The Long Range Plan For Integration
Norfolk eventually decided not to face a federal lawsuit and began to plan out their new desegregation plan for the, then, incoming decade in the 1960s. The new desegregation plan drawn by Norfolk City Public Schools promised an “improved educational program…as a whole.” In addition, because of the increased involvement of the Virginian federal court, Norfolk had to restructure its entire school system to foster desegregation of every component of academia, including teachers. This is where the focus on Norfolk’s Black teachers begins, as they are focused on teachers as a separate group that is not lumped in with all Black people in Norfolk academia. However, the new system the Norfolk City Public Schools Board created for teacher desegregation would go on to reinstate segregation as its foundation. Documents describing Norfolk’s goals and timelines of teacher integration serve as evidence to prove the reinstatement of their segregated system. In the document, the Norfolk School board considered supporting one Black teacher to two White teachers teaching population. While also proposing a “Majority of white teachers on every faculty,” which flew in the face of what the definition of desegregation and integration is.
However, it would not come as a surprise that the formal plan written by the Norfolk City Public Schools Board left out the blatant disregard for real desegregation due to the fear of federal intervention. This plan was named the “Long Range Plan” for desegregation, and it went on to define the attitude Norfolk had towards the desegregation of its school system.
Throughout the document, the Norfolk City Public Schools Board used vague language to mask any accountability or expectations of change attached to the plan. This language is extended in section 4 of the “Long Range Plan”, reading that schools must “reflect the ratio of available White and Negro teachers in the system.” It also plans to accomplish this goal in four school years, making the school year of 1971-72 the goal for faculty integration according to the year he Norfolk City Public Schools Board formed the plan. However, the text does not state what the ratio is and readers are only given the knowledge that the current teacher population was “two-thirds white and one-third Negro,” in a paragraph below the previous statement. Ultimately, the plan changed nothing, as it reads as if the plan is to maintain the current segregated system when promising fundamental change through desegregation.
Initially, the court case Brewer v. School Board of Norfolk looked to expose the false goals made by the Norfolk City Public Schools Board by forcing them to make a timetable for the faculty integration plan. However, the Norfolk City Public Schools Board continued with the plan despite the court’s decision as their goals still fit the “with all deliberate speed,” order made by the Supreme Court. For the next four school years, the plan worked to completely shift Nofrolk’s school faculties to maintain its white majority under its integration plan. Though the plan fit the broad standards of the Supreme Court, it still hurt the overall representation of Noroflk’s Black teachers.