Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-09-26
Assault Was Accident,
School Principal Says

WnaJ B WITNESS VOlu 3 COL
gressionaI committee was an
assault" by q boy upon a woman
Office clerk was described by Nc
Kinley High Schools principal
today as an apparently harmless
accident
The so-called assault. was
mentioned during testimony be-
fore the Davis subcommittee yes
terday BY Miss Katherine Fowler,
former Mckinley music teacher.
Miss Fowler retired from Nc
Kinley in 1855, because Of chron-
ic asthma.
Miss Fowler told subcommit-
tee members that in 1875, the
first year Of integration--she
couldn't. recall whether it was
in the fall or spring-the schools
ofice clerk chad been assaulted
by one Of the colored boys" as
she was walking with a girl stu
dent down q hall toward the
gym.
DR.. Charles E. Bish, Mckinley
principal, said a seventh-grade
student from Langley Junior
High School accidentally hit the
clerk as he was running along a
sidewalk past the school, on a
shortcut home. The boy had been
swinging his arms. DR.. Bish said.
Called Boy Back
The principal said he was a
few steps away at the time and
called the boy back. He said
the youngster told him, I" I didn't
mean it." DR.. Bish said he
turned the boy over to Miss Va
lere Chase, Langley principal.
Miss Fowler told the subcom-
mittee she had practically no
disciplinary problems under in
tegration.
She described one incident in
which she said she reprimanded
a group Of boys for singing in
the hall and disturbing her class.
Her remonstrance, she said,
drew a retort from one boy:
You're picking on us because
We are colored."
mo. I'm not picking on you
because you're colored," she said
she responded. But If you think
I'm picking on you because
you're colored. it seems to me
you should act as the white
children do"
Next day, she said, she was
called to DR.. Bish's Office and
told a man from Howard UNI
lversity had called to complain
about the manner IN which she
spoke to the youngsters.
Avoided Reprimand
AS q result. she said she
avoided administering a repri-
mand in a later, similar case.
when she encountered some boys
making noise in a hallway by
riding on a trash cart.
Asked how other teachers felt
on the subject, she declared:
"The vast majority felt the
same way as I did. If they were
tgoing to be scolded for things
they'd done for years, there
wasn't much use in trying"
She also said she felt colored
children had a chip on the
shoulder" when corrected.
DR.. Bish said the caller was
the parent of one boy, who said
The didn't want to complain but
Thought DR.. Bish ought to know
labout the matter.
II would have told any teacher
labout a call about her." Or. Bish
said, adding he didn't reprimand
her.
He said he wasn't aware Of
lany "chip-on-the shoulder" at
Ititude among colored pupils, or
,iof any disciplinary let-up by
teachers.
i Miss Fowler, during her APP
lpearance, testified that many
times I've scolded children and
afterwards been ashamed Of my
self for the way I did it."
Sees Some Advantage
The former teacher, asked
whether she thought children of
either race had gained from in
ltegration, said colored students
were getting the advantage Of
associating with pupils who we're
more advanced" and that white
pupils we're perhaps" gaining "a
better understanding Of colored
people"
Matthew J. House. Mckinley
drafting teacher. testified that
some colored students seemed to
be hampered by lack Of adequate
reading and mathematics skill.
He said the school had a great
ideal of hardness until last Feb
ruary. when an early-morning
detention hall was set up and
eliminated much Of it.
/ He said employers seemed to
be unwilling to hire several Negro
Idrafting graduates even though
they were well prepared, "de-
lpendable. courteous and polite. !"
w. Barrett Fuchs, Eastern High
Shcool biology teacher. told the
investigators last .Tlfne'q cloaino