Evening star., 1954-10-31
District Schools show8.7 Pct Drop in White Pupils
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ment drop. but in most Of these
cases the loss is either negligible
or at least much smaller thar
In the newly integrated schools
Loss Is Continuing.
, In some integrated schools
the loss has not yet stopped
Some white pupils who enrolled
for the new term have since
transferred to other city schools
private schools or other com.
munities. This has left some
schools with q smaller white en-.
rollment than they had a month
ago.
There is no question that in.
tegration is connected with al
{ least part Of the white enroll.
ment loss. Principals in some
cases have been told by parents
specifically that the parents are
moving away to avoid 1t.
In some cases the losses have
been far too heavy to account
for in any way. For example
1873 white children officially en-
rolled at Eastern High School
either in attendance there last
spring or due to enter from
junior high-never reported this
fall.
Eastern's senior high school
I unit opened with less than 2 per
cent Negro students. But the
schools Junior high unit, in the
same building. opened 81 per
cent Negro. AS of September IA,
the senior unit had registered a
white loss of % per cent and the
junior unit a loss of 20 per cent.
. Both units have lost additional
white students. and acquired
more Negroes. since then.
Reasons Are Listed.
Some, among the missing East
ern senior high students, accord
ing to . special study by the
school, went to work, married.
entered the Army, switched to
night school or finished their
schooling in the summer. But
nearly half transferred to pri-
vate school or moved out Of the
city. Only ~ switched to other
District public schools.
Eastern, which enrolled the
most Negro pupils, has lost the
most white pupils among the
city's secondary schools this fall,
and Mckinley, which enrolled
the next largest Negro con-
tingent, has had the next largest
white loss.
But both schools also lost
white pupils in substantial num-
bers last year. It Is apparent
from this, and from the enroll
ment loss in entirely non-inte-
grated schools, that factors be-
sides integration are involved in
this falls white decline.
3 Major Factors Cited.
There are probably three >prin-
cipal contributing factors other
than integration.
/. For a number of years white
Washington families-especially
younger families-have been
moving to the suburbs. A similar
migration is occurring in practi-
cally every urban area in the
United States, regardless of the
race question. To this general
suburban migration, however.
there seems to have been added
migration to the suburbs of
white resident who say they are
moving because of the increased
Negro population in Washington.
There are no specific statistics,
however, to bear this out.
From September, 1852, to Sep
tember. 1853. the Districts white
public school population dropped
Is per cent. At the same time.
kNegro enrolment climbed rs per
cent. This fall. while white en-
Prollment on September IA was
loft another 81 per cent, Negro
ENROLMENT was up 5.4 per cent,
and it has increased further since
the September IA count. Negroes
now make up approximately so
per cent of the total District
school population-the largest
proportion in any major United
Estates city.
Ever since World War II
schools in neighborhoods into
which Negroes have been NOV
Ing have had marked losses OF
white pupils. A graphic recent
illustration is the Kenilworth
Eleme entary School, Forty
fourth street near Nash NE,
until last winter part Of the
white division. Between Sep
tember, 1882" and September.
1858, Kenilworth's enrolment
skidded from ia to 80, q drop
Of II per cent. Last February
the few remaining pupils were
transferred to Benning and the
school was switched to the
Negro division. (Benning's en-
rollment this past year declined
81 per cent. despite absorption
of the Kenilworth pupils.)
In the last seven years, 20
white school buildings were
transferred to colored use be-
cause white occupancy had
dwindled and Negro pupils
needed the space.
Clearly. many schools would
have lost white pupils this fall
even If segregation had con-
tinued. And the total white
pupil population undoubtedly
would have dropped again, al
though presumably not as
markedly.
2. The second probable fac
tor in the white pupil decrease
has to do with the birthrate. In
1948 and 1949 there was a de-
cline in the Districts white
birthrate. White births here
reached a peak of about LOO
in 1947. In 1048 thev decreased