Ed School Dean Denies Harvard Will Control Roxbury High Under Masters' Integration Plan

Harvard will not take over "governance" of Roxbury High School, as some Boston teachers said they feared might happen under the masters' plan for integrating Boston's public schools. Paul N. Ylvisaker, dean of the School of Education and coordinator of the University's involvement with Roxbury High, said yesterday.

In response to concern expressed by officials of the Boston teachers union that universities might usurp the responsibilities of high school faculties. Ylvisaker said, "We have been asked in to be supportive, and we want to make it clear that we should be back-up resources."

The Integration plan calls for the "Intensive involvement" of Harvard and the State Street Bank of Boston with Roxbury High School as part of a program pairing local universities and corporations with the 17 high schools in the Boston school system.

Four masters appointed by U.S. District Judge W. Arthur Garrity Jr. presented their integration plan in draft form last Friday, with hearings to be held on the plan Tuesday. Judge Garrity is expected to issue a final order before April 15.

President Bok has asked Ylvisaker to coordinate Harvard's involvement in the Boston public schools, but Ylvisaker said yesterday that his position is University-wide and that he wants to draw on all parts of the University and not just the Education school.

Support for Report

"What I'm doing now is sounding out the different parts of the University," Ylvisaker said yesterday.

He added that "I really like the masters' report in broad outline," and that he liked their strategies for integration and involvement of local universities with the Boston public schools.

No Politics

He said the University wanted to serve a constituency and be sensitive to its needs, but that the constituency had not been specifically identified yet. Ylvisaker said University officials had not yet met with the masters, and would wait until after Judge Garrity issued his final order.

"We want to remain positive," said Ylvisaker, "and we don't want to get caught in the politics of the situation."

Thomas G. Brown, vice-president of marketing at State Street Bank, said yesterday he had yet to talk with anyone at Harvard or Roxbury High School about the bank's involvement. He said he did not know what was expected of the bank under the masters' plan.

Corporate Cooperation

"There will certainly be cooperation from our bank, as long as we can continue to do business at the same time," Brown said yesterday. He said the bank viewed community involvement as an important part of its business, especially because "we may be facing a situation which will have a significant impact on the whole area."