Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1956-10-18
PTA Talks
Indignation
Once Again


the Montgomery County Council
of PTAs last Wednesday in an at
mosphere of calm interrogation
and no fireworks.
Present at the Richard Mont
gomery work session were repre-
sentatives of both extremes OF
viewpoints with a Negro teacher
Mrs. IneZ Smith of Kensington
Elementary on the panel and a
number of Negroes in the audi.
ence which also included Everett
Severe Of the Maryland Petition
Committee, an anti-integration
group.
Highlighting the statements on
Montgomery's policy of gradual
Indignation, from members of the
school administration present,
Superintendent Forbes Norris de.
clined request to set a final
date for complete indignation
which he said depended on ade-
quate building space.
Space and an adequate pro.
gram are the criteria for inte-
grafton, said the Superintendent,
and because the present program
insists on these as the basis for
transferring Negro students to
white schools the county's stand
ards of education have not been
lowered.
In this, he was backed by his
director of research, Maxwell r.
Burdette, who said that because
of Montgomery's approach to the
problem, by insisting on pro
gram suited to the children's
needs, this county has not been
faced with the situation caused
by sudden and complete integra-
ton in the Washington schools,
aired in the. recent Congressional
investigation.
Mr.. Burdette backed up his arg
ument for a gradual approach by
citing achievement test figures
from last year.
Third grade pupils in the
county were achieving on the
level of the seventh month in
that grade although they were
only expected to reach the fifth
month.
Negro third graders achieved
on the exact level of that grade
although expected to reach only
the fifth month of the second
grade.
Mental maturity tests given in
i the county's sixth and ninth
grades showed a median 10 of
100 for the county as a whole and
a median of sc and IS for the Ne
gro sixth and ninth graders.
General education and develop
ment tests given in the 18th
grades showed medians for the
county in expression, social stu
dies, nature studies, literature and
mathematics as 81, SO, 70, SO and
62 with so as the norm. Negro
medians respectively were z, 10,
81, II and Il.
These differences, Mr.. Burdette
contended were not due to race
but to environment and cultural
backgrounds which causes the
Negro students not to have the
same capacity to succeed as white
children. There is very high
correlation between income and
TO-" he pointed out.
He also said that the differ
ences in grade levels is true in
any case as all differences in
crease as the children progress
in school, In the sixth grade for
instance, the, Negro children's
achievement drops to the second
month of the fifth grade and their
expectancy to the seventh month
of the fourth grade in contrast
to the county as a whole which is
achieving on the level of the sew
enth month of the sixth grade,
with the expectancy on the level
of the third month in that grade.
Mr.. Severe questioned the adj
ministration's policy of 'hand.
picking" the Negroes transferred
to white schools this year" and
asked when the 2,400 Negroes
still in segregated schools would
be transferred no matter what
their qualifications.
Fred Dunn, Jr., last years spe-
cial assistant on indignation said
that this depended on how soon
new facilities would be available
and the speed with which ade-
quate programs can be set up
for the Negro pupils.
A question on limitation on so.
cial activities was answered by
| DR., Norris who said that this was
left up to the individual commu
| mites as a rule although modern
: dance has been dropped from the
county's physical education pro
gram as "a preventive measure
]