Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-08

Report On High Schools
All the city's white higl
schools except Woodrow Wilson
opened last fall with some Negro
pupils. Three had stable mum
bers. Mckinley Technical High
School had AZ per cent, Eastern
% per cent and Roosevelt 10 PEI
cent.
/ Dunbar, which had one Whit
pupil, was the only Negro higf
school at all biracial for the full
year, but white students made
up about a fourth of the enroll
ment of the recent summer SEES
sion at Spingarn High School
! formerly all colored.
/ Eleven white junior higl
schools were integrated, will
Eastern enrolling 70 per cen
Negro pupils in its Junior higl
unit. -Four Negro Junior high
had small numbers of whit
pupils.
October's indignation walkout
seem to have been mostly a spur
of -the-moment imitation of dis
Iturbances elsewhere. Almos
nothing happened except absen
teeism and hubbub. and thi
ended quickly.
| At Mckinley. the most int
grated of the strictly senior higl
schools, the walkout lasted from
Monday morning to Wednesda
morning and involved third O
the white students. some @
whom may have been norma
absentees. It collapsed after a.
assembly which turned into
football pep rally.
i A Negro player afterward
helped win the game.
i Mckinley strikers Submitte
some complaints, but most G
them in retrospect seemed triv
hal, and even some of the mos
, Evociferous strike leaders late
) changed their minds.
Mckinley is a good ILLUSTRATION
of the rapid adjustment tn
city's secondary schools mad
once the October difficulty wa
over with.
Seen as Challenge
4 Last year, four weeks after tn
Supreme Courts decision. d.
Charles E. Bish, Mckinley prin
cipal, told undergraduates
challenge was ahead but urge
them to accept it with goo
spirit. He said the year ahea'
would require mutual faith, un
Iderstanding and confidence, AM
added:
Il wouldn't be any place els
but at Mckinley next year TO
all the money in the world"
/ Through the past year re
sponsible student leaders helpe'
to smooth out adjustment diff
Iculties, and in most respect
school life was little differen
from normal.
| Gym classes and ATHLETE
teams, the cadet battalion
student council and other schoo
organizations were integratet
along with classrooms and will
no more difficulty. A dolores
captain led the schools priz
company in the annual cit,
competitive drill. and severa
Negro players. were outstandinI
/ in sports. Another colored boz
became feature editor of tn
school paper.
A dance held sometimes a
midwinter was not scheduled
mainly because students didn'
ask for one. according to DR.
Bish. But 10 colored couples at
tended the senior prom in june
without incident.
The situation at the prom wa
simplified, DR.. Bish said, becaus
the youngsters attended witt
their own dates and couples di'
not exchange dances, and ther
was no stag line or cutting in
This is the custom at prom
nowadays. he said. But all tn
couples participated in the gram
march.
At Mckinley five Negro teach
ers and the schools new Negro
assistant principal apparent!
fitted in well. White students
said the assistant principal wa
well liked.
Most of the schools early diff
Guilty revolved around SOM
minor behavior matters, together
with the general impact of thu
sudden increase in enrolment.
| A year ago the enrolment
was 75O, and in some ways thu
school, although built for man!
more, was not prepared for thu
big September increase. A
planned 81 million revamping il
not getting under way until thi.
year.
In addition, some student.
objected to disorderliness result.
ling from increased use of wash
rooms and other matters which
weren't reported until the strike
la complaint committee wa!
formed to deal with these things
however, and students said they
were taken care of satisfactorily
Suggestion boxes also were put