1960s
1/9/68: Board Ask to Spur Return of 22 to Germantown High (Phila. Bulletin)
"A group of parents of students at Germantown High School last night demanded the return of 22 girls whose parents recently transferred them from Germantown to Northeast High School. The Board of Education has revoked 12 of the transfers, but only three of the girls actually have returned to Germantown. The rest are still attending Northeast. ...the transferring pupils live in East Mt. Airy while attending Northeast High. Usually parents may transfer their children to any school that is not overcrowded. In addition, the Board allows parents to transfer their children by 'delegating' parental responsibility to a relative or close friend within the boundaries of the new school. This requires the student live full time with his designated parents. A school district investigation prompted by the protests of Germantown parents revealed that 12 of the 22 girls were not living in the area of Northeast High School ... Most of the parents have refused to send their children back for fear of reprisals by other students and because, they say, their daughters would be subjected to 'indecencies and threats' which caused them to seek transfers in the first place. .."
1/?/68: School Shifts Canceled for 12 White Girls
"White parents who recently transferred their 22 daughters from a predominantly Negro to a predominantly white high school protested yesterday against revocation of 12 of the transfers. The transfers from Germantown High to Northeast High were approved by school officials two months ago. This was shortly after the appearance at Germantown High of Negro militants Cecil B. Moore and Dick Gregory. The Board of Education subsequently revoked 12 of the transfers on grounds they were not valid. The protesting parents told a school official they will withdraw their children from public school if the Board insists they return to Germantown High....The Board revoked the transfers after an investigation revealed that some of the pupils were not spending their required time with their new parents.... One mother claimed she would not allow her daughter to attend a school 'where she fears using the bathroom because the kids get beat up in there.' Another mother said her daughter had been attacked and beaten on a bus returning from school last spring. ... Dr. Kelner (superintendent of District 6 where Germantown High School is located), sympathized with the parents' concern and fears, but said the Board could not allow parents to resort to loopholes and 'subterfuge' as a way of transferring their children to an all white school. The parents insisted their actions were not prompted by considerations of race only of security for their children. ...Northeast High School has about 30 Negroes in a student body of 4,000. Germantown High also with about 4,000 pupils, is 69% Negro. ... School officials are withholding all parental authority transfers pending an investigation of the policy. Some have said it may be eliminated."
10/12/69: Northeast's Middle Class Feels Neglected by City (Sunday Bulletin)
(includes photo of "North Philadelphia Children are brought by buses to Gilbert Spruance Public School")
"... Schools are a key problem in many other parts of Philadelphia. In the Northeast, though, the problem is compounded by the population explosion. Until after World War II, there wasn't a single public high school in the entire section. Now there are three - all enormously overcrowded.... At Cottman and Algon Aves., Northeast High, with 4300 students, is on three shifts... Of Philadelphia's political leaders, a 29-year-old mother of two daughters declared heatedly: 'At election time, they want your vote, at tax time they want your dollars, but nothing else. The poor have welfare, the rich have money. What do we got? Mayor Tate is so busy trying to get the Negro vote in North Philadelphia, the Italian vote in South Philly, the Jewish vote in Oxford Circle - I'll never vote for him.' Northeast residents have been stung by the tag put on their section as a 'lily white' refuge for bigots fleeing Negroes. The charge gained wide currency after delegations of parents from the Northeast demonstrated at the school board headquarters in September 1968 against the Board desegregation plan. Under the plan, massive city-wide busing would have been undertaken - white children to black schools and vice versa - to provide integrated classroom experiences for all children one day or two days a week. Northeast mothers say the plan was unacceptable to all parents groups regardless of race, creed or color. But it was the Northeast that got the credit - or blame - for killing the scheme.... In the OOxford Circle area, two elementary schools, the Spruance at Levick and Horrocks Sts. and the Carnell at Devereaux and Summerdale, have been receiving Negro children from overcrowded North Philadelphia schools for four years. Both schools were all white before the busing began. While no organized opposition has surfaced among the white parents, there was and is much unhappiness. The concern is that a decline in standards is likely because poor Negro children are being transported from the ghetto with its education-defeating conditions, into middle class, predominantly Jewish schools where children are highly motivated."
