The Greenville Daily Reflector: NC Judge gives green-light to neighborhood schools

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s largest school district is set to give final approval next week to a plan to end its busing for diversity program after a judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block the move.

Judge Bill Pittman said in his ruling Friday that the Wake County school board was taking reasonable measures to accommodate the large crowds that have been at its meetings concerning the change in attendance policy.

Opponents of sending children to school based primarily on where they live had challenged the board’s move, saying public participation at meetings was limited by the size of the meeting space.

“The board has taken actions that clearly have the intention and effect of curtailing public attendance,” said Swain Wood, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case.

To ease the growing crowds at meetings, the school system began requiring people to have tickets to get seats in the board room starting with the March 23 meeting. School officials said that move was a fire safety precaution.

To compensate, school officials expanded time for public comment and meetings were shown live on video screens in overflow rooms.

“The statute is not designed to vest rights in every individual to be in the room to watch the proceedings,” said attorney Kieran Shanahan, who represented the school board in the lawsuit.
Wood said it is unlikely that his clients would appeal Friday’s ruling.

“It was a frivolous lawsuit and truly not about the Open Meetings Law,” school board chairman Ron Margiotta said. “We are bending over backwards to accommodate the public.”

Margiotta said there are no plans to move Tuesday’s meeting, where the board is expected to give final approval to removing all references to socio-economic diversity in favor of making students’ living close to school a priority.

Other groups, including the North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have threatened to sue to stop the policy change. NAACP leaders have said they think the switch to neighborhood attendance will lead to resegregation of Raleigh-area schools based on race.

The state NAACP is planning a rally Monday night at Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh.