Montgomery County sentinel., 1955-05-05


integrating all school levels at
the start of the next schOolyear
i'm September, 1855.
i 3. That the Board of Educa-
\ tiOn revise the capital budget to
I provide adequately for integra-
ton.
4 4. That the Board of Educa-
tiOn make plans Immediately
for an educational program to
promote community under
standing and acceptance of in
tegration.
The first recommendation is
based on study of the experiences
of other communities whose
schools have already been inte
grated. It was our finding that
such program firmly stated an6
held to by the Board of Educa.
ton was a basic essential to sue
cessful integration.
The second recommendation is
based on the view that early in.
tegration is the only course con.
sonant with the recent Supreme
Court decision holding that inte
grated schooling is the ConStitu
tional right of Negro children
League members are convince;
that delay in providing for tha
Constitutional right can only pro
long and intensity ill-feeling an6
serve to encourage divisive ele
ments. Furthermore, the League
considers the experiences of botf
Baltimore City and the District O..
Columbia as good examples OF
large communities with complex
problems which were nonetheless
able to integrate rapidly, effec
lively and with a minimum o.
incident. This is not to say thai
these communities have solved al
of their problems, but that into
grafton can be put into effec'
with a relatively short period OF
preparation. The small percentage
of Negroes in Montgomery Coun
ty is another factor which woult
tend to facilitate early integra
ton. Even in the up-county area
where Negroes are most highly
concentrated the ratio of Negro t.
white school children is consider
ably less than in the District. A
Public Affairs Pamphlet called
Segregation and the Schools has
this to say, "In general, the COM
munities with small Negro popu-
lations and good race relations
have gone the whole way at a
stroke, as in Tucson. In every in
stance of this kind reported, the
transition was rated complete
success"
The League has made every eff
fort to determine if integration
by next fall would, in fact, be
feasible in terms of school capac-
ity and facilities. 1t has been i'm
possible, however, for us to arrive
at a definite conclusion concern
ing the practicability of fall inte-
grafton, because we have been un-
able to obtain the facts or infor-
nation necessary for making this
determination. At the time of the
budget hearing the League pre-
pared statement in which we
pointed out the need for charts
showing re-districting under an in
tegrated plan for 1855, 1856, and
1857. Could the Board of Educa-
ton or the Superintendent make
this vital information available? {?
Would the Board of Education in
dicate whether integration by Sep
tember 1855 is practicable plan
and, if not, explain the reasons
for such a conclusion? Because
we are overwhelmingly in favor
of the principle of early integra-
ton and because so many factors
would tend to indicate that it is
practicable, we feel the public is
entitled to full information peril
nent to this question.
With reference to the third rec
ommendation, the League put it
self on record a year ago as
strongly recommending that the
Board of Education resurvey its
building program in the light of
the Supreme Court decision. At
the March "a hearing on the SUI
perintendent's capital budget rec.
concentrations, the League men.
toned some of the inadequacies in
these budget proposals with re.
spect to integration. The revised
capital budget adopted by the
Board of Education, in our opin-
ion, still fails to face facts in
relation to integration.
The League feels that the fol.
lowing are the major considera.
tions to be taken into account in
planning construction program
for an integrated school system
in Montgomery County:
/. Abandonment of substan.
dard schools and provisions for
pupils now attending those
schools.
, 2. Provision of adequate ia.
cilifieS I'm nn-cnnntV secondary