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834 Oakdale Rd. N.E. Atl anta, Ga. 30 307 19 Oc tober 196 7 Hon. Ivan Allen Jr. Mayor City Ha.11 Atl anta., Ga.. Dear May or Allen: As y ou know, while I cannot be ca lled a. di s int er ested bysta nder, I have only the of fici a l position of citizen. I hope you will be willing, t herefor e , to consider some comments on r ecent events in the city. The School Board ha s been sub j ected to some unwarr anted a t tacks recently. Unwarr anted primarily because they wer e not constructive in helping the educ ationa l sys t em . As t hes e att acks have c ontinued, t he re is a pattern of development that s e ems to offer clue s a s to how it a ll came about. These a re the clues a s I see them. As y ou know t here a r e t wo memb ers of t he Boa.rd, Mitche ll a nd Tate who ha ve s pent a. great deal of time pl aying for one particul ar s ection of the vote s. However, neither of t hem ca n even r ead a. report and understand it, so by themsel ve s, I don't t hi nk they could have st art ed this. However, for a number of y ears Mitchell ha. s b een carrying a.11 ma tt ers about t he Board to Pasc a l. She, being f a irly sharp, pic k s t hem over i n a very one si da:i manner and then Mi t chell brings these b a.ck to the next meeti ng . Si nc e Tate ha s be en on, he has b een in t his too. Most of the s o-c a lled issue s t hat have b een r a ised ar e furt he r di storti ons of these. Now whos e i dea it wa s to present this package to the s o-c a ll ed Coa lition I d o not knowj but I su spect Pa.s ea l. Whet he r it was present ed to Johnson a s a. way t o f ur ther his campai gn f or mayor or whet her he thou ght t hi s up is not i mmedi at el y app arent. In add i t i on t o thi s i nt erna l i nformat ion, t her e is another mat t er. The Summit gr oup asked t o meet wi t h the E. O. A. Ne i ghbor hood Cou ncil to enlist thei r support. Pa s ca l wa.s a l s o there a.nd fr om the mi nut es of the meeting t hat I sa.w , her remar k s were anythi ng fr om const ructi v e or concil iatory . Now as I und ers t and the function of the Hum.an Ri ght s Commi sion i t i s to he l p coord i nat e and exp l ain t he a ctio ns of government to t he pe op l e effec ted and t o he l p expl a in to gover nment the needs a nd desires of the people . I t s eems t o me t hat t he Exedutive Se c reta ry i s no t doi ng t hi s at a ll but is att empting to or gani ze a bl oc t o change the governing bodi es . During t his to-d o al l sort s of peopl e have been c oming ou t of the woodwork , like Geral d Reed , and I'm convinc ed the pl an inc l ud e s a n a l most entirely new Sc hoo l Board a l ready s e lect ed by Pa sc a l. How fa.r she ha s gotten on the Alderma.ni c B ca.rd and other offices I do not know, but Mass el ha s tried to get i nto the a.ct, a gai n qui t e unconstruc tively. It is an i nt er es ting s i tua tion and a s one of your stanch support ers, I think y ou shou l d know t hat if it c ontinues a nd i s even pa rtia lly s ucces sful, it can r esu lt i n a. very strange School Boa.rd. Most of the present memb er s are complete l y diggu sted wi th t he sit uati on and i f i t continue s may no t even run . The a.mount of time consumed ha s b e en e normous and, a s y ou know, bus iness peop l e a.re a lready short of time. I t hi nk wi t h those t wo exc ept i ons, the Board is a s good a s a city can hope f or a nd i t the j ob bec omes l es s attr act i ve bec ause of t hese c omplete l y unconstruc tive attack s, what wi ll happen to our sc hoo ls ? The newspapers were par ticul a r l y unhel pful in t his s equ enc e of event s but, appa r ent l y ev en t hey a.r e rea lizing that it is time to shut it off . Notice the Letter s-to- t he- Editor t hey are now pri nti ng . Si nce t hey onl y pr i nt t ho s e l ett ers that a gree wi t h the ir pos ition , I fee l t hi s is si gni f i cant . If y ou have gott en to read this I hope i t ha s b een a more eff i cient expend itur e of y our t i me than if I a sked to come down and s ee y ou as I have in the pa.st. However , as a l way s, if I c an be of any help i n any thing at a l l , pl eas e c a l l on me. Sinc er ely, ~R ~ ~'!!~• �