Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-15

law the defendants are charged
with notice Of these infirmities
In the boards authority. Actu-
ally the plaintiffs were denied
admission by the defendants
agents-the school principals
while the defendants had the
custody and administration of
the schools in question.
Hence. the refusal by the
defendants. Immediately or
through their agents. to admit
the applicants cannot here be
justified by reliance upon the
Placement Board. The defend
ants were imputable. also, with
knowledge that the injunction
was binding on the Placement
Board. The latter was the sue
cessor to a part Of the School
Boards prior duties: as a sue
cessor in office to the School
Board. the Placement Board is
one Of those specifically re-
strained by the injunction.
Cites Race, Color Issue
III. We look, then. to see II
race or color was the basis for
the denial by the defendants
and their agents of admission
of the applicants to the named
schools. It is immaterial that
the defendants may not have
intended to deny admission on
account Of race or color. The
inquiry is purely objective. The
not the intendment, Of
their acts is determinative.
In this inquiry we have no
administrative decision with
to commence, save in one
instance. Consequently, the
court must examine the evil
dence in regard to each appli-
ant and ascertain whether 1t
indicates that the denial Of adj
was there due solely
to race or color. The court Is
not undertaking the task Of
assigning pupils to the schools
That is the function of the
school authorities and the court
has no inclination to assume
that responsibility. Carson v.
Warlick. 1856. 4 cir, 238 Fad
724, 728. But 1t Is the obligation
Of the court to determine
whether the rejection of any of
the plaintiffs was solely for his
race or color. In this light only
does the court now review the
evidence.
Nv. Arlington is a small coun-
ty IN size. but thickly populated
and having the appearance Of
3 city. It has 22.67T Caboutl
pupils in its public schools. OF
these 1882 are Negroes-s46
IN the elementary schools. sli
IN the junior high school 9TH,
9th and 9th grades) and ITS In
the senior high school 10th
18th and 18th grades).
There aretwo high schools
for the white children. WASH
ington and Lee in and to serve
the northern half. and Wake
keld in and for the south half.
Of Arlington: there are six jun
ior high schools. Stratford and
Swanson among them. scat
tered throughout the county
for the white children: and
there are % elementary white"
schools, including Fillmore and
Patrick Henry.
Each school and its contig-
uous territory for ma school
district. The boundaries Of q
district are drawn to include
the school population in the
vicinity Of the school as far as
the facilities Of the school will
allow. Before the creation Of
the Placement Board the pu-
pills assignable to each school
were. If otherwise eligible, lin
tied to those who resided in the
school district. These lines
have never been altered by the
School Board. but the defend
ants point out that the Place
ment Board may or may not
follow these bounds. Appar-
emily it has done so.
Lack Of Space Not Evident
Nothing in the evidence in
dicated that any Of the plain
tiffs is not qualified in his
studies to enter the school
which he sought to enter. Each
applicant applied to . white"
school, but each lives in the
district of that school or Of
another nearby white" school.
Nor did the evidence reveal q
lack Of space for him, or that
the school did not afford the
courses suited to the applicant.
Counsel for the defendants ex-
planned that they did not ad-
duce evidence as to the eligi-
bility Of the applicants for
their respective schools be-
cause this was a matter within
cant and ascertain whether it
Lists Facilities
All together there are l0I
school buildings in the county.
These include four schools for
high school. Hofi-
combining junior
and senior) located in the ex-
IRENE southern end Of the
county and embracing an ele-
mentary school with It: and
two other elementary schools,
Drew-Kemper. near Hoffman
Boston, and Langston in the
district to be mentioned in a.
moment as the northern Hoff-
man-Boston.
There are two high schools
uous territory form q school
afNo fna that oav, - A.. ,.l.A..