"To ease the transition Spruance parents sought tutorial help and extra services and supplies from the School Board. The Board failed to act, however , and the Negro children at Spruance and Carnell are thus on their own....The entire Oxford Circle section is all white and always has been. But in knocking on doors at random, one senses a widely felt concern lest the neighborhood change, and change rapidly. There are no signs of the kind of overt hostility to Negroes that might lead to rock throwing and rioting should a nonwhite family move in. There are fears, however, of panic selling, mass flight and deterioration of the neighborhood. Mrs. Tomar (president of Spruance's Home and School Association) voiced a widely held opinion that factors other than racism are at the root of much of the opposition to racial change. ' We would all be extremely unhappy to see the neighborhood change completely,' she said. ' It would be very expensive to move and that's why everybody's holding right. Neighborhoods that have changed have big problems. It sounds like you're strictly a bigot if you oppose change. But it's really out of fear - fear of what has happened in every neighborhood that has changed. It's the same with busing. Parents here aren't afraid of having their children go to school with youngsters who are different. It's not white children mingling with black children per se, but the mater of safety that parents worry about.' Mrs. Tomar sees the problem of neighborhood change as one not just of race but of economic class. ' When prices drop as a neighborhood starts to turn, a lower class element comes in. Those who run first figure they'll get out while they can. Gradually even those who stayed get out to avoid ghettoization. The neighborhood becomes rough, crimes goes up and you have a low class ghetto.' ... Down the street... Mrs. Dabrow said she thought Oxford Circle could survive integration 'if the people wanted to survive it.' ...she is convinced her daughter, a fourth grader at Spruance, had benefited from the racially integrated situation. ...She also said, however, that in her opinion, 'the School Board made a big mistake in busing (Negro) children without supplying the needed supportive services.'
Late 1960s / early 1970s (Phila. Bulletin) (no date - article is next to an article "Agnew, Nixon Praise Tour of Asia Nations" on Agnew's tour of "South Vietnam" and the "Vietnamizing the war") Black, White High School Pupils Join 'Live-In' to Foster Friendship
"They're calling it a 'live-in' and the idea is to nurture black-white friendships among high school pupils. The white pupils are from Northeast High and the black pupils are from West Philadelphia High. Starting Last night about 20 from each school took up residence in what was once the power house of the Elkins estate in Elkins Park. The house is now St. Catherine's House, part of the Dominican Retreat Center. The West Phila. pupils, each with a Northeast buddy, will be going to classes at Northeast High this week. Next week the West Philadelphia pupils will be the hosts and the Northeast pupils the guests. At night they return to St. Catherine's house for special programs and discussions. Over the weekend, they'll go home. The live-in is part of an 'ethnic literature' program devised by Dr. Irene M. Reiter of Northeast's English Department. Ethnic literature pupils read Afro-American, Indian-American, Jewish-American... to round out their understanding, they're trying to grasp what it feels like to be a minority member in America. The WEst Philadelphia students, under the tutelage of Lester Coggeshall, are reading most of the same materials in a comparable ethnic literature course. About once a month, the two groups have been getting together for shared experiences..."
"A group of parents of students at Germantown High School last night demanded the return of 22 girls whose parents recently transferred them from Germantown to Northeast High School. The Board of Education has revoked 12 of the transfers, but only three of the girls actually have returned to Germantown. The rest are still attending Northeast. ...the transferring pupils live in East Mt. Airy while attending Northeast High. Usually parents may transfer their children to any school that is not overcrowded. In addition, the Board allows parents to transfer their children by 'delegating' parental responsibility to a relative or close friend within the boundaries of the new school. This requires the student live full time with his designated parents. A school district investigation prompted by the protests of Germantown parents revealed that 12 of the 22 girls were not living in the area of Northeast High School ... Most of the parents have refused to send their children back for fear of reprisals by other students and because, they say, their daughters would be subjected to 'indecencies and threats' which caused them to seek transfers in the first place. .."
1/?/68: School Shifts Canceled for 12 White Girls
"White parents who recently transferred their 22 daughters from a predominantly Negro to a predominantly white high school protested yesterday against revocation of 12 of the transfers. The transfers from Germantown High to Northeast High were approved by school officials two months ago. This was shortly after the appearance at Germantown High of Negro militants Cecil B. Moore and Dick Gregory. The Board of Education subsequently revoked 12 of the transfers on grounds they were not valid. The protesting parents told a school official they will withdraw their children from public school if the Board insists they return to Germantown High....The Board revoked the transfers after an investigation revealed that some of the pupils were not spending their required time with their new parents.... One mother claimed she would not allow her daughter to attend a school 'where she fears using the bathroom because the kids get beat up in there.' Another mother said her daughter had been attacked and beaten on a bus returning from school last spring. ... Dr. Kelner (superintendent of District 6 where Germantown High School is located), sympathized with the parents' concern and fears, but said the Board could not allow parents to resort to loopholes and 'subterfuge' as a way of transferring their children to an all white school. The parents insisted their actions were not prompted by considerations of race only of security for their children. ...Northeast High School has about 30 Negroes in a student body of 4,000. Germantown High also with about 4,000 pupils, is 69% Negro. ... School officials are withholding all parental authority transfers pending an investigation of the policy. Some have said it may be eliminated."
