Cambridge Plans Open Enrollment

Cambridge school officials said yesterday that they had already taken steps toward correcting racial imbalance in the city's one "imbalanced" school.

Figures released Thursday by the State Board of Education named the Houghton Elementary School as one of 58 state schools -- 46 in Boston alone -- where the percentage of non-white students was over 50 per cent. According to the Board, 55.1 per cent of the 488 students at the Houghton School were non-white as of Oct. 1, 1965.

Cambridge School Superintendent John M. Tobin submitted a proposal to the School Committee on Oct. 19 providing for an "open enrollment" policy. This plan, which will have to wait for approval until the next committee meeting on Nov. 9, would allow for the transfer ring of white children into, and non-white children out of the school, at their parents' request.

State education officials commended Cambridge for the steps it is taking to meet the problem. Deputy Commissioner of Education Thomas J. Curtin said that "the Cambridge School Committee deserves praise for its resolute and determined action in this direction."