Race For The Finish Line

Friend of the Court – Saves Our Schools

Windsor, North Carolina, 1/23/2006 – The citizens of Bertie County and three renegade members of the Board of Education are deadlocked in a race to a March 1 finish line in federal court. The winner will determine the fate of the three best performing elementary schools in Bertie County. Three members of the Board of Education would like to close these schools against the majority wishes of the county citizens and two members of the board.

The citizens pulled even in the race last Thursday as they announced they had collected 2,221 petition signatures in only a two week period. A citizen’s trip to victory lane is going to depend on making the judge aware of significant information he should know but will not, if his "education" is left up to the Board of Education and Department of Justice lawyers. The surest way to inform the judge just how badly the desires of the citizens are being overrun is for the Commissioners of Bertie County to sponsor a friend of the court brief to the federal court hearing the case. Since a ruling can be expected by March 1st or sooner we need to move as fast as possible to make the friends of the court brief happen.

A friend of the court brief is a third party, not involved in the lawsuit, who hires a lawyer to provide significant information to the court that could impact the outcome of the case. The third party files the brief because they do not believe the court will see the missing data in any other way. Last Thursday night, Bertie citizens at the SOS meeting learned the best friend of the court they could hope for, is none other than the Bertie County Commissioners. They have the financial ability to assume this role and they would have strong credibility in the courts eyes. All SOS members and all citizens are asked to contact their County Commissioner and urge them to call a special meeting to approve allowing the county attorney to file a friend of the court brief on behalf of the children and citizens of Bertie County. Time is of the essence.

Only two public meetings have been held since the board publicly announced their renewed intentions to close these schools as a way to (according to the BOE) "end" a 38 year old desegregation case. One meeting (one hour) was called by the Board of Education and the second meeting (two hours) was agreed to by the Board of Education after significant prodding by the County Commissioners. At both meetings, 100% of the public comments were against closing the schools. Without a friend of the court brief, the judge may never know adequate public debate has NOT been allowed and that with additional time the county citizens can prove through petition just how badly the majority wishes are being ignored.

In addition, the friend of the court lawyer can share with the Judge the SOS team findings that refute many of the claims made by the Board of Education and Department of Justice lawyers. An example of important information the Board of Education attorneys should be pointing out to the court and are not, is the conflict between the recent Heery report and the August 2004 report by the Department of Justice desegregation consultant. The DOJ consultant in the 8/2004 report told the court that the historically black school at JP Law was in much poorer shape than the historically white school in Askewville. In fact, the DOJ consultant touted the great condition of the Askewville facility. This was the Department of Justice’s proof that Bertie County had discriminated. However, the independent Heery study tells us that Askewville is in worse shape than JP Law. This disproves the Department of Justice allegations about Bertie County discriminating.

In fact, both schools are in acceptable condition and with ongoing maintenance have many teaching years ahead of them. Why has the attorney for the Bertie Board of Education not pointed this out to the court? Why do they allow us to look guilty when we are not? Today, there is no longer a dual school system being operated in Bertie County. We should be granted unitary status now. Additional information supportive of our innocence can be provided to the court by a friend of the court legal representative and we can save our community schools.


Press Release by Community Schools SOS