Pace Academy's Origin Story - KnightTimes Winter 2019

ORIGIN STORY

F R E D G LA S S ’89 SHARES THE STORY OF P A C E A C A D E M Y ’S FOUNDING

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ORIGIN STORY

T MILLS B. LANE, JR.

hat a new private school opened on Atlanta’s north side in September of 1958 is not all that remarkable when considering the issues in play.

It was inevitable that someone would conclude that the time was right to start another school and act on a plan to do so. It was not inevitable, however, that the school would be open to families of all faiths and backgrounds and dedicated to imbuing its students with the tools needed for free thought and critical analysis.

It is exceedingly remarkable that a school like Pace Academy was founded against the backdrop of events and prevailing attitudes existing in Atlanta in the 1950s and without any significant source of financial backing.

Never was this struggle more evident than in 1958 and 1959, Pace’s first two years, and it was overcome by a dedicated group of ordinary people—parents, teachers, and business and civic leaders—who cared deeply for Atlanta’s future and whose children represented the promise of that future.

SETTI N G TH E STAGE F O R A N E W S C HO O L

WILLIAM R. PATTERSON

ROBERT S. REGENSTEIN

JOHN L. WESTMORELAND, JR.

In 1957, a seasoned educator conceived the idea of Pace Academy. Her vision, entrepreneurial spirit and brief tenure at Pace set in motion the chain of events that enabled the school to open on Sept. 15, 1958.

Pace’s founding was a relatively early development in the annals of Georgia education. The state’s first public schools opened in 1872; high schools received no public funding until 1912; gender segregation in city high schools was the norm until 1947.

In the 81 years between the end of Reconstruction and Pace’s inception, Atlanta became the undisputed capital of Henry Grady’s “New South,” and the city’s economic rise only accelerated after World War II. Atlanta’s success brought with it an increased appetite for private education.

The city’s private schools can be traced back to 1878 when two of George Washington’s great nieces established the all-girls Washington Seminary, which merged with the all-boys North Avenue Presbyterian School to become The Westminster Schools in 1951. Woodward Academy and Marist School were established as all-boys military schools in 1900 and 1901, respectively. The Lovett School opened as a primary school in 1926.

The seminal event leading to the foundation of Pace Academy was the May 17, 1954, unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The Warren Court declared that “separate

education facilities are inherently unequal,” and that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. States were ordered to desegregate “with all deliberate speed.”

All Georgia public schools were segregated at the time of the court ruling. Georgia Governor Marvin Griffin spoke out against the decision and pledged to keep Georgia’s schools segregated “come hell or high water... The rest of the nation is looking to Georgia for the lead in segregation,” he said. In 1956, the Georgia legislature proceeded to change the state flag, incorporating the Confederate Battle Flag in symbolic defiance of the federal government and the Supreme Court decision.

In September of 1957, nine African American students, who became known as the “Little Rock Nine,” enrolled in the all-white Little Rock Central High School.

Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent these students from entering the school. When Faubus refused to comply with President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s request to abide by the court decision, Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and added elements of the 101st Airborne Division to protect the students and enforce the court order for the remainder of the 1957–1958 school year. Faubus retaliated by shutting down all Little Rock high schools for the 1958–1959 school year.

Atlantans watching the events unfold in Little Rock and the accompanying gubernatorial response became alarmed and concerned about the possibility of military escorts and the wholesale closing of Atlanta’s public schools. Many also were concerned about perceived leadership ineptitude and teaching practices employed

by Atlanta’s public schools; others espoused racist views. For these reasons, affluent white Atlanta families of the late 1950s turned en masse to the city’s existing private schools.

In 1959, Ernest Vandiver was elected governor of Georgia, pledging to defend segregation using the campaign slogan “No, not one,” referring to not one black student in a white school. Vandiver was later persuaded to change this segregationist stance by future Atlanta Mayor Ivan Allen Jr., future U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell, Coca-Cola President Robert Woodruff, and banker and Pace Academy founder MILLS B. LANE, JR. P LA N T I N G T HE S E E D S O F P A C E A C A DEMY JANE TUGGLE always wanted to start a school of her own. She taught in the Florida public school system after graduating from Wheelock College in Boston, Mass., and moved to Atlanta in 1949. A year later, she founded the Stratford Country Day School downtown. Not long after, she opened Lad ‘n’ Lassie, a preschool at 53 15th Street.

