Aurelian Springs High School - Purple and Old Gold Yearbook (Littleton, NC)

Page 16 text:

By DICK KERN URELIAN SPRINGS — lool patrons here are uniting ir efforts in sending out an .S. nly in this case the familiar ress call letters in e a n [ve Our School.” wo definite plans of action ■e chartered following a ss meeting here last night, his meeting originally was up as a special meeting for •ent Teacher Association mbers to hear Halifax ools Superintendent W. H. ;rman and School Board mber .A. G. Willcox of nkleyvil ; deseg meed ju ut it t ool are litorium ear-old least 41 ng ques jre Ove 3d cxpl aid of hen the ;r in th rscs of ved by own, provided the student fur- 1 nishes his own transportation.” I He also stressed the desegre- 1 gation plan was based on a { combination of ‘‘geographical zoning, freedom of choice, pair- ing of certain areas and reor- ganization of some schools.” Following this, Overman said “t.he public demanded we announce the plan before ap- I proval by Washington so they | (the public) would know what is going on before the March 15 deadline, even though the plan may be changed or re- jected. ‘‘.The Halifax County system the discussion drifted back again to the basic question; “Why w ' as the school sched- uled for abandonment in the first place?” to which Over- man replied ‘‘it was due pri- marily to meeting the pupil ratio requirements of federal guidelines.” These he explained by stating under the proposed plan, Davie would be grades 8-12 and would have an esti- mated 904 students with 449 Negro and 455 white: Aure- lian Springs (grades 1-7) would have 900 students with the breakdown about even; liool 1-7) Negri money has nothing to do v this . . . desegregation is law of the land under the C Rights Act of 1954.” There was no discussion mention of another provision the plan. Article Seven wh states ‘‘staff and faculty si be assigned as far as possi to constitute the same ratio e: (1) A iduced pressing •e to ‘‘h oice pla n keep 50 expr the pre hool boards by the federal vernment.” his resolution will be sent Senators Jordan and Ervin, igressman L. H. Fountain, ernor Bob Scott and the lOol Board. (2) Adopted a suggestion School Board member irlos Burt of Enfield that ' ou draw up your mplaints, proposals and mments and present them the full Board of Educa- »n so they will all know iw you feel.” Burt seid ‘‘there are only o of us here tonight, but ven on the board . . . 0V onnt«n ‘»iafo liAat tncf minority, the federal govern- ment and state and county authorities which control the purse strings for education. Needless to say, this is no easy task, for everyone can not be satisfied. Thus the education board must first consider the children and the facilities available for maxi- mum use, in trying to work out an acceptable plan.” Overman then turned the meeting over to Willcox, who fielded questions answered by himself. Overman and Carlos Burt of Enfield, also a board member. The ensuing nearly two-hour Before any further discus- sion came on that, the dom- inant question popped up again; ‘‘Why was our school done away w-ith?” Willcox answered this with a question: ‘‘How many courses, other than the bare basics, can our school offer now? W ' e have 188 in high school this year here with 12 teachers; we are talking about a high school with 900 students and teachers to serve them with a variety of comprehensive courses.” This brought on rapid-fire opinions on the preparation or lack of preparation students vay. It also was clearly stated tti ssue was not integration, bi simply “we want to keep ot high school.” .The county ' s desegregatic proposal, which has been siil mitted to the U. S. Justice D jpartment for approval, invol ve (8,195 Negro, 2,357 white an jl02 Indian children in t h county’s 18 schools. The pla as presented calls for disestal •lishing Aurelian Springs Hij School but retaining th elementary school and disesta ' lishing totally John Arn .strong Chalouer School in Ro, noke Rapids. (Patrons of Chaloncr Schoo

Page 15 text:

hazy, and sometimes lazy teachers. They have all changed. 11

Page 17 text:

To Keep Our School een Negro and white races as ists in the student body and school faculty shall be com- ised of less than 12 per cent either Negro or white.” W. R. Richardson of Hohis- •, leader of the Haliwa In- in tribe, drew several rounds applause for his remarks ring the closing minutes. Richardson said “you talk about minorities ... we (the Indians) are the real minority — around 102 students total — and we do not go along with Washington cramming things down our throats any more than you do. But we let ourselves be heard and Wash- ington is well-aware of us. You have to stick your feet into the ground and not let them push you away; let them know what you want . . . don’t give up.” Richardson said ihey came down here and told us we should close our (the Haliwa) school and now they would I favor closing the latest sch I (Aurelian Springs) our child I attend. Let yourself ! heard . . I •And, from all Indications the crowd headed toward ■petition table in the rear, , Aurelian Springs school patr I plan to do e.xactly that! Villcjix, carrying the ball 11 : is !SSi( In February, 1969, action taken by the Halifax County Board of Education brought out the feelings of ASHS patrons as nothing else has. In making consolidation plans for the upcoming year, the board planned to do away with the high school at Aurelian Springs. As a result, for the first time in the history of the school, teachers, parents, and students of all the three races represented in high school worked together to take steps to prevent such action by the board or any other faction. Even though the effect of their efforts was limited, the patrons of Aurelian Springs School can be proud of the interest they showed in their school. WEATHER Mostly sunny and continu cold this afternoon. Fair a a little colder tonight. Lo sen m- ire jm