the Massachusetts statute, which prohibits written inquiry of prospective students that might tend to indicate discriminatory admissions practices," the New Jersey Civil Rights Law distinctly permits "the mailing of a private communication sent in response to a specific written inquiry." 95

96

There has been created in New Jersey a dual enforcement agency. One body is the Division Against Discrimination of the Department of Education, which is vested primarily with the power to prevent and eliminate discrimination in employment. The other is the State Civil Rights Commission," which was organized to supervise and implement the activities of the first group.98

In the leading New Jersey case of Walker v. The Board of Education of The City of Englewood," which was decided on May 19, 1955, the Commissioner of Education enunciated the unalterable principle that a child is entitled to attend the school nearest his home unless over-riding reasons render this impracticable. Thus it was held that where a school board adopted new district lines, thereby requiring a Negro student to leave a predominantly white school in favor of a predominantly Negro school, there was infringement of civil rights through failure of the board to comply with well-settled principles of school administration regardless of intent or motivation. The Commissioner further stated that such action could only be justified where the following compelling reasons exist: overcrowding, safety factors, a pupil's need for specialized education, or the necessity for grade grouping.

The State of Washington, through the close of the 1957 legislature, had not enacted any law that might be labeled a Fair Educational Practices Act. Furthermore, neither that State nor New Jersey nor Oregon has pronounced what precise activity is to be considered an unfair educational practice. The Washington Civil Rights Law,1 however, is sufficiently extensive in its language to evince an intent to provide protection to any prospective student. It makes certain that the right to full enjoyment of any public accommodation or facility will be preserved. The term "public accommodation" is defined to encompass public educational institutions and nursery schools,

94 Ann. Laws of Mass., ch. 151C, sec. 2(b) (1949).

5 N.J. Stat. Ann. tit. 10, ch. 1, sec. 10:1-5.

Id. at tit. 18, ch. 25, sec. 18: 25-6.

97 N.J. Stat. Ann., ch. 27, sec. 7.

Between 1945 and 1957 a total of 2,336 complaints were received; 1,664 alleging discrimination in employment and 672 alleging denial of equal opportunity in places of public accommodation. State of N.J. Dept. of Educ., Div. against Discrimination, Annual Report (1957).

N.J. Dept. of Education, Div. Against Discrimination, No. M-1268, May 19, 1955; 1 Race Rel. L. Rep. 255 (1956).

1 Wash. Rev. Code, ch. 37, sec. 3 (1951).

Id. at sec. 3(2).

and, though exempting distinctly private or sectarian institutions, it includes them "where public use is permitted therein." 3

Washington's unfair practices statutes pertaining to public accommodations are broad enough to apply to the area of education as well.* It appears that the State of Oregon accords the least protection against discrimination in education of the five States under discussion. The statute in question closely confines itself to vocational, professional, or trade schools licensed under the laws of Oregon. However, the meaning of the statute is broadened by reference to the type of institution in which "any form of State approval is required in order for it to operate." "

Oregon departs from the commonly accepted "public accommodation statutes" by delimiting the application of its statutes to public places offering food, lodging, or amusement. Intent to exclude educational institutions may be inferred from this wording under the doctrine of expressio uniusest exclusio alterius ("the mention of one thing implies exclusion of another").

8 Id. at sec. 4.

Ch. 87, Laws of Wash., 1953.

5 Ore. Rev. Stat. (1953), sec. 345.240 (1).

• Id., sec. 345.240(2).

7 Id., Sec. 1(2).

CHAPTER VII. THE MINORITY GROUP TEACHER

The process of school desegregation can mean any one of a number of things for public school teachers belonging to minority groups. It can mean a new professional challenge or it can mean the loss of a job. It can mean virtually no change in the class room situation or the loss of the better students to "white schools."

EFFECT OF TRANSITION UPON THE NEGRO TEACHER

At a time when most areas of the country are reporting a severe shortage of teachers, a number of States undergoing desegregation have experienced a reduction in the number of Negro teachers in their school systems.

However, at Hobbs, N. Mex., the School Board's concern over its position under State law in the hiring, firing, and assignment of Negro teachers has caused it to include Negro teachers in the desegregation plan.1 The assignment of Negro teachers to formerly all-white schools was not accomplished without objection from white parents, but all the Negro teachers were retained.2

At Phoenix and Tucson, Negro teachers fared well in the desegregation experience, but in Pinal County in the same State a few lost their jobs because of desegregation, and there was a tendency not to allow those who remained to gain tenure under State law.3

In Kansas, while some Negro teachers have been retained in predominantly Negro schools or been absorbed into formerly all-white schools, others lost their jobs. An example of the absorption of the Negro teaching staff after desegregation is found in Atchison, where all six Negro teachers were assigned to desegregated schools. In Pittsburg, on the other hand, where the Negro school was closed, no Negro teachers were reported to have remained in the school system in 1956.1

Generally, the integration of teachers has lagged rather far behind school desegregation, and in areas where small Negro schools have been closed and all of the pupils absorbed by the white schools, there has been a substantial displacement of Negro teachers.