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ORIGIN STORY

á An early rendering by architecture firm Barker & Cunningham

FRANK D. KALEY

JEAN FORD

SARA PARKER

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Both schools were well regarded and profitable, but to buy the property from Mrs. John Ogden for $500. To Tuggle, as an educator and a shrewd businesswoman, convert this option into a mortgage contract however, was drawn to the opportunity on Atlanta’s north side.

Tuggle and Massey would have to raise $20,000 in The supply-and-demand dynamics caused by long priearnest money, $80,000 for closing and $100,000 to be vate-school waiting lists together with the public-school paid in monthly installments over the next 10 years. disruptions created an opportunity that was simply too The for-profit corporation Pace Academy Inc. was good for Tuggle to pass up. chartered on Feb. 11, 1958, with no assets other than Leveraging her two existing schools, Tuggle asa $500 purchase option. In prospectus papers filed sembled a team she felt would strengthen the project’s shortly thereafter, Massey is listed as “Trustee and odds for success. She approached friend and licensed President,” Tuggle as “Trustee and Secretary-Treasurer” psychologist T. BENJAMIN MASSEY, president of the and Patterson as “Trustee.” There can be no doubt consulting firm Psychological Services Associates. With that Pace Academy owes tremendous gratitude to psychology degrees from Duke University and North Tuggle for both the selection of the Ogden estate as Carolina State, Massey served on the faculty of Georgia the school’s campus and, incidentally, for the name Tech’s psychology department. Sensing a need for legal “Pace Academy” affixed to the new corporate charter. expertise and counsel, Tuggle and Massey approached well-known attorney WILLIAM R. PATTERSON. Together, E A R L Y F I N A N C I A L S T R U G G L E S Tuggle, Massey and Patterson began to raise funds and distribute stock to Atlanta’s wealthy families in what was “I can’t tell you how hard we worked to design several initially a decidedly for-profit venture. different plans, or should I say ‘schemes,’ to raise Patterson was raised by two educators in Hickory, money [to launch Pace Academy],” Patterson recalled N.C. He served in the Pacific theater during World War in a 1999 interview.

II and received a bachelor’s degree from Lenoir-Rhyne Despite their best efforts, Tuggle, Massey and College and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law. Patterson fell far short of reaching the $100,000 He came to Atlanta in 1950 upon joining the law firm required for Pace Academy Inc. to close on the Ogden of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan. Despite his reservaproperty. Patterson noted that they “raised a few tions about the for-profit aspect of this new school, bucks”—approximately $2,000—enabling the group Patterson developed a deep personal interest in seeing to secure a $18,000 loan from Trust Company Bank to Pace succeed. Over the next 31 years, he devoted satisfy the earnest money requirement, but they still countless hours and heroic effort to the project and needed $80,000 to close on the Ogden estate on May fulfilled a godfatherly role for the school.

21, 1958.

Even before soliciting Patterson’s involvement, Tuggle The group quickly realized that more talent and was determined to secure the available Ogden family wisdom on the board would be necessary to raise the estate at 966 West Paces Ferry Road as the new school’s additional funds. On Feb. 18, 1958, a special meeting of location. On Jan. 22, 1958, Tuggle purchased an option stockholders was convened at The First National Bank

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ORIGIN STORY

RICHARD L. MOORE

J. DAN ANDERSON

ROBERT H. FERST

DILLARD MUNFORD

LANGDON C. QUIN, JR.

Building in Atlanta to elect Trustees, and seven individuals were unanimously elected: ROBERT S. REGENSTEIN, JOHN L. WESTMORELAND, CECIL ALEXANDER, JOSEPH H. PATTERSON, FITZHUGH M. LEGERTON, JEFF H. MCCONNELL and J. RALPH MCCLELLAND. Among the professions represented were pediatrician, attorney, architect and minister. All were personally and financially committed to the new school and believed deeply in its possibility for success.

Despite their best efforts, however, Pace Academy Inc. went into default on the Ogden contract when it failed to obtain the required funds to close. Convinced that the for-profit aspect of the school was the problem, on May 28, the stockholders voted unanimously to dissolve Pace Academy, Inc., and on June 26, a new nonprofit Georgia corporation, also named “Pace Academy, Inc.,” was incorporated and assumed all the prior corporation’s assets and liabilities. Fortunately, Mrs. Ogden was still willing to negotiate as she hoped that the property would become a school.

On July 2, 1958, just two and a half months before Pace Academy opened its doors to students, “cash in bank” was listed at a negligible $285.24, with liabilities far outpacing assets. Despite the precarious financial situation, Patterson sent a letter addressed to “Friends of Pace” to solicit contributions to the new non-profit.

