Atlanta Daily World

Board To Name New High School For Prof. Harper

The Atlanta Board of Education Monday night voted unanimously to name the new Westside High School in honor of the late Dr. Charles Lincoln Harper and approved a motion calling for an increase in salary for all professional and non-professional employees.

Action on naming the new school, the Charles Lincoln Harper High School came on a motion by Dr. Rufus E. Clement, seconded by Board Member Oby T. Brewer.

Dr. Clement also offered the substitute motion, which the Board approved, committing the body to the proposition of granting all school personnel an increase of not less than a two-step raise in pay, effective not later than September 1.

The proposed increase in salary was first presented by Board member Ed S. Cook at the May meeting and was offered again for action Monday night.

NORTHWEST CITIZENS PRESENT PETITION
A petition requesting that the new institution be named to honor the memory of the late Dr. Harper was presented to the Board by John H. Calhoun, who pointed out that he was the first principal of Atlanta's first Negro high school - Booker T. Washington High School - where he served from 1924 until he was retired in 1942.

A native of Sparta, (Hancock, County Ga., the distinguished Atlanta educator was a graduate of Morris Brown College, with additional study at the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the State of Georgia Summer School. He was an active and faithful member of Big Bethel AME Church.

The petition pointed to his notable achievements at Washington High School; as president of the Gate City Teachers Association; president and executive secretary of the Georgia Teachers and Education Association; and as president of the Atlanta Chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The petition was signed by the Northwest Council of Clubs Rev. William S. Mercer, president; Carroll Heights Community Organization, Mrs. Hazel Carter, president; Crestwood Forest Community Club, David F. Allison, president; Hightower Community Service Club, Rev. Z. V. Berrien, president; Fairburn-Bolton Road Area Civic Club, B. T. Middlebrooks, president; Precinct 3-L Organization, Q. V. Williamson, president; and Santa Barbara Civic Association, Mrs. E. C. McClinton, president.

$944,500 RESERVED FOR WESTSIDE HIGH

The balance of the 1957 Bond Issue was $1,627,000 reserved for appropriations for two new schools: $944,500 for the New Westside High and $682,500 for the new E. R. Carter School to be constructed in the University Center Urban Renewal Area.

The Board Monday night authorized the Administration to secure appraisal of the 12-acre site at the northeast quadrant of the intersection of Fairburn Road and Collier Road for the Westside High.

Board Member Harold F. Jackson, chairman of the Building and Grounds Committee, told the Board that the Alvin Road site, approved for the Westside High School at the May meeting of the Board, is badly needed for an elementary school and it was recommended that it be held for an elementary school.

Dr. Ira Jarrell, who was praised for her unselfish service for the students, teachers and for better schools, in resolutions by the PTA Council of Atlanta and also by the Board of Education, was given a standing ovation before adjournment.

Also in attendance at the meeting was Dr. John W. Letson, superintendent-elect, who takes office on July 1.