Education goals for ghetto schools

I'm delighted to be here. I was visited as Mrs. Ferguson said earlier this summer by a group of interested parents from this neighborhood. They took the time to come to Berkeley and we chatted about schools and children. And then they suggested that I come over here and talk to you. I indicated to them that any time the American friends asked me to do something for them the answer would always be yes. Because I'm convinced. I'm here tonight because of some of their kindnesses and sheltering now covering a period of pretty close to five years. These were the people who were writing history and civil rights. A hundred years ago. The Underground Railroad would have never existed and people like Harriet Tubman knew who her friends where. And of course they were the Quakers who were sheltering.

The fugitive slaves is Harriet escorted them in and out of the Confederate lines. To Philadelphia to New York and all the way to Boston. And when I went south it was still the same friends who provided homes for our four meetings. The only place in the south four and five years ago where I could meet a multiracial group was in the home of a friend. And these were the courageous people and they continue to be. And I'm delighted that they're here in San Francisco and may their numbers increase. When I think of Harriet Tubman. I think of Negro history and the importance of teaching Negro history to all American children. And when I'm in a Baptist church I think of American history and I think of

Farmville Virginia in the First Baptist Church in that community. Now those of you who are Baptists who are come from the south you really know that. The First Baptist Church is is always the Church of the Caucasians. You know if there's a Second Baptist Church or a ninth Baptist Church Well that's the Negro church particularly in the south but it's not true in Farmville because in 1865 Grant was chasing Lee from Richmond West and Lee was trying to join and join up with General Joe Johnson the Army of the of the South and continue the war are now leading Lee's army are leading grants army on the South holding it back was a regiment of several thousand

negroes negroes of course fighting over 40000 of them got into the northern army and their losses exceeded the losses of all of the Caucasians by about four to one. But they got into Farmville a few days before April the 18th. Been there losses were heavy and they had gone through Samaras creek where one of the fiercest battles had been fought just outside a farm bill and Grant moved in and took over the First Baptist Church in his people. Giveaway act around it and they made it into a hospital and the negroes the fighting forces of Grant's army those who'd been injured were taken into the First Baptist Church in this so infuriated the Southern whites that

once Grant went onto Appa Maddox and three days later when. Peace was finally signed and Grant moved back to Farmville. The Caucasians never moved back in. So the negroes not wanting to overlook a church in feeling responsible for its walls they moved in and a hundred years later they're still there and it's the First Baptist Church of Farmville Virginia it's other than the Catholic Church in that community it's still the only integrated church in Southside Virginia. This is all American history. It's history really that our children should be taught in in in our textbooks but we don't find it there. Instead we read about the delightful life on the plantation in how everything was just just fine and dandy and we're not really told of the strife in the difficulties and the great problems in the

frustrations of of our negro brothers. And we should do something about it. We should insist that the textbooks be rewritten and not the way they're being rewritten today by putting the picture of a negro child in every seventh page. That is hardly telling the story of American. History to our children. So we should do something about it. We should. We shouldn't buy books that are biased and prejudiced and that do not deal with civil rights in the real me Martin Luther King is not a bad name. It's OK to write it in a book and it should appear because Martin Luther King is rewriting the history of this country of ours from Atlanta to Chicago. And this is the history our children will be reading about a hundred years from now. To find Martin Luther King's name in most books today. He gets a line or two occasionally but that's about all. So we should insist in our schools that

we only purchase the books that treat. The negro honestly and completely in Berkeley we had just published our own book that you'll be reading about it's for second graders and it's on the go. And it's the story of these youngsters coming into San Francisco and what they did here it's a delightful story and the children have no difficulty at all reading it. They love it. They do have trouble though reading about Dick and Jane in that convertible when the fat dog and the silly cat. Because it isn't their life. And because it isn't their life. They don't care too much about it. But when they can have stories about their life around them they'll learn to read in a hurry. And by doing this I know no better way of their becoming first class citizens. So teaching him Negro history as far as I'm concerned should be on an integrated basis that should be taught as part of our curriculum K through 12. It's Chinese history

