Kansas

Thurman-Watts

vs

Board

Celia Thurman-Watts sued the Board of Education of the City of Coffeyville and Superintendent A. I. Decker in the Kansas Supreme Court to compel them to admit her sixteen-year-old daughter to the local high school. This occurred during a time when junior high schools were being created, so the question of whether middle schools included the 9th grade was an issue. In the state of Kansas, high schools could not be segregated by race so the question before the court was: Is 9th grade considered high school? If so, school officials could not refuse admission based on race. The Court asked the superintendent which grades he considered high school. He stated that the first eight grades were elementary, and grades 9-12 were high school. Because of this answer, Thurman-Watts won the case. [131 words]

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