SR_DPI_DNE_Direc_Corr_Box16_Folder11_021

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1946

Schools For
Negroes Hit
By Reynolds

Status Called
'Disgraceful'

RALEIGH -- (AP) -- "The
Negro schools of Northn Car-
olina are a disgrace to the
state," Dr. Carl V. Reynolds,
State health officer, said to-
day in commenting on the
Lumbeton Negro school
strike.

"I wouldn't be surprised to find
500 other Negro schools in the
State in the same condition that
the Lumberton schools are in," Dr.
Reynolds said.

"The disgraceful condition of
the Negro schools is excused on
the ground that 'you can't built
now,' but that excuse will not
stand--they've been in this condi-
tion since the beginning of time.
It's true that no large-scale buid-
ing program could be undertaken
at this time, but they (Negro
schools) could be kept in a better
state of repair . . . .

"There is an attitude in the
State that the Negro gets more
then he pays for, and per-
haps he does--but poverty
should be no excuse for filth,
especially when it menances the
health of the community,"

Dr. Reynolds said that under
law the county health officers were
limited in their duties with the schools.
The law provides, Dr. Reynolds
said, that the county health of-
ficer shall make a sanitary ex-
amination "during the Summer
months" of every public school
building and ground in the coun-
ty.

USE FORBIDDEN

It also provides that no school
committee or teacher shall make
use of any school building or
grounds until the county super-
intendent of health shall certify
in writing that said building and
grounds have been inspected and
found to be in a sanitary condi-
tion within four months of the
date of the certificate.

"Thus, according to the law,
we have the right and duty to
inspect school sanitary condi-
tions only during the Summer
months," Dr. Raynolds said,
"--And almost any building is
sanitary when not in use. After
the opening of the school year,
the matter rests in the hands
of school and local authorities.

'The full power of the sanitary
inspection of the State's Public
Schools should be turned over to
the Sate Board of Health, Dr.
Reynolds said.

"We ought to have the right and
power to make sanitary inspections
of the schools just as we do of
hotels and cafes," he said. "We
ought not to be liminted to the
Summer months, just before school
opens."

[Picture of Dr. Reynolds is below the article]