should be taught in the history of all nationalities and of all ethnic groups. We shouldn't isolate the history and have a Negro History Week. This is hardly the way to handle. The history of the people who landed in Jamestown. Several hundred years ago I before getting into this subject of the of the school I would say that this is a pretty good district to be N.. There's an assemblyman from this district too. Very perceptive fellow. He was so wise as to name the chairman of his education committee and anyone who was that knowledgeable. Certainly it's a it's a good assemblyman. Seriously I'm speaking of Willie Brown who does represent this district and he is a bright fellow who is trying hard in Albany to

provide equal opportunity for all people. Incidentally I've had another leading politician who had the good sense to write to me and asked me my advice on on some matters pertaining to education. And I was delighted the other day when this fellow made headlines with my suggestion that at public expense we provide education for all children age four and above. And I was a little concerned that he hadn't gone all the way with me and said for all children aged three and above. But I thought that it was was excellent and I appreciated it. And also his statement that he would like more money spent on public education he'd like the onus taken off the local property tax payer he wants the state to be more of a partner. And I suggest to you that this fellow is a very responsible person. Now his opponent hasn't

written to me. His opponent is getting advice from another educator. And. I suggest to you that you carefully evaluate these two gentlemen and then vote correctly. In. Vermont. We also have a president who is very interested in people and things. And just this little story because we're going to get serious here in a minute or two about our president. Do you know he does have hobbies and habits and they're not all good. And one of them happens to be that he likes to drive at high speeds in these government Cadillacs which are provided the president of the United States and he does this on off the beaten path roads and in his

ranch down there in Texas. He was doing this the other day and suddenly a state trooper saw this speeding Black Cadillac and raced after it and pulled him over to the side and drew up to the window and he looked in and he said Mr. Johnson my God in Lyndon said and don't you ever forget it. While now. The. Committee here today tonight gave me an opportunity to speak on any one of many subjects. And after careful thought I decided to pick as my topic the most instead of the least controversial subject. You know it's easy to run away from things and this is what many of my colleagues in the superintendency have been doing for a long time

running away from the difficult subjects the hot difficult subject today is school integration or lack of it. And that's what I'm going to talk about here tonight. I'm going to talk to you about the same subject in which I prepared last week a position paper requested for President Johnson by the US Commission on Civil Rights. This is not a format or a format for action for the city of San Francisco that cities this city's problems must be studied and resolved by the people of San Francisco themselves. Working together with their educational. Leaders more and more educators are recognizing defacto segregation is their. Prac most pressing problem today. This recognition is in itself progress. Until recently educators generally felt that segregation was not their problem that their problem was simply to

provide the correct here I'm required for whatever students happened to show up at a given school. I can remember being asked to go to Boston several years ago and they were interested in my becoming superintendent. There are some of them were in that same day the negroes were picketing the schools in Mrs. Hicks showed great interest in them and love father. She even carried a chair out so that one of the pickets could sit down. And then this delightful woman has frozen them out of the public schools of Boston in the most irresponsible fashion for the past 10 years and she should be thrown out of office. Now when I think of big cities and I think of bad people coming to mind it has to be Mrs. Hicks and has to be the city of Boston. And I talk about other cities here tonight but I'm not proud of the city that my forefathers landed in in which the

Irish have dominated politics for a good many years. It has produced great people but it has not produced results. Back in in the state of Massachusetts in let's hope that the Kennedy influence can be felt back home as well as around the in the other 49 states. And unfortunately more and more school officials are recognizing the positive educational implications of integration. They are voluntarily moving into the vanguard of the struggle to end all forms of segregation de facto as well as dish you're a we that's fine small but growing numbers of educators who instead of waiting until they are forced to move grudgingly by pressure from civil rights groups are working closely with these groups in all segments of the community to attack this common problem. I was privileged to serve as the superintendent of schools as Helen indicated to you of Prince Edward

County and as most of you know these schools were opened by the Kennedy administration after they had been closed for four years and this was the perfect example of progress at its worse than 10 years after the Brown decision. The irresponsible people of Prince Edward County with a gun at their head the guns of the federal government decided grudgingly to open their schools public schools for Negroes and private schools for the Caucasians. That's their idea of compliance with the Brown decision of 1954. There was a super ton of schools on Long Island in New York. I worked with neighboring school superintendents and boards of education with the support of the very dynamic New York School Superintendent James Allen in an attempt to integrate the schools as the Negro population pushed out from

