Views of Black School Superintendents on School Desegregation

Abstract

The concept of racial balance has been the most prominent feature of school desegregation strategies since the Brown decision in 1954.1 Many proponents of school desegregation believe that the dissolving or restructuring of predominantly black school systems, particularly in the urban centers, is the principal challenge confronting school desegregation in the 1980s. But there is increasing support among school desegregationists for making Brown a vehicle for providing effective schooling in mainly black school systems. The nation's approximately sixty black school superintendents are located primarily in predominantly black school systems. For many black superintendents, their success in improving the educational lot of black students may well depend on their effectiveness in relating the mandates and promises of Brown to the particular cultural and educational circumstances inherent in majority black school systems. The views of black superintendents on school desegregation constitute a valuable resource for courts, attorneys, and school boards in their determination of the permissible and effective policies of school desegregation. A questionnaire was prepared by the author and mailed to sixty black superintendents to solicit their responses to forty-eight statements pertinent to school desegregation, the education of black students, and the role of the black superintendent. Thirty-five