Lawyer requests that Jefferson County school officials be held in contempt
In a case stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision that rejected the use of race in assigning students to Louisville schools, a lawyer's request that Jefferson County school officials be held in contempt and put in jail has been turned down, before school district lawyers even responded to the request. "Defendants need not respond to such an outrageous motion, couched in such unprofessional language," U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II wrote. In his motion, attorney Teddy B. Gordon said he wants the current system scrapped and about 2,800 students allowed to change schools immediately. Classes are scheduled to begin Aug. 13. The Supreme Court ruling was issued June 28, and the district has since dropped race in making individual assignments and is starting a new plan to come up with another system. But Gordon said the students already assigned for the 2007-08 school year should be given options to attend different schools and that failing to do so violated the ruling. He asked the judge to hold administrators and school board members in contempt and jail them if they couldn't show they complied with the ruling. The Supreme Court's ruling came after most assignments had already been made, and school district lawyers say the decision does not require them to change assignments made before the ruling. Judge Heyburn said that, if the plaintiffs disagree that the district has taken steps to comply with the ruling, they should file the appropriate motion. "The court has every intention of thoroughly considering the legitimate concerns of both sides raised in a civil and appropriate manner," he said. "Unfortunately, the motion most recently filed falls far short of these last two basic requirements." While "calling for contempt citations and incarceration of individual school board members and administrators will not advance the resolution of any legitimate concerns," he said, the court would "gladly set an immediate hearing to discuss any future valid motions that require attention." Byron Leet, a lawyer for the school district, says the order shows "the business of educating school children and assigning student is serious—it's too important to leave to games and motions that were clearly without any merit." A spokeswoman for Mr. Gordon says he was following "normal state court procedures" to enforce an order of the court and plans to file more motions before the court "as warranted."
Lexington Herald-Leader
By Associated Press
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[Editor’s Note: For background, see below.]
[NSBA School Law pages on Louisville aftermath of Supreme Court decision]