Harlem. Bronx in Brooklyn and I have served as an educational consultant in several major cities. Very recently for the model school division in Washington D.C. In here we used every type of compensatory educational program and innovation techniques that were new to provide remedial help and stimulation for the negro child in an attempt to make up for ghetto school conditions. What a wonderful name the model school division I came away from Washington the nation's capital as I did from the other American cities where similar efforts have been made. Knowing that while the efforts were commendable the end result would still leave the individual negro child several years behind. He is middle class brother attending schools outside the segregated negro area. The model school division in Washington

is a great big failure. I am now starting my third year supervision of schools in Berkeley. I have enjoyed unparalleled success in this city and across the bay. In December in desegregating segments of this public school system. This success still follows far short of what is needed if we are truly committed to a program of quality education for all American children. I have observed with deep regret. The forced retirement of some competent educators and superintendents who could not solve the mouth wide dimension problem problem of school integration. Despite the best of intentions in sometimes firm resolve some of my colleagues made valiant efforts using different administrative techniques and still failed to come up with programs that were satisfactory to

the citizenry. And I cite as a prime example of this a guy who really gave it a great big effort and got nowhere. Neil Grossman in the city of New York and I could cite others other large cities where guys gave it a great big nothing. Like in Chicago. And they too ended up the way of Calvin gross. Some made the effort in failed some made no effort at all and stayed on in the Chicago situation probably is the worst of all because this was a situation in which France has kept all the very dynamic us Commissioner of Education said to Mr. Wilson the Chicago Board of Education you fail so miserably. You're not going to get a penny of federal aid federal help. But Mr. Daley and Senator Dirksen in the powers that be brought the necessary pressures on the president of the United States to change all of that. They kicked missed a couple

upstairs and then kicked them out altogether without even a letter from the president of the United States. Probably the most dynamic commissioner that we've ever had. Now. What's going on in Chicago. They got their money and they've got one great big headache and the headache isn't being salved and I would predict that. The march use we all observed to Cicero the attempt to break up this horrid real estate blockade in this second largest city of ours will be nothing compared to the massive strikes that we're going to see in the city of Chicago schools later this fall. I'm not predicting a strike. I'm suggesting to you that that the fair minded people in this city together with civil rights groups all over the United States will not tolerate indifference and do nothing in the city of Chicago in its schools for any length of time.

This is a subject that is being pursued with great interest by. Dr. King and his people. Although cities have much to gain by taking note of experience gained in other communities each must result solve its problems in the light of its own unique situation. Now there US criteria are for solutions and I want to list them. I think they're important. We all solve our problem differently but there are basic criteria we should understand first. Segregation in fact must be ended. If we don't accept this there's no sense in even talking about the problem. If we're going to talk about ending segregation for half of the city or some of the city this is no solution at all the criteria is segregation in fact must be ended in too many cases the so-called solutions developed represent

token gestures toward racial balance. But do not wipe out de facto segregation at all. It may not be possible to do this overnight anywhere but a community must accept the fact the tensions will continue and the problem will not be solved until this result has been achieved. Second desegregation must be combined with a general program of educational improvement. It is not enough simply to mix youngsters. The children who come from a background of educational deprivation must be given special help to overcome this deficit and to succeed in the new environment. Those segments of our communities that are unconvinced of the educational necessity for integration must be showing that the new program is in the best interest of all children. When we integrated the elementary schools in Berkeley this last year one thing we did was to reduce pupil teacher ratio in the new schools as well as in the

ghetto schools and in the area of tracking to advance children and give them an opportunity give them extra help. Alongside of their Caucasian brothers who do not need it. So all of these stimulant stimulants must be used. This criteria also means that Negroes cannot be asked to bear the total brunt of the drawbacks. Why do we always asked the Negro children to take the long ride on the bus. Defacto segregation is a community wide problem and must be solved on a community wide basis. Next educators working on problems of defacto segregation must act in good faith in Bill the confidence of the community in that good faith otherwise they risk being considered in tackiness in being denied the time in community co-operation needed to prepare programs for solving the problems. I would point out that that in Berkeley one of nine cities in the United

