1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

schools attended); to permit taxpayers to deduct contributions to nonsectarian
private schook from real and personal property taxes; and
to provide transportation at State expense for children attending nonsectarian
private schools.
Selection of the school was left entirely to parents, and grants were
available to students attending public or private schools, segregated
or desegregated, as long as they were accredited by the State board of
education. The board was specifically directed to promulgate rules
and regulations prescribing "minimum academic standards that shall
be met by any nonsectarian private school attended by a child to entitle
such child to a scholarship," but could not deal with school admission
requirements.
The closing of public schools in Norfolk, Charlottesville, and Front
Royal in the fall of 1958 was but a prologue to the complete closing
of all the schools in Prince Edward County the following year, but
there were implications of sufficient importance in each area to deserve
examination.
Norfolk.—Six secondary schools in Norfolk were closed by the Governor's
order in September 1958. Of the 10,000 children attending
the high schools at the time, approximately 5,000 received some sort
of makeshift tutoring in groups organized by public school teachers. 91
A private school, the Tidewater Academy, was established for grades
7 through 12, but it failed to gain the community support such schools
received elsewhere, probably because of the cosmopolitan nature of
Norfolk and, more important, the refusal of public school teachers to
take part in the venture. The academy continued in operation after
the public high schools were reopened in February 1959 and is still
in business (though with substantially diminished enrollment). 92 A
substantial number of tuition grants have been approved by the Norfolk
school board, and it has been estimated that a new high of $365,000
will be disbursed for this purpose in igGi-Ga. 93
Charlottesville.—Pupils from two public schools in Charlottesville
closed by Governor's order in September 1958 received instruction in
emergency quarters, mostly by teachers from the closed schools (who
continued to be paid by the local school board). The public schools
reopened with permission of the court on a segregated basis in February
of 1959 and on a desegregated basis the following September.
Mr. Fendall R. Ellis, superintendent of schools, testified at the <strong>Commission</strong>'s
Gatlinburg conference that approximately 450 children withdrew
from public school and enrolled at 2 new all-white private schools
in the community. (The two schools, the Robert E. Lee Elementary
School, and Rock Hill Academy, a high school, enrolled 200 to 300
pupils each in the school year 1959-60.) On the subject of finances,
Mr. Ellis said: M