Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-09-02
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Scott said it is "presumptuous
for the courts TO hold that thu
placement board is mot goinI
to properly administer the law.
The State board. he said, "hat
a tough job" and is now work,
ing on some scheme. som,
plan, some way or somehow
of carrying out its proper func.
tons.
Mr.. Scott argued that thu
75-day maximum time fol
processing an appeal from Z
student is not excessive. HI
also told the court he had ad.
vised the placement board that
under the Supreme Courts de.
segregation decision, it can.
not make pupil assignment
based solely on race. The plain.
tiffs, Mr.. Scott said, cannot
show on what particular
grounds they were denied ad.
mission to the schools.
Some agency must assign the
students, the attorney argued
and the General Assembly wal
within its right in vesting theil
power with the State board.
Arguments Called Old
Mr.. Reeves told the court to-
days arguments sounded just
like the arguments Judge
Bryan heard last September
when he ruled that Negro stu
dents did not have to use the
placement law.
Changes in the placement
law, he said, still left 1t too
sluggish to compel students to
use it. He added that the lam
guage Of the new law was too
vague to be acceptable.
Mr.. Reeves dealt at length
with the personal interviews
that q representative Of the
placement board, in the pres
ence of a school board repre-
sentatives, gave all the Negro
applicants.
One of the questions asked Of
each child, he said. was whether
that child was seeking to enter
white schools because of your
so-called constitutional rights. +"
None of the questions, he
said, related to scholastic
achievement. He described the
line of questioning as an effort
on the part of the Pupil Place
ment Board to persuade the
students that you'll be happier
where you were"-that is. back
in colored schools.
80 Are Affected
Today's hearing is on a mo-
tion by attorneys for 80 Negro
students seeking to enter white
schools to get them into the
schools of their choice.
The Arlington School Board
turned all of the applications
over to the State Pupil Place
rnent Board, which rejected
them, precipitating the new
court battle.
Mr.. Simmonds told Judge
Bryan at the outset of the hear
ing that the board sis in a posi-
ton to pass judgment on the
applications for transfer if it
is their duty to do So"
He said the board was an
agent Of the State and as such
was required to comply with
laws Of Virginia.
The board, he said, wanted
guidance from the court to de-
termine whether it should pass
on the applications or If the
Pupil Placement Board should
handle them.
He said the school board
hoped to have a ruling before
the opening of classes Thurs
day.
Bad Treatment Charged
Mr.. Scott in his presentation
said the placement board had
been treated with a great deal
of ignominy."
He recited the history Of the
Arlington case, reading from
Judge Bryan's past rulings, in
Guiding the one last Septem-
Der in which Judge Bryan Or
dered the school board to enroll
seven Negroes in white schools.
Five of the 80 Negroes seek
ing enrolment in white classes
were among the. seven involved
in last years order, which was
suspended while an appeal went
up to the Supreme Court.
Il insist to you, sir. that it
is constitutional" said Mr..
Scott in defense of the Pupil
Placement Act.
Referring to the ruling of
Judge Walter Hoffman in Nor
folk who called the Pupil
Placement Act "unconStitu-
tional on its face" Mr.. Scott
said he considered it signif-
icant that the Fourth Cir
cult Court of Appeals "evaded
that issue" when 1t upheld
Judge Hoffman.
"All they said was that the
old act did not provide admin
istrative remedies" said Mr..
Scott.
Board Members Praised
Members of the placement
board, said Mr.. Scott, ARE men
of integrity, of character and
of good will"
Mr.. Scott and Mr.. Simmonds
were the first Of a battery Of
lawyers prepared to argue the
case.
Virginia law automatically
closes q public school when an
integrated enrolment is made
by court order or school board
action.
The courtroom on the second
aNOr Off lovo dY.io &c main f1nct