States that has been singled out for high achievement this past year in the area of integration where we've had one community meeting after another and everyone has been involved. When we had the real tough question of raising more money for the schools in increasing the tax rate by a dollar and seventy five cents the people of Berkeley after they had gone through this debate then solidly supported the tax increase by over 60 percent while in one of our neighboring cities very close by. They have not been able to pass a tax increase. So debate is good involvement is important in community faith can only be achieved by broad participation in great dialogue. Now with these criteria in mind I want to talk about common approaches that have been used as an antidote to the problem of defacto segregation open

enrollment. One of the most common attempts to combat defacto segregation is through some form of open enrollment. In general this plan involves permission for minority students in segregated low prestige minority schools to occupy vacancies in higher prestige Caucasian schools in other parts of the city although transfers in the reverse direction is sometimes permitted. Rarely do a significant number of them occur. Usually the transfers are voluntary open enrollment if combined with the program of general educational improvement can be helpful as a first step in the direction of integration. However it is totally inadequate as a long range solution to the problem. Open enrollment is a token start in bringing integration to erstwhile Caucasian schools. This is benefits for the students being transferred

in for the students already enrolled in the receiving schools. And I'm sure the benefits are more for the students who are already there. The reduction in Roman and ghetto schools resulting from this kind of program makes it possible to reduce class size and thereby improve the educational program in these schools. I'm just thrilled and delighted to tell you tonight here in San Francisco that in our ghetto schools in West Berkeley and they still exist in that city. That the pupil teacher ratio has been reduced from something like 30 to one in 1960. Nine hundred sixty to about twenty one to one today with lots and lots of special teachers added here. I think probably in the West Berkeley schools today get all schools their schools negroes attend. We probably have the lowest pupil teacher ratio of any school system in the state of California. But this is not the answer. It's a

temporary thing. It's a necessary thing. It's part of what is necessary. It's a first step in integration. Open enrollment has the tactical advantage of being difficult to oppose since the opponents of integration are more apt to be in the receiving schools. They are hard put to think up acceptable reasons for opposing the move since their own youngsters are not being moved anywhere. All we're doing really is storing up some empty rooms that isn't too hard to take. They are placed in the position of those opponents of having to come right out and say that they oppose it because they do not want their children mixing with negroes. Our remaining quiet the experience of Berkeley elementary schools in a program financed by the United States government illustrate how illustrates how open enrollment can be used as an initial step in the direction of integration in how it falls far shot of its ultimate

solution. Although we had already de segregated our secondary schools all the way down to the seventh grade the elementary schools remained substantially segregated. We established as our first priority and use of government money. The reduction of pupil teacher ratio that I guess referred to you in the predominantly Negro schools in West Berkeley. There is a break in the recording at this point as we resume the tape. Dr. Sullivan is discussing the Berkeley experience in bussing children from school to school. Short trips it was bus trips it was dinner meetings it was House meetings it was PTA meetings. It was holding their hands as we move them along. It was just not dumping a bus load of Negro children. And it was small buses rather than big buses. And it was it was the type of movement that the children were involved in in both schools in fully understood. There were a few minor problems but the

experience was overwhelmingly successful in the program helped to receive to reduce hostility toward desegregation. We were careful not to build this program up as the answer to elementary school segregation. We stress its connection to a general program of raising educational levels all over the city. Most of our government money monies were spent to provide more teachers and other staff members in the predominantly Negro schools. The program did achieve limited integration in the receiving elementary schools. It did nothing to end segregation in the sending schools. Although these schools obtain the benefits of an improved educational program and reduce class size they remained as segregated as ever before. Many negroes who supported a transfer prop program are now raising the question of when Caucasians are going to be bussed down to their schools.

I expect this kind of inquiry to become more insistent and I encourage these parents to ask and demand explanations in also expect in demand a program that will end integration or segregation in the Berkeley elementary schools. Now in Baltimore Maryland we find another example of the strengths and weaknesses of open enrollment. In 1954 soon after the famous Brown case Baltimore abolished d sure a segregation established an open enrollment program. Under this program students living in the immediate area regardless of race could go to their nearby school if they so chose. After they had been enrolled extra space in that school it was thrown open to any youngster in Baltimore who wished to attend. There was an immediate move on the part of Negroes to open enroll in Caucasian schools for the first few years after 1954. There was an increase in the amount of desegregation in these

