Recollections from the Montclair School District

In 1967, the Montclair community rose against the Montclair Board of Education to integrate the public schools. Although many residents were involved in the desegregation fight, 25 families were actually named in the landmark case, Rice et al. vs. the Montclair Board of Education. The results, as determined by then Commissioner of Education Carl Marberger, stated that Montclair must provide equal and integrated schooling. This decision eliminated the neighborhood schools and was the beginning of the Montclair magnet school system in place today.

Pictured standing (left to right), are plaintiffs Katherine Joyce, a child in the school system in 1967; Marlon Brown; Joe Green, father of plaintiff; Renee Baskerville; Carolyn Willis, board of education member who drove the integration efforts; Bunny Rice, mother of plaintiff; and Marjorie Baskerville, mother of plaintiff. Pictured seated (left to right) are Sandra Lang, a student when the schools were segregated; Lorretta Hodge, a teacher during that period; Larry Richardson, father of plaintiff; and Bobbi Reilly, town council activist in education at the time.

—By Jeanine Ruda Genauer, Public Relations Specialist, Montclair School District

Photo by Brown-Rice committee for the Montclair Public Schools