ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapter we isolated three factors which seem to explain the acquiescence of the school board to the civil rights movement’s demands. These are the number of political professionals on the board, the socioeconomic status of the school board members, and the cohesion of the board. All seem to be a function of the procedure used to recruit school board members. By this we do not mean the formal procedure, although electing rather than appointing the school board has an important effect. But mainly we will focus upon the informal influence exerted by different sectors of the community on the recruitment process.
