Seek New School Integration for Oklahoma City Children

    President 
Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel 
egal efense lund Jack Greenberg 

Director, Public Relations 
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. ieee 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

SEEK NEW SCHOOL INTEGRATION 
FOR OKLAHOMA CITY CHILDREN 

OKLAHOMA CITY---The U.S. Court of Appeals was asked to approve an open 
school enrollment plan this week covering Negroes living in 18 school 
attendance areas here. 

Taking a cue from their recent victory in the U.S. Court of Ap- 
peals for the Fifth Circuit, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational 
Fund, Inc. (LDF) attorneys filed a supplemental brief in the Oklahoma 
City school desegregation case now before the U.S. Court of Appeals 
for the 10th Circuit. 

The LDF attorneys argue that the case before the 10th Circuit is 
principally the same as the one which resulted in the landmark victory 
from the Fifth Circuit. 

The Fifth Circuit Court, in a sweeping decision, held that the 
"only school desegregation plan that meets constitutional standards is 
the one that works." It ordered all federal courts under its juris- 
diction to follow the guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health, 
Education and Welfare in a school desegregation order. 

The new case, before the 10th Circuit, involves an earlier appeal 
by the Oklahoma City Board of Education against the Federal District 
Court order which provides for immediate school integration based on a 
plan recommended by a panel of educators. 

The plan, as proposed by three specialists in educational fields, 
sets down transfer policy which would permit students to transfer only 
to schools where they would be in a racial minority, 

This plan, in effect provides for open enrollment for Negroes 
living in 18 school attendance areas, allowing them to attend any 
school in the city which has a majority of white pupils. 

Another provision combined the attendance districts of Harding 
and Northwest High Schools and Classen and Central High Schools, making 
one school in each pair a junior high and the other a senior high. 

Attorneys for the LDF contend that this plan, if allowed to oper- 
ate, may produce a method for achieving comprehensive integration of 
classrooms across the country. 

The three-judge panel, which took the case under advisement on 
May 25, 1966, has not yet reached a decision. Ordinarily opinions on 
lower court decisions are issued by the Circuit Court within 60 days 
after the arguments, 

A longer time may elapse when the Circuit judges are unable to 
agree on an opinion or when matters of major importance are under 
consideration, as they are in the Oklahoma City case. 

The LDF attorneys feel, therefore, that the filing of the supple- 
mental brief, based on the Fifth Circuit precedent-setting decision, 
would have important bearing on the deliberations now under way by the 
three-judge panel. 

The attorneys arguing the case for the LDF are U, Simson Tate of 
Wewoka, Oklahoma, and Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg, James MM, Nabrit, 
III, and Michael J. Henry of the New York office. 

2306 

E25