School Board Wrangles Over Hiring

An attempt by School Trustee William C. Godfrey to "clarify" the Ann Arbor Public Schools' policy on recruiting and hiring male and Negro teachers ended ia confusión Wednesday night. Following a two-hour wrangle which included one motion on the subject being defeated and another being tabled, the Board of Education voted to refer the matter to Supt. W. Scott man Jr. for consultation with the board's legal counsel. The hassle began three weeks ago, when Godfrey charged that the school board policy which states "special efforts" will be made to "actively recruit" and ñire more Negro teachers and more male teachers (the latter at the elementary level) is "illegal" and "discriminatory." Godfrey contends that this policy, adopted three years ago, violates the State Fair Employment Practices Act. This statute States it is illegal to recruit or hire personnel on the basis of race, religión, color, national origin, ancestry, age or sex. Roscoe O. Bonisteel Jr., the board's legal counsel, submitted a legal opinión last week which agreed the "special efforts" policy is "inconsistent" with the State Fair Employment Practices Act. The board therefore voted 5-2 last week to revise the "special efforts" policy, making explicit that preferential treatment can not be given in the actual hiring of Negro and men teachers. It was u n c 1 e a r, however, whether this motion, which was! introduced by Godfrey, would! alter actual recruiting prac-j tices in the district. In an attempt to "clarify" the schools' recruiting practices, _Godfrey introduced a motion ' Wednesday, saying the Ann Ar bor Public Schools "will not re eruit applicants for jobs for any of the following reasons- race religión, color, national origin, age or sex . . .". Stating t h e r e was nothing "malicious" in his action, Godfrey explained why he introduced it: "I believe profoundly in the concept of equal opportunity, but when you recruit on the basis of race to enlarge the pool (of applicants), this is discrimination against the other races. The board is trying to legalize racial discrimination in order to fill jobs." Godfrey's motion was strongly supported by Trustee Paul H. Johnson, who blasted the board's ''special efforts policy." "This is a clear-cut case of following the law," he declared. "Either this body is going to follow the law or it will viólate the law for its own purposes." I Godfrey's motion drew stinging comments from other trustees, however. Trustee Harold J. Lockett declared passage oi Godfrey's motion would have "very ominous" effects on the school system. "It would literally handcuff the whole school system in terms of having the I progressive school system Ann Arbor says it wants," Lockett said. Such a policy would "put us back into the stone age" and would turn Negroes and men away from the school system "in droves," he added. Trustee Hazen J. Schumacher Jr. agreed, saying the schools would be taking "a definite step backwards" if Godfrey's motion were approved. "The intent of this motion is clearly to restrict the hiring of Negroes," Schumacher declared," a move which "collides" with the national objectives of this country. Schumacher voted last week against revising the "special efforts" policy, saying that prefer-j ential treatment should be givenj to Negroes and males in recruitl ing and hiring. Godfrey's motion was defeatedl by a 5-2 vote, with Trustee Theo-l dore Heusel abstaining. Godfreyl and Johnson voted for the mo-l tion. School Board President Joseph R. Julin, Trustees Charles H. Good, Richard M. Wood, Lockett and Schumacher voted against it. Schumacher then introduced a motion completely contrary to Godfrey's, which stated that ". . . special efforts shall be made to enlarge the pool of applicants to include more male teachers at the elementary level and more Negro teachers at all levéis. In addition, no person shal be excluded from employment for reasons of race, religión, color, national origin, age or sex . . .". Bonisteel, the board's legal counsel, countered that, in his opinión, Schumacher's motion was illegal. Schumacher replied i that a legal opinión is only an opinión, and that he would not withdraw the motion. The board then voted 1 mously to table Schumachers motion and refer it to the 1 intendent for consultation withl Bonisteel. Westerman and Bonisteel will attempt to come up with a compromise solution. Prior to the two-hour wrangle, ;he Education Committee of the Coalition for Racial Justice readj a letter urging the school board! 'to do everything legally possi-j e to seek out and hire qualified I Negro teachers, and especiallyj male Negro teachers." The letter stated that "the resent fair employment laws of Michigan and the U. S. are no iarrier to an aggressive policy f hiring. Any attempt to use hese statutes as a barrier to Negro recruiting and hiring is a cruel distortion of their intent and a harsh attack on the many fforts of citizens of good will n Ann Arbor to achieve a peace!ul integrated community."