Evening star., 1949-04-28
Teachers Local Again Urges
Roosevelt H. s. Transfer

Teachers' Local Again Urges
Roosevelt H. s. Transfer
To the Editor Of The Star
The Roosevelt High School senior who
set forth his position on the transfer OF
Roosevelt tSee Star Of April 22) should be
commended for his interest in civic work
and for his understanding of the need for
adequate educational facilities for Negro
high school youth.
Teachers (AFL). however. points out that
his letter contains inaccuracy fnisrepre-
sentation. prejudgment and intolerance.
The Roosevelt senior alleges that Local
ATS letter gave as one reason for the Roose-
welt transfer that Spingarn. the proposed
building, will be poorly located" The union
letter to the Board of. Education did not
state. imply. nor suggest the unsuitability OF
Spingarn. To the contrary the letter reads:
I'VE teachers were considerably heartened
when the Board Of Education strongly sup
ported Spingarn High In the 1850 budget
request" Actually, Spingarn Is very suitably
located-although the site acreage recon-
mended In the Strayer Report tp. 32D Is
not available, A second high school. in adj
dition to Spingarn, Is recommended In the
Strayer Report Up. 339): and Local ~ again
urges the transfer of Roosevelt High School.
pending construction Of the two new high
schools.
Distance Factor Analysed.
The Roosevelt senior declares that his
high school. being some distance away from
the edge Of the colored section" would be
q poor location to serve colored children.
This some distance" by mileage check ac-
tually is but four -tenths Of a mile to the
edge of the "colored section" which incl
dentally numbers 1866 Negro elementary
children to 9l5 white elementary children in
Zone OF the central eastern part OF the
northwest quadrant. This section has
trend toward q higher proportion Of col
ored." according to Strayer's Report tp. SID.
And four-tenths Of . mile Is well within
the 1a-mile radius which Strayer says Is
normal travel distance for seniox high school
students tp. 333e. Roosevelt, Local ~ de-
clares. like Spingarn Is splendidly located
to afford adequate education facilities for
Negroes.
The student admits that Roosevelts pop
ulation is comparatively small but he Inn
plies that increasing elementary and junior
high school enrolment eventually would Ill
Roosevelt. White elementary and junior
high pupils In the Roosevelt zones do not
now I'LL the schools to capacity. The sur
rounding elementary schools have 300 STR
plus pupil stations, or extra places. which
pupils do not occupy. The Board Of Edu-
cation recently transferred Park View Ele-
mentary School. . nominal feeder for
Roosevelt, to house Negro pupils because de-
clining white population resulted In only 2o2
children In . school built for TS0.
Are white pupils coming up from the.
junior high school? Immediately adjacent
10 Roosevelt Mcfarland Junior High School
alone has 324 surplus pupil stations, OF
roughly 80 per cent of capacity Is empty.
The white children who live nearer to Nc
Farland than to any other junior high
school are moving out Of the area
Some increase In white enrolsments In
elementary and junior high Is likely In
areas north and west Of Roosevelt: but the
Increase. according 70 the report. win not
be felt before 1850. Al that time the white
high school population win be smaller than
1t h today when It occupies only rs Per
cent.of capacity in the eight high schools.
Must Negro high school youth nlder m
trfple shift until Roosevelt becomes q ghost
schools
H. Rsessvs,t STUDENT siains tAas =