erstwhile Caucasian schools by the early 60s however the same open enrollment prerogatives were being used by Caucasians to move from these newly integrated schools into Kok Asian schools out near the periphery of the city outward took a heavy bus fare to get out to an area where Negroes had no opportunities to travel for lack of funds. This resulted in a trend away from desegregation toward resegregation. Schools. That family were segregated cark Asian went through a transitional period of being desegregated but then became segregated negro. This trend was accelerated by the change in housing patterns with the proportion of negroes in the inner city steadily increasing. Here is an example in Baltimore of open enrollment to achieving some initial success in desegregation but they are

incompletely as a long term solution. There are three basic reasons why open enrollment must be rejected is the ultimate solution to the segregation problem. First the desegregation achieved in the receiving schools is token at best. Second the sending schools in almost every case are as segregated as they were before and sometimes have been stripped of their leading students. Besides this morale can be adversely affected by the implied criticism of having students leave a school to seek a better situation elsewhere. In finally a fostering of accomplishment and having adopted an open enrollment program could get in the way of educators trying to develop a genuine solution. One of the real critical problems in areas that have tried this is that a stigma becomes attached to the school and to the children who are left behind and parents are quickly aware of this and it's a real problem for

teachers in ghetto schools who are trying valiantly in many cases to improve the education in equal opportunities of all children. So a not for on open enrollment. Let's look at two way bussing. Call it reverse busing. This type of program keeps the schools essentially as they are the de segregated by bussing some students from segregated Negro schools to segregated Caucasian schools and vice versa. I know of no place in the country where this is being done on any significant scale. None to be a genuine. Desegregating measure this shuttle service must encompass almost half of the students in each building involved in the trade. Both schools continue to serve substantially the same grade levels. All three are theoretically complete integration could be achieved by this method. It like wise would fulfill the criteria of involving the total community. However this kind of

program is not realistic in terms of community acceptance KARK Asians in cities all over the country have made it clear that they are not going to have their children permanently bused to schools in minority Gadow areas. They correctly point out that is statically the ghetto was a deadly place that the school is is prison like in its environment and they don't want their children to go there. Now I encourage them to call these things to our attention and then join with us in closing the schools. They're not good enough for their children and they're not good enough for our children. So this business of two way bussing becomes a one way bussing and it has encouraged unfortunately in many of our American cities a shift from the public school to the private school. And there is a place in America for the private school. We need them. Competition is good and it's a big country. But let's not drive them out of the public schools by giving phony

explanations for how we're going to desegregate the schools in some communities Negroes have allowed their children to be transferred transported to predominantly Caucasian schools in a one way bussing arrangement such as we do in Berkeley. They have been motivated doubtless by a feeling that their children will get a better education in the receiving school in by a commitment that is strong enough to overcome their hesitancy in having their children transported over a long distance. Now I can say to you in Berkeley I don't think this is true. I think the small pupil teacher ratio in our city in our West Berkeley school even stings up and I can assure you that in Berkeley today we have we're spending more money in these in these ghetto schools than we are and they fill schools in the people of Berkeley except this. But it is not true throughout the country in what has happened when negro parents have had a taste of good education in the carcase in schools they suddenly realize how short changed they've been. Back in the ghetto

school in this brings additional pressures from all groups to and this hopeless housing of children. So busing does one thing in most communities it will open the eyes of parents whose children go to the other school. Among other things however I predict that in a short time negroes will refuse to consent to this one way bussing arrangement is too one sided to solve what is really a total community problem. Eventually they were refused to go along with having their children transported to Caucasian areas unless there is a reciprocal arrangement in the opposite direction. Thus in most communities two way bussing between dark Asian and minority ghettos will not provide the answer to de facto segregation. Now an exception of this could be called in explained in the Princeton plan. In the Princeton

plan. Is something quickly it's calls for abolishing segregation between two schools. By having all of the students of the two combined attendance areas divided and then go to the other school for the other grades one school becomes primary in the other school becomes intermediate. Thus each of the two schools draws from the combined attendance area. Desegregation in in is total for the two attendance areas. They bring all sorts of modifications of this plan since Princeton New Jersey and they only had a handful of Negro children a year when they used it in the late 40s. This type of play and word can be used feasibly meets all of the criteria for a successful solution of defacto segregation which I mentioned above. The desegregation is complete. The increased number of students on each school site at a given grade level is increased. Thereby offering greater flexibility in grouping and scheduling

