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Firing Public School Teachers

At a Little Rock School Board meeting on May 5, 1959, segregationist members attempted to push through measures to remove anyone unsympathetic to their cause from the public school system. Blocking each of these measures, representatives of moderate business interests on the school board left the meeting so that there would be no quorum. However, the segregationist president of the school board ruled that the meeting could continue. Segregationists proceeded to make a series of decisions about the running of the schools system. Most dramatic of all was the decision not to renew the contracts of forty-four public school employees, including seven principals, thirty-four teachers, and three secretaries. The decision proved a turning point in the school crisis that led to the dismissal of the segregationists and the reopening of schools on a token integrated basis.