214	The Story of the Jewish Defense League

bThen selection is made from anywhere on the list. It is thus bpossible where local bias operates, to pick whichever the bbiased person chooses. Secondly, standards for initial licens- bing and requirements for promotion to supervisory posi- btions are devaluated. Third, the assignment of unlicensed bpersonnel to positions as “acting” supervisors, who soon bbecome permanent in their jobs.

bThe assault on merit in the schools was a particularly bgrievous one since tens of thousands of the city”s teachers band supervisors were Jews who had struggled all their lives bto attain their positions strictly on merit, and now faced a bcalamity. The assault was not new, as evidenced by a Resolu- btion passed by the High School Principals Association on bSeptember 25, 1969, that began:

b“It has come to our attention that Superintendent Ber- bnard Donovan on the eve of his departure from office on bAugust 29, ordered the Board of Examiners to hold a closed bexamination for eight Blacks designated by him for second- bary school principalships. This action was taken despite the bfact that every individual named by him had a full oppor- btunity to participate in an open qualifying examination.”

bThe protests of the teachers and supervisors were futile in bthe face of governmental collapse and collusion, lack of bsupport by the Jewish Establishment, and an unwillingness bto use the kinds of methods that other groups had used to bforce compliance with their demands. As long as Jews re- bmained respectable and respectably turned the other cheek, bthey were doomed.

bThe seeds of cowardice and apathy of the late sixties bbloomed in all their noxious weeds in the early seventies. bThus, the Community School Board of the Lower East bSide’s District 1 approved on June 8, 1972, a policy that:

b“The Community Superintendent shall take steps to re- bcruit and appoint teachers representing the ethnic groups bin the City of New York and shall, using the natural process bof attrition as jobs become vacant, be responsible for de- bveloping an ethnic distribution among the staff that is more bnearly representative of the student population in the dis- btrict. This responsibility shall apply also to the filling of bsupervisory and other positions.”