in better education better chance for teachers specialization and specialized equipment. This plan also involves a total community. In a small community like Princeton New Jersey with only two schools. Such a plan could be effective in large cities. This plan is difficult to implement. It's impossible to implement for private effectiveness the two schools involved must be close to each other. The segregated KARK Asian and segregated Negro schools in the average major city are located as all of us know far apart. Frequently separated by a buffer zone are relatively integrated schools thus finding the schools to match each other in a Princeton plan would cause tremendous difficulties to be effective in a large city. The plan must be accompanied by a massive two way bussing program. This is not. Possible impossible but does pose great difficulties. Now what about redistricting. The next to last plan to discuss it

only briefly. Sometimes it is possible to improve the racial balance between adjacent schools by altering the attendance boundaries between them. But it's really satisfactory. First it is difficult when redrawing boundaries to avoid overloading one school and leaving another with empty space. Second communities are changing at such a rapid pace that any gains for integration achieved through redistricting are usually shot lived. Third people affected by the redistricting frequently fight it vehemently while it is sometimes necessary to move forward with the desirable program in spite of opposition. The relatively minor and temporary gains to be made through redistricting frequently are not worth the antagonism that can be aroused. Next is the paired schools. This is the program that nearly two schools get together and they occasionally have an assembly program and the PTA

meets and there are twenty nine from one PTA and 14 from the other. And once in a while the children go on a bus trip. This is a phony type of integration and the pairing that we talk about here is is in no way meaningful and does not do the job. In each case we've talked about here. We have avoided the one grade school and this has been used probably more than other in the in the in the places where integration has worked out. Teaneck New Jersey a community that made the big effort East Orange that is moving in the in in another direction in another New Jersey town and Berkeley used the one grade plan. And this again is a is an excellent step. But in each case where this is happening there was spirited local opposition from those who

did not feel it necessary to overcome defacto segregation. In Teaneck there were strong threats of physical violence in Berkeley the board members were subject subjected to a recall election. After adopting the one year plan. Fortunately the community sustained the board members by a substantial majority although the one great approach is produced desegregation in the cities I mentioned. Educators are divided on the wisdom of creating separate schools that serve only one grade student. Need much more than that to become adjusted to a school and to be able to get the maximum benefits from its offerings by going into a new organization Berkeley made a definite advance over the previously defacto segregated three year junior high school that has become defunct today in our American scene. However I feel the students would be better off from an educational and psychological standpoint if the ninth grade were located on the same

campus with grades 10 11 and 12 with one site serving all four years of high school and we are currently exploring in Berkeley the possibility of acquiring such a site. I have outlined now the major types of programs that have been developed in an effort to come to grips with de facto segregation. And there are probably as many variations of these ideas as there are communities that have tried them. In many instances satisfactory local programs have been developed along the lines of one or a combination of these plans I've mentioned. I feel strongly that the ultimate solution to the problem does not lie among any of these lines particularly in the large city where the problem is most acute in such communities these programs are merely patchwork and in many cases do little more than is the localized pressure without coming to grips with the basic district wide city wide area wide problem. What is needed

is a massive overhaul of school systems as a whole. In fact with our inner cities moving in the direction of becoming minority centers surrounded by car kids in suburbs ultimate solutions will almost certainly have to be accomplished on a regional basis crossing local. School district lines the name Adam Clayton Powell has been in the paper repeatedly during the last two weeks and I was. Involved with Mr Powell. In developing such a plan that will have a hearing before Congress. Because when you have a city such as Washington that has grown over 90 percent Negro there is no way of integrating the schools of that city without encompassing the suburbs. And this is this is the concept that is being talked about there's another bill that is supportive of it being submitted by. Senator Edward Kennedy. And you just don't give up on Washington. You don't give up on any city

because there are ways of coming to grips with even a plan a situation as serious as Washington. The only serious proposal land on that whole area was that being offered by Mr. Powell now educational parks. And there are probably as many definitions for educational Parks is there are people defining them individual park projects differ in the number of grade level served in acreage and size of attendance areas. However all educational parks have certain features in common. They are designed for a relatively large student body in attendance area or competed. To the traditional neighborhood school by drawing students from many neighborhoods over a large area of the city or across city lines educational parks afford greatly improved educational opportunities for bringing together students of different races

