Virginia Pupil Placement Board 

Virginia Pupil Placement Board 

Creator Commonwealth of Virginia
Description The Pupil Placement Board was created by an act of the General Assembly passed on September 29, 1956 as part of a program of “massive resistance” to federally ordered school desegregation. The act that created the board divested local school boards and division superintendents of their authority to determine the school to which a child might be admitted and placed all power of enrollment or placement with the Pupil Placement Board. This body consisted of three residents of Virginia who were appointed by the governor to serve during his term in office. Among the factors that the board was to consider in assigning particular pupils to particular schools were the efficient operation of the schools and the safety and welfare of the pupils. From the beginning of the board’s existence, its efforts to control pupil assignments were frustrated by decisions of the federal courts and by local school boards, which increasingly tended to ignore the board. On April 29, 1959 the General Assembly passed an act returning responsibility for school assignments to local authorities. Despite the loss of most of its power, the Pupil Placement Board continued to exist for seven more years until it was abolished by an act passed by the General Assembly in 1966. Collections consists of the following series: Routine applications, 1961-1966. Special applications relevant to inactive files, 1959-1966. Special applications, 1959-1966, 1964-1966 (bulk). Correspondence and subject files, 1958-1966. Minutes, 1958-1966. Legal files, 1958-1964.

Guide to collection is available at: https://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=lva/vi02003.xml.

Call number Record Group 62 Accession 26517
Date from 1958
Date to 1966
Geographic school Virginia
Size 276.8 cu feet
Access restrictions yes/no yes
Access restrictions Restricted access: redacted copies of the restricted materials are available.
Part Of larger collection yes/no no
Larger collection title
URL
Repository Library of Virginia
Repository address 800 East Broad Street, Richmond, VA 23219-8000
Repository contact name
Repository contact title Archives Reference Services
Repository contact email archdesk@lva.virginia.gov
Repository contact phone (804) 692-3888
DoveRegion region5
Subjects o    African American students

o    African Americans–Civil rights

o    Almond, J. Lindsay (James Lindsay), 1898-1986

o    Public schools

o    School children

o    School integration–Massive resistance movement

o    Segregation in education

o    Virginia. Department of Education

o    Virginia. General Assembly

o    Virginia. Pupil Placement Board

Types o    Bills (Legislative records)

o    Correspondence

o    Government papers

o    Legal documents

o    Minutes

o    Organizational Records

o    Reports