The October legal bill for the school district, submitted by Boykin & Davis, LLC, totals just over $19,000. Nearly $6,000 of that was committed to the ongoing battle with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
And now, sources close to the issue indicate that the board is considering a civil rights lawsuit against the SACS.
An unnamed source told The Herald Independent that during the executive session portion of Tuesday night’s school board meeting, the board discussed with their attorney, Charles Boykin of Boykin & Davis, LLC, the possibilities of suing SACS based on civil rights issues.
“Since you already seem to know, the answer is Yes,” confirmed board member Polly Parker (Dist. 7). “They’re talking about suing SACS based on race. They’re talking about getting civil rights lawyers.”
Parker said she is dismayed by the strategy.
“I cannot be a part of something that is being made racial when it’s not,” she said.
Vice Chairman Rickey Johnson, however, would not confirm the discussion.
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “Maybe somebody heard something that I didn’t hear.”
Whatever the current trend of the strategy, the decision to go on the offensive seems to have been made early on, in spite of assurances two weeks ago by Johnson (Dist. 5) and Board Secretary Annie McDaniel (Dist. 4) that no such offensive existed.
According to an Oct. 1 line item in the current legal bill, the district was charged $105 for “Discussing ability to bring action against SACS.”
The current bill brings the two-month total to $32,236.20. The two-month SACS total comes to $11,804.21.
Neither McDaniel nor Board Chair Catherine Kennedy (Dist. 1) could be reached for comment prior to going to press.
Regards,
College Personals