Wayward Bus?

Charleston drags its feet

School board members in Charleston, S.C., knew that the Department of Justice had been investigating complaints of segregation in the 47,000-student county school system for 14 months. But with the Carter Administration scheduled to leave office on Jan. 20, they naturally assumed that any new civil rights initiatives would be left for the new Government, which is expected to downplay the use of busing to achieve integration.

Not so. As the year drew to a close, the Charleston County schools got a letter from Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Drew Days III. Its message: the school system had 20 days to come up with a voluntary integration plan that would meet Justice Department standards.

The timing of Days' message--and its demand for a response in early January, just twelve days before Ronald Reagan's Inauguration--led South Carolinians to charge that Days was trying to present the new Administration with a fait accompli.

Charleston's Post called Days' letter "an arrogant piece of folly." Attorney and School Board Member John Graham Altman described it as "a parting shot by some people who are losing their jobs shortly. Let the Government sue." Charleston politicians chose to see the crackdown in even pettier terms--as an attempt to create an embarrassment for South Carolina Republican Strom Thurmond, who will head the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 97th Congress. Thurmond agreed. Said he: "South Carolina didn't go to Carter this year, and it's a little funny that they decide to file a case only after Carter lost." Justice insisted, "The decision was based solely on its merits."

Roughly 40% of Charleston County's black students attend school in districts that are at least 95% black. In the city of Charleston, more than 90% of white students attend private schools to avoid integration. On the face of it, therefore, the Justice Department action was long overdue. Ironically, however, busing as a possible remedy is solidly opposed in Charleston by blacks as well as whites. Says City Councilman Robert Ford, a black: "We need improvement in the city schools, but the solution isn't busing."

Last week, though, as the school board prepared its response to the Justice Department, the focus was more on delay--until Jan. 21--than on the condition of the schools. Summed up one irate school official: "They want to hear that we will come up with a plan. So we will come up with a plan for them. But when Reagan comes in and these guys are knocked out, we'll ask Senator Thurmond to help us out."

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