"Negro Pupils At Farmville Go on Strike"
(AP) The entire student body of the R.R. Moton Negro high school walked out yesterday, protesting against "inadequate" facilities at the school, and were still on "strike" today.
Four hundred and fifty-five pupils left school shortly before noon after attending an assembly they said "was so overcrowded that breathing was difficult." One of the students said the school auditorium seats only 300, and the students who must stand in the aisles create a serious fire hazard.
School officials were slighly [sic] dismayed at the action, pointing out that a new $800,000 high school is in the planning stage.
Superintendent T. J. Mellwaine said negotiations were in progress for a site. In Richmond, Dowell J. Howard, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, said the State Education Department had approved the new school as part of Prince Edward County's four-year school development program.
Big Outlay Planned
The program also includes plans for three new Negro elementary schools. All told, the county intends to spend $1,925,000 improving Negro school facilities, as against $675,000 for white schools.
The new Moton school, which as now planned would take care of 700 pupils, was approved by the State Education Department January 25.
However, the county school board must submit another application for monetary help before any State funds can be released for construction of the school.
Mellwaine said the strike apparently was a protest against conditions at the present school and delay in the construction of the new school. He said he didn't know how much longer it would be before work started.
The superintendent said the walkout "seemed to be student-inspired." In answer to a query he declared it had "nothing in the world" to do with a recent rail crossing accident in which five Moton students were killed when a school bus was struck by a train.
A member of the student "strike committee" complained that a new school building had been promised for five years, and "all we get is tar-paper shacks." Three temporary wooden buildings were erected to relieve overcrowding at the school. The student said that they are improperly heated, have leaky roofs and lack sanitary facilities. She said there are only two lavatories and four drinking fountains for the 455 pupils, all located in the main building.
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