By Staff
Lawsuit refiled in Wake County on Wednesday
By DAN PARSONS
Staff Writer
WILLIAMSTON — A group of Bear Grass and Jamesville residents met Tuesday night to allay fears the fight to keep those towns’ high schools open had come to an end.
The Bear Grass and Jamesville Concerned Citizens withdrew its lawsuit against the Martin County Board of Education less than a week after filing it Feb. 6.
Bear Grass resident Phil Hodges, a leading member of the effort to oppose consolidating the county’s four high schools into two, said the fight had simply been taken to a different arena — and with new and larger opponents.
After the initial filing, the group’s attorney, Robert Hunter of Greensboro, suggested the suit be refiled in Wake County. The lawsuit was refiled in Raleigh on Wednesday.
Before refiling in Raleigh, the group added the State Board of Education and State Superintendent June Atkinson to the list of defendants. The Martin County Board of Education was the original defendant named in the lawsuit.
The complaint lists five counts against the Martin County school board regarding its Feb. 4 vote to close Jamesville and Bear Grass high schools. Each count lists from 15 to 30 allegations. The central theme of the suit is that consolidation would deprive Bear Grass and Jamesville students of their constitutional right to a sound, basic education. The group also contends that students currently attending the two smaller schools would be forced to bear an undue burden disproportionate to what students at Williamston and Roanoke high schools would experience.
Wynne knows something about busing. He is the director of transportation for Beaufort County Schools. He has said the consolidation measure would require some students to ride buses for up to three hours a day in transit to and from their schools. Some students would have to get on a school bus as early as 6 a.m. if the school merger goes through, group members contend.
The proposed consolidation would move students attending Bear Grass High School to Roanoke High School in Robersonville. It would also send students at Jamesville High School to Williamston High School. Seventh- and eighth-graders at Bear Grass would move to Roanoke Middle School. Middle school students in Jamesville would remain there until a middle school is built in Williamston.
The rally was the third in a series the group has held to update residents about the progress of the consolidation issue and to raise money to pay for legal costs associated with fighting the school board’s decision. To date, the group has raised $44,000 toward a goal of $70,000.
Raleigh attorney Kenneth Soo, with Tharrington Smith law firm, will represent the Martin County school board along with Daniel Manning, the school board’s Williamston-based attorney.