Education: Delay for Dallas

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Ever since U.S. District Judge William H. Atwell reluctantly ordered Dallas to desegregate its schools, and thereby made it the scene of the next major test of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision, the city's 639,000 citizens have been preoccupied with one question: Will Dallas become another Little Rock? Last week the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans ended the suspense—at least for a while. Though Dallas must eventually comply with the law, said Judge Richard T. Rives, voicing a unanimous decision of the three-judge court, it should have further time to prepare itself before any date is set.

When Atwell made his decision, explained Judge Rives, he thought that he was complying with a mandate issued by the appellate court. He was mistaken; the mandate did not necessarily compel immediate full-scale integration. It simply prohibited the barring of individual pupils from any particular school because of race. But even this limited kind of integration should not be put into practice until responsible school authorities, acting in good faith, feel that local conditions permit.