As of November 12, 1958, it was reported that 344 Negro teachers in Oklahoma had been displaced through desegregation activity, which closed 163 schools. Integration of teaching staffs has not

1 Nashville Conference, pp. 11, 13-14, 18, 19.

2 Id. at 12-13, 16.

3 Id. 173.

Univ. of Kansas, Bull. of Govt. Research Center, January 15, 1956, p. 4.

Oklahoma State Dept. of Pub. Instruction, Compilation of Integration Questionnaires, Nov. 12, 1958.

been accomplished in Oklahoma City; and although no Negro teachers have been displaced there, white teachers have been hired for vacancies that would have been filled by Negro teachers prior to desegregation."

Reports from Kentucky show that 31 out of 70 school districts had a reduction in the number of Negro teachers at the time of desegregation. Twenty-eight of 48 districts report that the present percentage of Negro teachers is smaller than it was before desegregation. Only 8 districts out of 63 assign Negro teachers to predominantly white schools, and 3 out of 60 assign white teachers to predominantly Negro schools. The Kentucky State Board of Education for the school year 1958-59 reported that only 3.3 percent of all Negro teachers were employed in desegregated schools, although 29 percent of all Negro pupils are enrolled in them.8

St. Louis and Kansas City, which together have about two-thirds of Missouri's Negro population, have integrated faculties. In the smaller communities some faculty integration has occurred, but the closing of small Negro schools has in many cases caused displacement of Negro teachers."

In a Missouri law suit, Brooks v. School District,10 Negro teachers from a Negro school that had been closed because of desegregation alleged that new white applicants had been given preference in a discriminatory manner in the filling of vacancies. The Superintendent, on the contrary, stated that the Negro teachers had been given fair consideration among all the applicants but had been found somewhat less capable. The Federal District Court found no racial discrimination and recognized as evidence the fact that Negro pupils, who had experienced scholastic difficulties when they first entered the white schools, had shown marked improvement after a semester under white teachers. Notice of appeal was filed in the case.11

School desegregation has apparently not greatly affected Negro teachers in Maryland. None of the 15 school systems that underwent some measure of desegregation reported a reduction in the number of Negro teachers at the time of desegregation. Today four of these districts report a smaller percentage of Negro teachers than just prior to desegregation, but three other districts show an increase.12

Nashville Conference, pp. 98, 99.

7 Commission Questionnaires.

8 Kentucky State Dept. of Educ. Report on Integration-School Year 1958-1959.

See S.S.N., Dec. 1955, p. 14; June 1956, p. 16; May 1957, p. 12.

10 Civ. No. 551, E.D. Mo., June 27, 1958, 3 Race Rel. L. Rep. 660 (1958).

11 S.S.N., Nov. 1958, p. 4.

12 Commission Questionnaires.

The situation in Delaware is similar. There has been virtually no net loss of jobs among Negro school personnel as a result of desegregation, although integration of teachers exists in only a few districts.18

In Texas, desegregation has been limited to areas of small Negro school population and has involved chiefly the closing of small Negro schools. Vacancies in the teaching staffs are not being filled by Negroes, and 50 or more Negro teachers have reportedly been displaced. Only three are known to have been retained to teach desegregated classes.

14

A recent survey reveals that West Virginia now employs 98 (about 10%) fewer Negro teachers and principals than in 1954. Slightly more than 50 percent of the teachers are in desegregated schools.15

Due to the extremely limited desegregation in Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Virginia, it is not possible to evaluate any change in the status of Negro teachers in those States.

Large cities that have desegregated their schools have, with a few notable exceptions, taken steps to desegregate their teaching staffs as well. Wilmington, Del., in the school year 1958-59 had 33 out of 170 Negro teachers in formerly all-white schools. About an equal number of white teachers were in formerly all-Negro schools. The Negro teachers were very carefully screened prior to being placed in white schools.16 One Negro teacher who was to have an all-white first grade, visited the mothers and the children in their homes before the opening of school. At the end of the school year, these parents requested the principal to allow her to move to the next grade with their children.1 The teaching force of Washington, D.C., is 62 percent Negro. Negro and white teachers were working together in 23 percent of the city's schools during the first year of desegregation, and integration of the teaching staff has continued since that time.18

Baltimore's public school faculty is about 40 percent Negro and has shown no percentage change since 1954. There was very limited faculty integration during the first year of desegregation, but in the school year 1958-59, 37 of the city's 176 schools had members of both races on their teaching staffs.19

There has been no integration of teaching staffs in Louisville, Ky. The Superintendent reports, however, that there have been no serious problems over this situation, and the school administration has felt

13 Commission Questionnaires.

14 S.S.N., Jan. 1959, p. 3.

15 Nashville Conference, p. 116.

16 Id. at 73, 74-75.

17 Id. at 81.

18 Id. at 56, 59.

19 Id. at 137, 139, 140.