2 Legislators Back Suspended City Teacher

LANSING - Two black representatives from Detroit have requested the Ann Arbor Board of Education and j dale Board of Education to reinstate black teachers who have "recently been denied an opportunity to pursue their careers." State Reps. David S . Holmes, D-Detroit, vice I chairman of the House Civil I Rights Committee, and Daisy I Elliott, D-Detroit, a member of the House Education I mittee, also asked for the reinstatements. They said one incident I involves Rebecca I horst, a black social studies teacher at Forsythe Junior I High School in Ann Arbor. Miss Vanderhorst has been suspended from her teaching job pending a review and has been barred from admission I to the building, the two representatives said. "Allegedly Miss Vanderhorst was involved in the writing and publication of a flyer stating that Negro History Week ceremonies had been cancelled, a fact which according to the authorities in charge, was not accurate. "In addition, it has been further alleged that the distri' bution of the flyer caused unrest among the students at the junior high school and resulted in the early dismissal of classes that day." (The flyer actually indicated that Miss Vanderhorst had been relieved as coördinator for the Black History program and that other teachers were opposed to plans for the Black History Week observance.) The legislators said that "because of past reports of racist attitudes on the part of certain parents and school personnel," at Forsythe, they are urging the school board to reinstate Miss Vanderhorst and to proceed with a hearing as soon as possible. I In Ferndale the Board of Education decided not to give tenure and refused to renew the contract of a woman faculty member, Mrs. Gloris Pitts, who allegedly was habitually tardy. The two representatives said h o w e v e r that they believed the "tenor of the community" was not friendly I to black residents in Ferndale and that this was more of a I factor in the ouster of Mrs. Pitts. '