Why the School Board lost the Southside cases | Eastern North Carolina Now

First of a three-part series

    We were treated last week to yet another example of bad reporting. This time by Emery P. Dalesio of the Associated Press who wrote a story headlined: Court: Suspended N. C. students can go unschooled. It was a story on the NC Supreme Court's rulings in two cases that came from Beaufort County. For that reason, we presume, the Washington Daily News gobbled up the flimsy reporting and ran it virtually unedited.

    You can read the AP story by clicking here.

    When we asked a couple of friends who read the AP story what they got out of it we confirmed our suspicions: It was all wrong.

    Most people would conclude after reading the AP report that the students lost their case. Just the opposite happened.

    The students had lost, lock stock and barrel at the trial court level. Their suit was dismissed by Judge William Griffin. The students appealed to the Court of Appeals where the dismissal was upheld in a 2-1 decision. The Supreme Court however "reversed and remanded" the case back to the lower courts. So at its simplest level the "students won and the Beaufort County School Board, former Superintendent Jeff Moss and principal Todd Blumenreich lost."

    But from a real world practical standpoint, the students lost. They lost nearly a year of their life as a result of bad decisions by educators. They served an unjust punishment and it is over. They have both gone on with their lives.

    So what we are left with is how this case will affect future students.

    And in that sense the AP writer was even more wrong. It is a landmark decision.

    The reason the 4-2-1 decision was so significant is that for the first time the NC Supreme Court has held that students cannot simply be dismissed from school not only for no good reason but without being given a reasonable reason by school administrators.

    The reason that is important is because of exactly what happened in Beaufort County. If you go to our "School News" section on this site you will find the list of stories we published related to the "Southside riot."

    One story in particular explains the problem with how Beaufort County school officials at the time handled the incident that happened on January 18, 2008. You can read it by clicking here.

    And if you want to watch the video of what happened that caused this case click here.

    If you watch the video you should know it is shot after the major fights took place inside. As the clip begins students are leaving the building headed to the bus parking lot. The girl in the blue shirt with the orange jacket is Jessica Hardy. The girl in the white shirt is Viktoria King. It is clear in the video that Jessica turned around from going to the buses and "went after" Viktoria, who it appears simply defended herself.

    In all of the turmoil, no one was seriously injured.

    It should also be repeated for those who do not read all of the articles, that school officials confiscated the video and had it removed from You Tube. Then they refused to release it. They took only a couple of still shots from the video to show at the School Board hearing and failed to allow the board to view the entire video. Then after the Observer obtained it from students, school officials refused to explain how they interpreted the video as evidence. Viktoria and Jessica received equal punishment. Other students who engaged in similar acts were readmitted to school, some within a week, and others were allowed to attend the alternative school. School officials have never explained why the discrepancy in punishments existed. And it is just that refusal to explain the rationale for their actions that caused them to lose at the Supreme Court. Nearly three years later the Supreme Court said school officials erred in not explaining their actions. It is rumored that the School Board spent over $50,000 in losing this battle.

    If you wish to read the court's decision click here.

    But the facts in the case are not what the Supreme Court focused on. The issue there was whether Jessica and Viktoria had a right to an alternative education. In the second installment of this report we will address the law the court handed down.

    Delma Blinson writes the "Teacher's Desk" column for our friend in the local publishing business: The Beaufort Observer. His concentration is in the area of his expertise - the education of our youth. He is a former teacher, principal, superintendent and university professor.