By Jack Bass
Governmental Affairs Staff

Ten more South Carolina school desegregation plans, including seven in Charleston County, have been approved by the U. S. Office of Education.

State Supt. of Education Jesse T. Anderson said he was glad for the breakthrough, but that it has been too slow in coming about. He said another 35 to 40 plans are in Washington that should be approved soon.

The 10 new approvals bring the total to 34 of the state’s 108 districts now in compliance with the Civil Rights Act. The 10 districts had a total enrollment last year of 58,025.

In addition to the seven Charleston districts, those approved are Kershaw County, and two Chesterfield County districts – Jefferson and Pageland.

Approval is required for a district to receive federal funds. North Charleston’s Cooper River district, which receives more than $900,000 a year in federal impacted area funds, was among those approved.

The other Charleston districts are McClellanville, James Island, St. Andrwes, Moultrie (Mt. Pleasant), John’s Island, and St. Paul’s.

All of the plans approved were freedom-of-choice types.

A U.S. Office of Education spokesman said the percentage of South Carolina plans approved should be up considerably by the end of next week.

The spokesman said the South Carolina situation had improved considerably as a result of a July trip by Office of Education officials to Columbia and Charleston to meet with school officials.

The seven Charleston County plans are identical and provide freedom of choice for all 12 grades.

A Cooper River spokesman said approximately 100 Negroes had applied for transfer to white schools in that district, which last year had an enrollment of 14.065 white and 5,635 Negro pupils.

St. Andrews Supt. C. E. Williams said he would not know how many Negros would transfer until school opens Sept. 1.

Kershaw County Supt. Arthur Stokes said more than 100 Negroes have applied for transfer in the seven attendance areas of the county. He said the district was still processing application requests.

There is only one Negro high school in the district, Jackson High in Camden. Stokes said he expected there would be some Negroes in attendance at all of the white high schools in the district – Camden, Mt. Pisgah, Baron DeKalb, Blaney and Bethune. He said the plan was patterned after the Chester County plan.

The two Chesterfield County district each will have 36 Negroes transferring to previously all-white schools.

All of the transfers at Jefferson are high school pupils. The district has no Negro high school, and 76 high school age Negroes attended Petersburg High School in the Pagelanddistrict last year. Only 36 applied for transfer.

No elementary pupils applied for transfer, according to Supt. Garlin A. Hicks.

Pageland Supt. R. C. Campbell said discussions will be entered this fall to terminate the agreement with Jefferson concerning the Negro pupils attending Petersburg High. This is required by the district’s desegregation plan. Campbell said any exchange of pupils between districts in the future would have to be on something other than a racial basis.

At Pageland, there will be 16 Negroes attending Pageland High School and 20 transferring to white elementary school.

The Pageland desegregation plan provides that no choice by high school pupils can be denied because of overcrowding because there are only two high schools in the district.