Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-05-25

the Virginia General Assembly In
1856. has had every bit Of inte-
grafton medicine squeezed out OF
II by the Federal courts.
One Federal Judge after another
has held that Negroes need not
use the old placement law when
they seek 10 transfer 10 white
schools. The final blow came last
week. when the Supreme Court
refused 10 review the Arlington
case In which Judge Albert "
Bryan has ordered the admission
Of seven Negroes 10 four white
schools without requiring them 10
use the placement machinery.
The original placement law took
the authority for assigning stu
dents away from local school
boards. and put It in the hands Of
O three-member State Placement
Board appointed by the Governor.
Coils for Closing Schools
No mention OF race was written
into the law, but legislators left
no room for doubt that they in
tended to maintain segregation
when they passed 1t. They adopted
at the same time companion meas
ures calling for the automatic
closing Of any school where inte-
grafton takes place. and the with
holding Of State school funds from
any locality that attempts to run
mixed classes.
Theoretically, the placement
board was supposed to assign stu
dents according to q long set OF
standards set forth in the law.
Dissatisfied students had to go
through a maze Of appeals that
one Federal judge observed could
take longer than a school semes-
ter.
But to Federal courts, the orig
inal Virginia placement law was
nothing more than a thinly dis
guised scheme to foil the Supreme
Court desegregation decision.
Judge Bryan ruled that the
Negro students could not be COM
PEELED to use the placement law
because it was admittedly de-
signed to preserve segregation. A
similar ruling had been handed
down earlier in the Norfolk and
Newport News school cases which
went up to the Supreme Court.
but the Arlington case was the
first to offer a specific test of the
placement law.
There is some disagreement
among lawyers whether the en-
tire placement. law is unconstitu-
tional. but the effect Of the Ar
lington case makes it definitely
unenforceable against Negroes.
BY contrast. placement laws in
North Carolina and Alabama have
survived tests before Federal
judges. The North Carolina law
went all the way to the Supreme
Court without faltering. and the
Alabama law recently withstood
an attack in a Federal appeals
court. There has been some inte-
grafton in North Carolina schools,
but none so far in Alabama.
Neither North Carolina nor Ala
bama has automatic school clos
ing and fund CUTOFF like Virginia.
Both States have left the author
ity for assigning students in the
hands of local school boards.
Moior Chonees in Low
The new placement law about
to take effect in Virginia is pat
termed partly after North Caro-
lina's. It retains the State Place
ment Board, but contains the fol-
lowing major changes:
l. The Governor is deleted from
the appeal process. This is cal
culated to shorten the appeal
procedure as much as As days.
2. The complex standards for
assignment are replaced by cri-
terra borrowed from North Caro-
lima, stating simply that children
shall be enrolled so as to pro-
vide for orderly administration OF
public schools, competent instruc-
ton of pupils enrolled. and health.
safety and welfare of the pupils
30 enrolled"
3. The word "efficient" is delet-
ed from the new law. A link be-