ethnic groups social economic cultural strata in largest cities or communities that are already segregated. These parks can be located near the periphery of the inner city to serve both the minorities of the inner city. In the car kasian students living near the city limits in suburban areas is important in locating an educational park that would be readily acceptable to all racial groups. One of the things the Civil Rights Commission has learned incidentally is that in relocating hospitals the typical minority person from the ghetto is going to die in the ambulance on the way to that hospital. It's just so far away from others considerable evidence that when we have rebuilt hospitals and rebuilt libraries we build them so far from from our ethnic groups and in minority people that they have no opportunity to get there. We've got to change this concept and this type of policy planning when we

come to educational perks. In cities like Baltimore in Washington where the in a cities are becoming increasingly populated with minority races solutions to the defacto segregation prob problem cannot be made on the basis of the inner cities alone and this is where the power wall concept is one that's going to be talked about a great deal during the days ahead. In such cases the park should be long. Q Did father out from the center of the inner cities and so place that they are readily accessible to minority residents of the inner cities in the car kasian residents of the outlying areas in both types of communities. It should be obvious that desegregation cannot take place in small neighborhood schools serving small areas that are in most cases segregated to a single race. Any proposed solution based upon return sion of the neighborhood school principal are doomed to failure.

Educational parks are justifiable also from the standpoint of other important equally important educational considerations. A large number of students at each grade level greatly enhanced the possibilities for flexible scheduling large and small group instruction increases the number of electives that can be offered. This concentration of students also permits more economic in the use of highly specialized expensive equipment. In people stop specialists can be more effectively utilized since they need time travelling from school to school more effective uneconomic can use can be made with expensive equipment such as our Gymnase the euro libraries cafeterias auditoriums. All of these things are of great importance. The educational park concept is a promising avenue of attack on defacto segregation. Is a means of making significant improvement in our educational program in for affecting substantial economies at the same time.

Thus while most my interest right now is in the educational parks primarily for integrating purposes I strongly endorse the concept of educational projects even in districts that are racially homogeneous. In Berkeley we already have the equivalent of an educational park at our high school level. We are a city of over one hundred twenty five thousand people with a single high school. We are now addressing our selfs. The stock in the joint masterplan committee made up of over 100 citizens. To a study of utilizing the concept for grades kindergarten through eight. We feel that educational parks accessible to wall racial groups represent the one solution that holds the promise of complete desegregation. While providing opportunity for significant improvements in the educational program offered young people not son. Common fears and I'm getting down to the to the end here. Any proposal designed to

achieve desegregation will run into opposition arguments pro and con will very many will be relevant only to the specific program proposal under attack. However the underlying fears which motivate opponents of desegregation are similar in all cities. And these are the things that I have grown hoarse over from Boston to New York to Washington to Detroit last summer and then on here into the bay area or in southern California. First among the Thiers fear a loss of the neighborhood school. This fear serves as the rallying cry for opponents of integration in most communities. You know it's interesting that these neighborhood school people are organized that Mrs. Hicks made her way to San Francisco to tell you. How to run your schools. I wish to hell she'd run the schools of Boston and love it better.

Efforts are made to place the neighborhood school as a concept along with the Declaration of Independence and the flag is the great American traditions. Efforts to tamper with it are made to appear somehow not quite patriotic. The fair itself is well founded. It is virtually impossible to develop an effective desegregation program in larger communities based upon the neighborhood school. And unfortunately in the city of Cleveland I was called in there to do some work a few years ago when they were building neighborhood schools at that time as fast as they could build them. And Cleveland is one of our sickest cities today as was evidenced by the race riots there this past summer and most of it goes back into what is happening in these small neighborhood school areas. However the neighborhood school was not the sacrosanct institution which many of its

proponents try to make it appear. Many communities have never argued Nies their school system along neighborhood lines. Examples of all Southern communities which have students going past one school to get to another simply because in Rome and at the first school is restricted to another race although in prior generations neighborhood schools have served many communities well. It does not follow that the pattern cannot be changed to meet newly recognized needs in a new set of circumstances. The corner grocery store is giving way to the supermarket. The small family farm on which most of the labor was done by hand or by Hannibal has given way to larger agricultural units utilizing labor saving equipment. The same trend is proceeding in medicine libraries industry and business. In an era of greatly improved transportation why should not our schools keep pace in altering their organizational patterns to meet new educational

