneventful as Schools Reopen, reports the first day of complete faculty integration was without problems. However, outside several schools, members of “No Busing Our Children” conducted picket lines.
SILENT MAJORITY FORMED
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John R. Craven, principal of Glenn Jr. High School, who formed the Silent Majority, an organization in Winston-Salem to fight cross-town school busing, has endorsed freedom of choice school neighborhoods and encouraged Negro parents with the same views to join. Craven, who indicates membership of 20,000 people, released a statement noting, “Until such time as the courts react in a manner that will detrimentally affect our children, we can only plan a unified campaign that will let the federal judges and elected officials realize that the silent majority of this country is firmly opposed to interferences with their children.”
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A PUPIL ASSIGNMENT PLAN OFFICIALLY ADOPTED
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Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools submitted a 1970-1971 modification of its pupil assignment plan (system notes priority to the majority to minority transfers; closing three schools.)
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After an approximate 6-hour closed session, the City-County School Board officially adopted a pupil assignment plan for the upcoming school year. According to Maready, School Board Chairman, the plan does not include cross busing or involuntary busing.
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At the end of the televised announcement of the Assignment Plan by William F. Maready, the Reverend J. T. McMillan, president of the local NAACP, referred to the plan as a delay tactic and believed the court would not accept it. He identified two “virtues” of the plan: retaining Carver school and the Board’s reference to funding. McMillian said, “When they admitted they have funds for busing, they opened Pandora’s box.”
1971
SWANN V. CHARLOTTE
MECKLENBURG BOARD
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In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Education, the Court required school boards “to come forward with a plan…until it is clear that state-imposed segregation has been completely removed.”
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WSFCs noted: “Plan could involve pairing and clustering of schools; cross bussing; the elimination of one-race schools; and the use of racial ratios as a starting point for integration.
NOT COMPLIED WITH THE CONSTITUTIONAL MANDATE
"THE GREATEST POSSIBLE DEGREE
OF DESEGREGATION"
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Winston Salem Forsyth County Schools was ordered to file a revised pupil assignment plan by July 1, 1971, to achieve “the greatest possible degree of desegregation.”
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The resubmitted plan was the 4-2-2-2-2 “Revised Pupil Assignment Plan for the 1971-1972 School Year,” which used school pairings, clusters, and cross busing. The 4-2-2-2-2 Plan, calls for students to change schools every 2 years after 4th grade.
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Elementary grades 1-4; Intermediate grades 5-6; Junior High grades A7-8; High School grades 9-10; and Senior High grades 11-12. Thus, five grade levels instead of the former three grade levels and integration of all district schools.
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District schools became racially integrated.
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The Revised Pupil Assignment Plan was ordered into effect for the 1971-1972 school year.
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Federal District Court Orders Compliance with Brown v Board of Education
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The District Court found that in Dec. 1969, WS/FCS was 72.5% white and 27.5% black.
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Of the 67 schools, 15 were all-black, 7 were all-white, and 31 had less than 5% minorities and therefore had not complied with the constitutional mandate.
LISTEN TO MARION SIMPSON WIMBUSH ENCOUNTER
1974
GENERAL EDUCATION PROVISIONS ACT OF 1974
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Busing initiatives became voluntary in many areas due to the passage of the General Education Provisions Act of 1974, “Prohibition on using funds for transportation of students or teachers to overcome a racial imbalance or to carry out a desegregation plan (Section 426).”
