Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-12
VIRGINIA SAYS NO
Stanley Leads the Resistance


Stanley and Senator Gray both re-
pudiated the commission recon-
mendations. The Governor an
nounced his own anti-integration
plan to cut of State funds from
any integrated school systems.
Gov. Stanley's plan went before
q special session of the Virginia
General Assembly last September,
backed by a 10 to IL majority of
the Gray Commission. It passed
by a vote Of 81 to 81 in the House
and % to Is in the Senate.
The Stonley Plan
The Stanley plan is supposed to
work this way: If a Negro student
enters a white school, or vice versa,
the school closes while the Governor
attempts to negotiate settlement
which apparently means that he
tries to persuade the student to
leave. The Governor can transfer
students Of the closed school to
other schools. The school board or
governing body of the affected slo4
cality can ask the Governor to With
draw. But if the school reopens on
an integrated basis. the locality will
lose all State funds for its ele-
mentary or secondary school sys.
tenn. whichever is involved.
A pupil placement program
emerged from the same session, but
not the locally administered plan
originally proposed by. the Gray
Commission. Under the adopted
program. a three-member State
Placement Board was appointed by
the Governor to handle all student
assignments in the State.
AS soon as the placement board
began operating last January, a
regulation was adopted requiring
parents of all children entering Viz
GINA schools to fill out assignment
applications.
Mrs. Theo T. DeFebio refused be-
cause she considered the placement
program part of scheme to defy
the Supreme Court. Her two sons.
Nicky and Tommy. last month
were dropped from Fairfax County
schools.
Setboeks in the Courts
In court. the State has been
losing one case after another.
Prince Edward County in SOUTH
side Virginia was one of the com.
munities involved in the origi.
nal Supreme Court ruling. The
county has been told to move with
deliberate speed" toward desegre-
cation, but SO far no deadline has
been set.
On July IL. 1856, Federal Judge
John Paul ordered Charlottesville
to begin desegregation by the fol-
lowing September. Nineteen DAYS
later, Federal Judge Albert v,
Bryan directed Arlington to begin
desegregation in its elementary
schools by February /, 1857 and in
its elementary schools the follow
ing September.
Neither community moved to
comply, however. pending appeals.
Both rulings were upheld last
March Is by the Supreme Court.
Arlington and Charlottesville now
face direct court orders to desegre-
gate. Both communities expect
Negro students to seek admission
to white schools next fall.
Gov Stanley last week cautioned
Arlington and Charlottesville to
maintain segregation. or the State
would have to invoke its new anti
integration laws-that is, the con-
dltlonal closing Of schools and the
Withholding of funds.
There the Arlington and Char
lottesville situation rests, with local
ofhcials torn between the States
mandate to maintain segregation
and court orders to desegregate.
In the Norfolk and Newport News
desegregation cases which origi-
mated later, Judge Walter Hoffman
ruled the States new placement
law unconstitutional and directed
both communities to begin desegre-
gaJlon next fall,
Judge Hoffman called the place.
ment plan futile. He cited the
interposition resolution and other
anti-integration legislation to show
that the State had no intention
OF attempting to comply with the
Supreme Court decision.
The State has filed appeals In
the Norfolk and Newport News
cases and in the meantime is con-
tinuing to use the placement law.
II Judge Hoffmans ruling is up
held all the way to the Supreme
Court. the State will be left VIII
nothing but Gov. Stanley's closing
and fund withholding laws. BY
that time. Gov. Stanley's term will
be over and his successor will be
sitting in the drivers seat. Tha
future OF Virginia schools win 81
L..