News-Herald Covers School Closure Plans Online

Both the Community Schools SOS group and the Bertie County Board of Education made the News-Herald print and online versions yesterday. A picture of Community Schools SOS leader Kelvin Outlaw dominated the front page of the print version and the top of their home page on the Internet.

The lead article online was about the Community Schools SOS meeting of January 5th. It is titled "Bertie group begins effort to keep schools open".

The third article down was about the Bertie County Board of Education receiving verbal approval from the Department of Justice to close J.P. Law and Askewville Elementary Schools. It is titled "Schools closure receives verbal okay".

The battle is joined. The Board of Education does not believe that public opposition to their plans matters. It clearly does not matter to the 3 BOE members who are ramming this forward. It is also clear that these closures are not the desire of the Department of Justice, but someone in the Bertie County BOE, since it is not the DOJ that is racing to try and get the Judges approval before he hears about civic opposition. That is the action of the BOE and their attorney alone.

The citizens of Bertie County need to remember that.