“The purpose of this letter is to let you know that Pace Academy will open in September,” it began.

On July 28, Tuggle followed with another letter: “Again, let me assure you that Pace Academy will be open this fall, in temporary quarters if need be.” The letter, urgent in tone, explained that “important decisions regarding Pace’s future, in which you as an interested parent and friend have an important role, must be made prior to fall.”

Those interested were invited to join Pace Academy Trustees at “a very important dinner meeting” to be held in the Dinkler Room of the Dinkler Plaza Hotel on August 3, 1958. This meeting was monumental to Pace Academy’s founding—17 families pledged $21,600, and Pace’s first fundraising campaign, The Founders Fund Campaign, was organized with a goal of $125,000.

The enthusiasm was palpable as 27 parents volunteered to participate on the campaign committee.

Well-known Atlanta businessman and zealous Pace supporter RICHARD L. MOORE agreed to chair The Founders Fund Campaign and articulated his motivation in a letter to Pace families: “1) I firmly believe in sound private school education for my children, and 2) I recognize that Pace must complete the purchase of the fine Ogden property at 966 West Paces Ferry Road by the first of September.”

Within a week, The Founders Fund committee raised nearly $125,000, and C&S Bank President Mills

B. Lane Jr., inspired by the enthusiasm and energy of the school’s supporters, agreed to offer his conditional support. “You know, sometimes you’ve just got to do things with your heart instead of your head,” Patterson recalled Lane saying.

Lane agreed to a one-year loan of $85,000 on Aug. 26, 1958, on the condition that he receive personal guarantees for the loan. Almost immediately, 25 Pace supporters provided personal guarantees.

“I can’t tell you how many stepped up to the plate,” Patterson later commented. “I don’t believe I ever told my wife that I had personally guaranteed that confounded loan. She would not have appreciated it at all.”

With the necessary funds and personal guarantees, Pace Academy Inc. closed on the Ogden contract on Aug. 29, 1958, and became the new owner of 966 West Paces Ferry Road. The school opened its doors to students at 53 15th Street on Sept. 15, 1958, so that preparations could be made at the new West Paces Ferry campus. Students, teachers and administrators moved into “the Castle” on Oct. 2, 1958.

P A C E A C A D E M Y O P E N S I T S D O O RS Tuggle retained the administrative title of “director” of the new school and worked hard over the summer to assemble a faculty in anticipation of the September start date. In her letter of July 3, Tuggle mentioned that Pace boasted “an outstanding” faculty, and that “each faculty member has been contacted within the past week, and each has reaffirmed his/her intention to teach at Pace this year. Contracts for teachers are now being prepared.”

A document included with the letter listed the highly respected educators who comprised the Educational Advisory Committee for Pace Academy: DR. BEN A. BOHNHORST, head of the Education Laboratory at Oglethorpe University; Reverend FITZHUGH M. LEGERTON, minister of Oglethorpe Presbyterian Church; DR. HERBERT O. SMITH, former principal of Boys’ High School; MRS. HOWARD C. SMITH, experienced teacher and cultural leader; and Massey, Tuggle’s original business partner.

Tuggle did an exemplary job as director in putting together a committed and accomplished faculty for the 1958–1959 school year, many of whom she hand selected, like JEAN FORD and SARA PARKER. Ford accepted the position of principal and remained at Pace until the late 1970s. She later became a thirdgrade teacher, but her tenure at Pace was legendary.

She was highly respected by her students, committed to academic excellence, and skilled at balancing academic rigor with discipline and a love of learning.

Parker, a strict disciplinarian and a moral guide, taught first grade and was known for her love of children. The

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ORIGIN STORY

BICKERTON W. CARDWELL

S. RUSSELL BRIDGES

DOUG FORD '67

1970 Pacesetter, dedicated in Parker’s honor, reads: “She has earned the respect and admiration of students, parents, and faculty, and it is a pleasure to commend a person whose efforts have resulted in excellence.”

In all, Tuggle recruited 14 teachers: two per grade in grades one through seven, one kindergarten teacher, a French teacher and a physical education instructor.

Many of these original faculty members remained at Pace long past its inaugural year.

By Sept. 15, 150 students were enrolled at Pace Academy, far below its 225 target. Tuition—$350 for first grade and $400 for students in grades two through seven—had been set based on the projected enrollment goal, and the fledgling school found itself cash poor.

“Pace was indebted to Mrs. Ogden, to C&S Bank and to the holders of the debentures, payment of which Pace had assumed when it assumed the liabilities of the first for-profit corporation,” Patterson recalled. “Pace had not been successful in raising adequate funds to assure its survival.”

To address this issue, Lane suggested a “shot in the arm” from local business leaders and looked to the Young Presidents Organization, a network of executives, for new Trustees. The following individuals joined the Board on Jan. 22, 1959: J. DAN ANDERSON, president of Southland Coffee Company; ROBERT H. FERST, president of M.A. Ferst Ltd.; WILTON D. LOONEY, president of Genuine Parts Company; DILLARD MUNFORD, president of the Munford Company; LANGDON C. QUIN JR., president of Hurt and Quin, Inc.; BICKERTON W. CARDWELL, vice president and personnel director of C&S Bank; and S. RUSSELL BRIDGES JR., president of Piedmont-Southern Life Insurance Company. Regenstein was elected chair of the newly formed Board of Trustees and remained in that position until 1960.

TH E P ACE F AM I L Y I S BO R N

TIMOTHY WEISS '71

DR. JAKE WARD

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Undoubtedly, Pace parents were an indispensable factor in Pace’s founding. Their heroic efforts are remembered

by Jean Ford’s son, DOUG FORD ’67, who, in a 2001 interview, fondly recalled moving into the Castle.

“I think the school just wouldn’t have gotten along without the parents,” Ford said. “Not only did they have the same sense of purpose as the teachers, or maybe even a stronger sense of purpose, but they also kicked in and did a lot of the work that needed to be done, from raising a flagpole and putting in a fire alarm to grading for an athletic field. It was amazing. I remember the mothers coming in when we were still on 15th Street with little brown bags, and fixing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for us… you don’t get that at any other school that I

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can think of. Without the parents, the school just wouldn’t be here… and I don’t mean monetarily, although monetarily, as we all know, it’s also true.”

The cozy Castle reinforced a “family feeling” among students and was the genesis of the “Pace spirit” that many alumni of that era felt strongly. TIMOTHY WEISS ’71, who started at Pace as a kindergartener at the 15th Street campus, remembered the periodic brotherly “pat on the head” from upperclassmen walking by in the hallway.

Trustee DR. JAKE WARD attempted to explain Pace’s uniqueness in a 1999 interview: “The connection between size and quality is clear,” he said. “It seems to me that you can observe this in banks and in stores, too.

When you grow too big, you lose quality; you lose that human touch. I always use Pace as an example, because I am convinced that as a school, even in the beginning, it was superior to anything else in Atlanta. By virtue of its very size, it was the place where you were most likely to get real, personal attention.”

With only 150 students in 1958, every Pace teacher knew every student by name; parents looked after others’ children as their own; students helped their classmates as a sibling might.

“What is unique about a small school is that it can’t have cliques,” a member of the Class of 1970 remembered. “You didn’t have enough people at Pace to look down their noses at the people who were geeks—and anyway, we were all geeks!”

Teachers maintained open-door policies and encouraged students to visit—regardless of whether they taught the student—to facilitate a vibrant learning environment. Discussions often continued long after class and attracted the interest of other students and teachers, who joined the conversations.

“We were blessed with wonderful teachers,” one alumnus said. “[They] really cared and created a nourishing environment. Sure, they had to meet certain requirements, but they were free spirits, and we all benefited from that. I think that was what Pace was all about.”

As the Castle was the only building on campus, space was limited. Classrooms became lunchrooms and labs; teachers, students and parents shared bathrooms and other facilities; the Gardens served as playground, outdoor classroom and amphitheater; the library was located wherever books could be stored and frequently moved.

Although equipment was almost nonexistent, athletic and music programs began in that inaugural 1958–1959 school year. Pace Athletics grew out of the physical education program, as the school had a dedicated PE teacher from the beginning.

A PACE FOUNDER A CHANGE IN L EAD ER SH I P Just months after school began, the leadership of Director Jane Tuggle was called into question by both parents and teachers, many of whom she had personally recruited. It was not long before the Board of Trustees began to hear the complaints, and it became increasingly clear that Tuggle did not share the Board’s vision for the school.

By the spring of 1959, Tuggle’s relationship with the Board had become openly adversarial. Events escalated to the point that Tuggle hired Pinkerton Detectives to deny entry on campus to any of the “new” nonprofit Trustees. On April 21, Tuggle called a meeting of original stockholders in the for-profit corporation and prohibited new nonprofit Board members’ attendance in an attempt to seize power and elect new leadership. She telegramed the nonprofit Board members and advised them that their roles as Trustees had been terminated.