10/12/69: Northeast's Middle Class Feels Neglected by City (Sunday Bulletin)
(includes photo of "North Philadelphia Children are brought by buses to Gilbert Spruance Public School")
"... Schools are a key problem in many other parts of Philadelphia. In the Northeast, though, the problem is compounded by the population explosion. Until after World War II, there wasn't a single public high school in the entire section. Now there are three - all enormously overcrowded.... At Cottman and Algon Aves., Northeast High, with 4300 students, is on three shifts... Of Philadelphia's political leaders, a 29-year-old mother of two daughters declared heatedly: 'At election time, they want your vote, at tax time they want your dollars, but nothing else. The poor have welfare, the rich have money. What do we got? Mayor Tate is so busy trying to get the Negro vote in North Philadelphia, the Italian vote in South Philly, the Jewish vote in Oxford Circle - I'll never vote for him.' Northeast residents have been stung by the tag put on their section as a 'lily white' refuge for bigots fleeing Negroes. The charge gained wide currency after delegations of parents from the Northeast demonstrated at the school board headquarters in September 1968 against the Board desegregation plan. Under the plan, massive city-wide busing would have been undertaken - white children to black schools and vice versa - to provide integrated classroom experiences for all children one day or two days a week. Northeast mothers say the plan was unacceptable to all parents groups regardless of race, creed or color. But it was the Northeast that got the credit - or blame - for killing the scheme.... In the OOxford Circle area, two elementary schools, the Spruance at Levick and Horrocks Sts. and the Carnell at Devereaux and Summerdale, have been receiving Negro children from overcrowded North Philadelphia schools for four years. Both schools were all white before the busing began. While no organized opposition has surfaced among the white parents, there was and is much unhappiness. The concern is that a decline in standards is likely because poor Negro children are being transported from the ghetto with its education-defeating conditions, into middle class, predominantly Jewish schools where children are highly motivated."
"To ease the transition Spruance parents sought tutorial help and extra services and supplies from the School Board. The Board failed to act, however , and the Negro children at Spruance and Carnell are thus on their own....The entire Oxford Circle section is all white and always has been. But in knocking on doors at random, one senses a widely felt concern lest the neighborhood change, and change rapidly. There are no signs of the kind of overt hostility to Negroes that might lead to rock throwing and rioting should a nonwhite family move in. There are fears, however, of panic selling, mass flight and deterioration of the neighborhood. Mrs. Tomar (president of Spruance's Home and School Association) voiced a widely held opinion that factors other than racism are at the root of much of the opposition to racial change. ' We would all be extremely unhappy to see the neighborhood change completely,' she said. ' It would be very expensive to move and that's why everybody's holding right. Neighborhoods that have changed have big problems. It sounds like you're strictly a bigot if you oppose change. But it's really out of fear - fear of what has happened in every neighborhood that has changed. It's the same with busing. Parents here aren't afraid of having their children go to school with youngsters who are different. It's not white children mingling with black children per se, but the mater of safety that parents worry about.' Mrs. Tomar sees the problem of neighborhood change as one not just of race but of economic class. ' When prices drop as a neighborhood starts to turn, a lower class element comes in. Those who run first figure they'll get out while they can. Gradually even those who stayed get out to avoid ghettoization. The neighborhood becomes rough, crimes goes up and you have a low class ghetto.' ... Down the street... Mrs. Dabrow said she thought Oxford Circle could survive integration 'if the people wanted to survive it.' ...she is convinced her daughter, a fourth grader at Spruance, had benefited from the racially integrated situation. ...She also said, however, that in her opinion, 'the School Board made a big mistake in busing (Negro) children without supplying the needed supportive services.'
Late 1960s / early 1970s (Phila. Bulletin) (no date - article is next to an article "Agnew, Nixon Praise Tour of Asia Nations" on Agnew's tour of "South Vietnam" and the "Vietnamizing the war") Black, White High School Pupils Join 'Live-In' to Foster Friendship
"They're calling it a 'live-in' and the idea is to nurture black-white friendships among high school pupils. The white pupils are from Northeast High and the black pupils are from West Philadelphia High. Starting Last night about 20 from each school took up residence in what was once the power house of the Elkins estate in Elkins Park. The house is now St. Catherine's House, part of the Dominican Retreat Center. The West Phila. pupils, each with a Northeast buddy, will be going to classes at Northeast High this week. Next week the West Philadelphia pupils will be the hosts and the Northeast pupils the guests. At night they return to St. Catherine's house for special programs and discussions. Over the weekend, they'll go home. The live-in is part of an 'ethnic literature' program devised by Dr. Irene M. Reiter of Northeast's English Department. Ethnic literature pupils read Afro-American, Indian-American, Jewish-American... to round out their understanding, they're trying to grasp what it feels like to be a minority member in America. The WEst Philadelphia students, under the tutelage of Lester Coggeshall, are reading most of the same materials in a comparable ethnic literature course. About once a month, the two groups have been getting together for shared experiences..."