LDF Introduces Computer Results to Speed Mixing of Schools in Houston

    ates a! 
uel 

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President 

Hon. Francis E. Rivers 
a ATA) FE PRESS RELEASE Directer-Counsel 

egal efense und spate 
Director, Public Relations 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR RELEASE 
MONDAY, July 14, 1969 

LDF INTRODUCES COMPUTER 
RESULTS TO SPEED MIXING 
OF SCHOOLS IN HOUSTON 

Suits in Memphis, Dallas and Atlanta May Be Affected 

HOUSTON---A plan to completely integrate this city's 250,000 school 
children by September--devised by research scientists via a computer-- 
will be introduced in U.S. District Court here today. 

Attorneys of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. 
(LDF), who have been pursuing this case since 1956, said that the com- 
puter was Given one set of comprehensive and pertinent date about 
the Houston School System. 

This data--number and location of schools plus racial composition 
and location of students--was generated by the computer in a short 
period of time into “several alternate student assignment schemes." 

These plans, the LDF attorneys point out, were then evaluated 
for their individual merits, and the best one selected. 

The alternate plans were rechecked. 

One section of the ¢ity, representing 1/5 of the total populace 
and area, was run through the computer three times to be certain none 
of the alternates was superior to the plan selected. 

FINDINGS EXTENDED 

All plans were judged on two crucial criteria: busing costs and 
the level of desegregation achieved. 

The plan “with the most satisfactory balance between the two 
factors" was selected. It was then used as a model for devising the 
integration pattern for the other four sections of the city. 

The data was programmed for the LDF by ABT Associates, Inc. of 
Cambridge, Mass. It was then put into the computer by AVCO Computer 
Services of Wilmington, Mass., under the direction of Robert Norbed, 
systems analyst. 

PIONEER CASE 

LDF attorneys consider Houston as the "lead case" for bringing 
complete integration to school systems of large southern cities. 

Results of this argument may affect pending LDF litigation in 
Dallas, Atlanta, and Memphis. 

The LDF maintains that the "freedom-of-choice" method of school 
integration, which has been practiced in Houston for the past several 
years, has brought only token results. 

(Under "freedom-of-choice" the students select the school they 
attend. However, experience shows that the weight of progress has 
been placed on Negro parents and children.) 

During the Houston trial, which is expected to last two weeks, 
LDF attorneys will also ask for integration of faculty and staff by 
September. 

They will stress that during the last school year 79.8 per cent 
of the white students attended schools which had more than 95 per cent 
white student bodies. 

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LDF INTRODUCES COMPUTER 
RESULTS TO SPEED MIXING 
OF SCHOOLS IN HOUSTON -2- July 14, 1969 

Conversely, 81.7 per cent of the Negro students attended schools 
which had over 95 per cent Negro student bodies. 

This phase of the campaign to integrate Houston schools, one of 
the longest litigation efforts in LDF history, follows four U.S. 
District Court rulings ordering this city to end its dual school 
system, Previous decisions occurred on August 12, 1960; October 25, 
1965; September 5, 1967; and October 15, 1967. 

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Please bear in mind that the LDF is a completely 
separate and distinct organization even though we were established 
by the NAACP and those initials are retained in our name. Our correct 
designation is NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., 
frequently shortened to LDF.