needs. In my roots go deep in general England and one of my greatest problems about 17 years ago was closing of a rural school a one room school and the terrible things that would happen to the child when they got into the village school. These are the fears that become predominant when we talk about closing a neighborhood school. The second fear of Loring standards we hear this all the time what's going to happen to the standards in our school and you're going to pull all of these bright middle class Caucasian children down to the level of those other two other students. Opponents of integration are forand of quoting standardized test scores in an effort to show that standards will be lowered in Cark Asian schools if they are de segregated. Actually these scores in spite of their limitation their eloquent testimony to the failure of the separate but equal argument you can get

from the Civil Rights Commission a thousand pages now that has been completed on norms and scores of what has happened in those communities where integration has taken place and I can tell you what the pattern is the first few months of the first six months there might be a loss in the COC Asian norm and there might be a loss in the Negro as he moves into that school. But what happens after six months and one year in two years both groups exonerate and can achieve higher standards than they ever had received before. Such evidence is available does not support the argument that the performance of students is harmed by desegregation. Conversely there is considerable evidence that the performance of Negroes is dramatically improved when exposed to the increased challenges in improved programs associated with school desegregation. The third fear that contact with Negro children will be harmful to

Caucasian children. Since this is the most bigoted of the three fears listed here it usually is the least expressed. However it provides the latent motivation for many people who express their opposition to desegregation in more acceptable terms. Actually this fear is aimed in the wrong direction. It has been the negro rather than the Caucasian who was generally felt harmful results from interracial contracts contacts over the hundreds of years of our country's history. However the whole argument is completely irrelevant. Children both car kasian and Negro are going to have increasing contact with each other whether the adults like it or not. With transportation and community barriers communication barriers down our world is now interracial. Children of all races are going to be living. In increasing close contact with each other. The time for them to start is while they are still in school and before the prejudices

of the older generation has become firmly implanted. Now in conclusion the 12 years after the historic Supreme Court decision on school integration we find that the problem is more acute than ever. In spite of a growing awareness of the school's responsibilities. We find that the problem is growing faster than our efforts to come to grips with it. The changes occurring in our urban centers today make it necessary for us to run and run fast just to stand still. In Detroit this summer. A month long conference on school desegregation. Including both parents and educators. In Detroit is trying and Detroit has has a great cancerous problem that I hope they can solve. But during the summer the parents and educators delivered an ultimatum to the Board of Education of that city to address itself to the task of complete school

desegregation. With a timetable attached in some of you know that I was invited to go to that city in service as superintendent and it was a it was a flattering and a challenging offer and I won't go into the details of why I didn't go. But I can report this to you that in meeting with the civil rights group their time table was Dr. Sullivan we'll give you one year 12 months 365 days to solve this problem or problem are all hell's going to break loose. It's a time table. It's tomorrow. Timetables the day after tomorrow. All of our major cities are facing similar situations as educators and as people who care. We have to move on this subject and one of the great problems in other parts of the country has been study after study and no implementation in State Departments make a

study in local boards make a study and the citizens make a study no implementation the time is come when our people are going to accept no implementation. And it is necessary for us to prove our good faith after studies by coming quickly to grips in implementing the recommended plan. Second just as the schools are an integral part of society at large. So much school integration be proud of a massive assault on community cancers housing unemployment property which blight the lives of children in negro ghettos our schools can be nothing shart of making the American dream a reality to all citizens. And I have taken the position as a school superintendent that I speak out on issues and I spoke out on Proposition 14 and I spoke out this summer when the president recommended

tremendous cutbacks in the Economic Opportunity Act funds in the US office phones. I spoke back because we can't solve all of our problems in the schools. The easiest way to solve integration would be to provide equal work opportunities for all people and they would have the money then to move. If we had fair housing laws. So when Proposition 14 was was defeated we were set back many years in California. But all of our problems cannot be solved by integrating our schools. But integrate our schools we must. And at the same time we must come to grips with all of the other cancerous problems affecting the millions of ethnic groups in this country who have waited over 200 years for. Equal opportunities. Thank you very much. Thank

you.