All Clinton Pupils Hurt

Editor, The News: There is a danger that your reporting of the last meeting of the Board of Education may have obscured the important issue. It was surely newsworthy that the superintendent went as far as he did in chastising the board which appointed him. Perhaps a question can be raised as to whether he went too far in expressing his views. But I hope that those debating that question will not be diverted from the tragedy which induced the superintendent to speak as he did. The board did a mean thing. After full consideration, it decided to harm children, including many who are most dependent on the board for protection of their interests. The act was to transfer about 300 children out of Clinton School. The essential facts which were clearly put to the board are: 1) Many of the children transferred out of Clinton School are from poor and-or single-parent families. 2) As can be predicted, this group of children, as a group, has more than its share of school problems. 3) These children are accustomed to i the Clinton School student body; many have made friendships with children from wealthier, more stable families, with beneficial effects in all directions. 4) Their parents are almost unanimous in wishing these children to remain a part of the Clinton community, even if this requires a "short safety bus ride. 5) These children will be placed in a new environment in which they will be isolated and their school problems will be intensified, assuring that their school experience will be of the lowest quality available in Ann Arbor. 6) The lower grade population remaining in Clinton School will be homogeneous upper middle class, preventing contact between this population and that on the other side of the new Mason-Dixon Line (as President Warner described it). Thus all the children are hurt, black and white, rich and poor, present and future. The trustees who supported this action are not malevolent men. But their action was indefensibie, and largely undefended. There was some comment about the cost of the safety busing, but the cost _, y f f TV G' j volved waatifeïwwlBQgedTO 'De about $20,000 additional, which is small in relation to the $600,000 or so spent to edúcate Clinton children. There was also advanced an argument that the harmful action is only temporary and thus presumably, the harm can be undone later. The unvarnished truth is that these trustees responded to the fears and anxieties of middle class parents. Those parents prefer, not unnaturally, to protect their children from the hazards of associating with a group of children some of whom are hostile or have other school problems. One need not put these parents down because of their super-protective instincts. But those charged with a public trust have no right to indulge such feelings when the result is to harm children and the future welfare of us all. In short, five trustees failed to perform their duty last Wednesday night. No possible concern about the behavior of an administrator should obscure that deplorable deed.'