Evening star., 1947-12-23
Private Glasses
|nSchoo|Dispute
.AreConsiidered
Would Be Conducted
In Church Under
Retired Teachers

NSN'SS S0SNStS
Establishment of private classes
Tor children affected by their par
ents' boycott of Browne Junior High
Schools annexes, Blow and webb, Is
under consideration by the Steering
Committee of Parents, it was an
nounced today.
Gardner Bishop, spokesman for
the committee, said classes to be
held in Jones Memorial Church,
1910 Benning road NE, for any
children who wish to attend after
the Christmas holiday are being
planned. Instructors would include
retired teachers who have volun-
teered their services, he said.
The boycott remained unsettled
today although efforts were made
again late yesterday afternoon in a
conference between the Browne
PTA and the Board of Education.
Boycott to Be Continued.
Mr.. Bishop said he and Mrs. Nell
lie v. Greene, committee chairman,
are in charge of the steering COM
mittee's plan, discussed at meet
ing following the conference.
At another meeting following the
conference, parents attending q
session of the Browne PTA body
voted in favor of continuing the
boycott after the holidays under
present circumstances.
Members of the school board again
yesterday urged the parents to send
their children back to school and
again were turned down. Since
school closes today for the Christ
mas holidays, tha first possible
chance for the children to return to
class is January 5, when school re-
opens.
Elmer House, PTA member, ex-
planned it this way to the board:
"We still have on our hands the
problem of the children in the
streets. Nothing has been said that
will change that. What this COM
mittee (school board committee)
should do is prepare us with some
thing concrete to take back to the
so they can feel assured
that at least We can depend on the
board"
Solution Being Attempted.
Mrs. Philip Sidney Smith, board
member conducting the meeting,
answered that she couldn't see how
the board could do anything more
than say it was going to study the
matter carefully and try to reach q
solution.
I'VE suggest that the children all
be returned to Browne on part-time
classes until it is settled" Mr..
House stated.
Board Members Adelbert w. Lee
and Mrs. James w. Williams agreed
this was the thing to do. But, as
they were the two members who
voted against the transfer of the
Blow and Webb Schools from white
to colored pupils when the matter
was decided originally by the board.
they could not reopen the matter
under board rules.
No other member would make the
necessary motion to rescind the
board action, and the whole prob
lem was taken under advisement
by the committee.
Many Suggestions Offered
The PTA representatives had q
number Of suggestions to make-all
of which were based on not using
Blow and Webb schools as annexes
to Browne.
One suggestion was to turn Eliot
and Stuart Junior High Schools
over to colored pupils to relieve the
crowded conditions at Browne. The
white children from these schools
would go to Eastern High School.
while the students there would
scatter among the other white
high schools. Another suggestion
was to shift Eastern High School
students to other high schools and
turn Eastern into colored junior
high school.
DR.. Frank Davis rose to say he In
one of the parents who are keeping
their children out of school and
that he is not afi1liated with the
PTA group which requested the
"The parents definitely will not
send their children to Blow and
Webb" he declared. "The parents
are highly cognizant Of the excess
capacity in the white schools and
believe that an honest, sincere effort
be made to use that excess"
Hayes Urges Return of Students.
Mrs. Henry Grattan Doyle, board
Joined with Mrs. Smith
and George E. c. Hayes, colored
board member, in asking the parents
to send the children back to school.
Mr.. Hayes said:
II can't bring myself to believe the
proper way to meet the situation is
by advising the children to stay out
Of school. We, as a minority group,
cannot ask the law be enforced by
violating It,"
Representatives of the PTA in-
cluded James G. Carr, ST., Mrs. Ham
nah P. Harris, DR.. Martin Jenkins,
Mrs. Edith Portal, Mrs. Phoebe Nell
son, Mr.. House and John Duncan.
On the legal front, the suit Of
Marguerite Daisy Carr, 13-year-
Browne pupil, for admission to the
white Eliot Junior High School,
generally regarded as a test Of the
segregated school system-was dis
missed in District Court yesterday
by Justice Alexander Holtzoff.
The jurist granted request for
a summary Judgment in favor of the
School Board and the school super
intendent. Leon A. Ransom, attor-
ney for the girl, said he would file
an appeal within a few days.
Parkwood Citizens 10 Give
Christmas Party Tomorrow