Judge denies injunction against school board

August 08, 2008|Katheran Wasson

A Franklin circuit judge has denied the request of a local nonprofit group to issue an injunction against the Clark County Board of Education for its implementation of a district facilities plan.

Judge Thomas Wingate issued an order Wednesday denying the motion of Clark County Citizens for Quality Education, calling the school board's failure to meet state requirements in its planning process "minor infractions" and stating that the plaintiff failed to show how the plan would harm students.

School officials and members of the nonprofit were notified of the decision Thursday.

"We're not surprised," said Shelly Haggard, member of Clark County Citizens for Quality Education. "It's unfortunate that you go to a court system to try to enforce the law, and they don't, but none of us were surprised."

Members of Clark County Citizens for a Quality Education oppose a district facilities plan approved by the Board of Education last May. The plan calls for construction of a new high school, the merging of Clark and Conkwright Middle schools, and consolidation of the county's elementary schools.

The group filed suit in February, and a month later, Wingate denied a motion to dismiss the case, made by representatives of the Clark County Board of Education. He gave both parties 90 days to prepare for a two-day hearing, which took place in early July.

Attorneys questioned nearly a dozen witnesses, including Clark County teachers, Board of Education Vice Chair Ray Shear and board member Judy Hicks, Superintendent Ed Musgrove and state officials.

In his decision, Wingate said the facilities plan will lower the school district's costs per pupil, and that the failure of the Board of Education "to follow, with precision" all state requirements during the planning process was not severe enough to warrant an injunction.

"While the court understands the emotional connection between a school and a community, the plaintiffs did not establish that the consolidation plan would diminish the education of any students or jeopardize the health or welfare of any Clark County pupils," Wingate said in his decision.

This is the second time that Clark County Citizens for Quality Education has filed suit against the Board of Education.

The group first filed suit against the Board of Education last July, claiming the plan doesn't comply with state regulations, and that the state approved it "based on false and misleading statements."

Wingate dismissed that suit in October, saying that the decision by the Board of Education to approve the plan "was a policy decision" that is not in the court's jurisdiction to rule on.

Clark County Citizens for Quality Education is listed on the Secretary of State Web site as an active nonprofit organization, filed in Clark County on July 5, 2007 and received by the state July 16, 2007. The Web site lists Leonard Shortridge, Tom Graham, Scott Haggard and Mike Stokley as the group's directors.

The suit names the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Board of Education and Clark County Board of Education as defendants.

Haggard said the group will likely appeal the decision.

"We still feel we're right," she said. "And we will press forward."

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