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5. Transition Come and follow me . . . Mark 1:17 Even if Vander Stukes had been able to get Mr. Levi’s tax receipts altered and to provide financial aid for the parents’ bus, the Pearsons and the other country folk were no longer in the mood to accept such crumbs. Emboldened, they now wanted free and unconditional school bus transportation for their children . Rev. De Laine and the Pearsons made an effort to get the bus issue back on the NAACP’s agenda. Meanwhile Scott’s Branch was having its difficulties. The new principal, S. Isaiah Benson, did not respect the teachers, parents, or students. Nor was he skillful in judging the feelings and intelligence of others. This was unfortunate because he had to deal with two major problems: that of out-of-district students and that of accommodating twelve grades in ten classrooms. Some teachers— like my gentle, compassionate mother—already had more than fifty children in one room. Even so, Mr. Benson gave no evidence of wanting to promote teamwork. Instead, from the time he arrived, he began alienating various segments of the community. According to some, including teacher Albert Fuller, he was a boastful loudmouth who belittled people and talked down to them. He was disorganized , as well as unable and unwilling to ensure proper supervision of students. As a result of this, a discipline problem developed. During Maceo Anderson’s tenure, children who misbehaved were sent out into the long hall to wait for punishment. Only on cold days, when coats were shed and hung in the hall (because there were no cloakrooms or lockers), could they find hiding places. With too few nails and too many children, coats often fell to the floor, lying in piles like autumn leaves ready for a bonfire. Children banished to the hall burrowed under the coats, simultaneously trying to keep warm and to avoid being seen. Mr. Anderson had patrolled the unheated corridor frequently, giving a whack to every mountain of coats with a sturdy cane. A too-resistant pile got an extra two or three whacks and the Transition 43 message, “Come on out. No use trying to hide.” Principal and culprit then had marched to the office where, behind closed doors, Mr. Anderson had addressed the child’s transgression and meted out appropriate punishment, fairly and efficiently . Everyone accepted the procedure. The new principal, however, seemed to have no idea of what to do with children who caused problems. When he found a child cowering in the hall, he steered the student—without reprimand or punishment—back to the harried teacher and a room sheltering up to one hundred other pupils. The resourceful teachers, often having less than two years of college education, generally managed to keep order, but the energetic children taxed the ingenuity and patience of even the most experienced instructors. Sooner or later some child accidentally, or intentionally, poked another, and an argument started. With no classroom assistant, it was difficult for the teacher to attend to a recalcitrant or wronged child at the expense of so many others. It was the principal’s job to resolve discipline issues. But Principal Benson reneged on his duty. With the child safely back in the classroom, he took no further interest. Student behavior at Scott’s Branch degenerated. Mr. Benson further undermined discipline by his approach to teacher absences. In Clarendon’s black schools, six dollars per day was deducted from an absent teacher’s paycheck and used to pay the substitute teacher. Often Mr. Benson didn’t hire substitute teachers. Instead he drafted older girls to cover classes, a practice common in small rural schools. Scott’s Branch, however, was not small, and individual classes were unduly large. Under the inexperienced teenagers, student behavior worsened. Frequently away from the campus during school hours, the new principal not infrequently failed to meet his ninth- , tenth- , eleventh- , and twelfth-grade students for mathematics. After his first month at Scott’s Branch, he taught only three or four classes per month, hiring a substitute teacher to cover the rest. If high school students at Scott’s Branch learned any mathematics that year, it was a miracle. The substitute was neither a college graduate nor a student of mathematics , and some pupils had no mathematics textbooks for the entire school year. Not all complaints against the new principal were about educational materials or teaching commitments. According to Reverdy Wells, president of the Scott’s...

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