Wake Parents, With Letter, Urge Cooper to Reopen Schools | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the Carolina Journal. The author of this post is Dallas Woodhouse.

    A group of Wake County parents has written Gov. Roy Cooper asking him to reopen schools for in-person instruction. Wake is the state's largest school system.

    "There is no rational basis for restricting public-school children in one set of schools while allowing private school children in the same neighborhood to enjoy the benefits of in-person instruction," reads the letter from Anthony J. Biller of the Envisage Law Firm. The letter also went to state school Superintendent Catherine Truitt and to members of the Wake County school board.

    A bill to reopen schools still sits on the governor's desk, and he has intimated he wouldn't sign it because it neither follows state health department protocols nor preserves the ability of local authorities to respond to emergencies. What he means, exactly, by those caveats isn't clear.

    Regardless, the bill, if Cooper fails to act on it, becomes law after Saturday.

    The letter is the first step by a group of parents toward getting their children back in school.

    The letter asserts that the governor's orders are unconstitutional, invalid, and deprive students of their "fundamental right to Equal Protection under the Law and their right to a sound education."

    Wake County parent Carrie Lynn Flowers started the group, which has about 1,000 members. She and the other parents have raised half of the what's needed for a potential lawsuit, the group says.

    The law firm representing the group of parents asked for a response from Cooper by this week.