In response, on April 22, the Board of Trustees fired Tuggle and appointed Trustee Bickerton “Bic” Cardwell as temporary director. Cardwell, a former teacher at Episcopal High School in Virginia, was the only Trustee with any school experience.

“We just sort of said, ‘Bic, you’re elected,’” Patterson recalled. Cardwell dutifully accepted the post, and the search for a qualified director began—a search that led to the hiring of FRANK D. KALEY, Pace’s first headmaster, in July of 1959.

Tuggle threatened personal and collective lawsuits against the Trustees but failed to attend scheduled hearings, and the motions were dismissed. When Tuggle parted ways with Pace, so too did the original for-profit Trustees. All those on the nonprofit Board remained, unified in their mission and the vision they had for the school that they wanted Pace Academy to become. l SOU RC ES America in Color: The 1950s, Smithsonian Channel, 2017 An Unfinished History of Pace Academy by Suzi Zadeh Obituary of T. Benjamin Massey Obituary of William R. Patterson

L O N GT I M E P A C E A C A D E M Y T RUST E E W I L L I A M R .

P A T T E RS O N, U P O N C O M P L E T I O N O F H I S 3 1 S T Y E A R O N T H E B O A R D , R E S I G N E D O N M A Y 2 2 , 1 9 8 9. T H E F O L L O W I N G EXCERPT FROM HIS RESIGNATION LETTER RECOUNTS THE SCHOOL’S FOUNDING AND OFFERS WORDS OF WISDOM TO CURRENT AND FUTURE SCHOOL LEADERS AS T H E Y E N V I SI O N P A C E ’S N E X T 6 0 Y E A RS. My involvement with Pace began in January 1958—more than 31 years ago. It seems to me that is long enough; by now I have shared with Pace all of the good ideas I am likely to have. And so I am submitting my resignation effective at the end of this school year. I do this with regret because I have been a part of Pace since before it was born, and it certainly has been a part of me. But it is time for the old guard to step aside, to let new ideas and more energetic younger people take charge.

It would be nice to say that serving on the Pace Board has been a continuous pleasure, highlighted by one success after another. But that would not be true.

Service on the Pace Board has been costly in time and money—it has required long hours of hard work—at times it required enduring the disdain of others (some because we took a leadership position in integrating private school education in Atlanta—some because Pace was perceived as an inferior school, and being prominently identified with it did not reflect high honor on the Trustee).

Always service on the Pace Board required a willingness to persevere and a determination to stay with the job until we had achieved our goals. And what were those goals? They were to help Pace Academy become a genuine asset to the community—a school that would help young people develop an awareness of the need to serve their community, and the knowledge that excellence requires hard work, but is attainable and is worthwhile. To become a school with a recognized, superior academic program. A school where the Trustees, the faculty, the parents, and the students work together to develop a “spirit.” A school that is a good citizen and is a significant force for good in the community.

We had this dream for Pace in 1958 when the opportunities to obtain a quality education for children on Atlanta’s north side were not adequate to fill the need.

This is not to suggest anything in a negative way about the other schools; it is meant only to state that we saw an unmet need, and as a matter of community service decided to fill it. These goals were certainly not achieved in 1958. At the beginning, Pace was not recognized as having a superior academic program, and in truth, it did not then have one; it did not then have the “spirit”; it was not yet a significant force for good in the community. But over time, Pace has made great progress toward reaching these goals, and this progress reflects the dedicated efforts of the parents, the faculty, and the Trustees, and a continually improving student body.

I am proud of the part I have played in helping Pace develop from a standing start to the position it occupies today. I am proud that when others in public and private schools were seeking ways to avoid integration, the Trustees of Pace, under no coercion except their collective conscience, said, “This is right—open the doors.”

I think each person now serving on the Pace Board of Trustees should be proud to be part of this fine institution.

Of course, we have not yet fully reached our goals, and perhaps we never will.

Perhaps we never should. Once we feel we have met a goal, unless we replace it with a new goal, the incentive to strive for excellence is diminished. And so I admonish the continuing Trustees and the administration to bear in mind the words of the old mountain man: “Son, if the going is getting easier, you ain’t still climbing.”

With great affection for Pace, WILLIAM R. PATTERSON KnightTimes | Winter 2019

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