COURT OF APPEALS SAYS WAKE SCHOOL BOARD VIOLATED OPEN MEETINGS LAW

The North Carolina Court of Appeals held today that the Wake County School Board violated the state Open Meetings Act last spring by intentionally excluding the public from meetings about the county’s diversity policy.  The ruling formally clarifies and affirms a previous Wake County Superior Court decision, and in so doing clearly states that the school board violated North Carolina’s Open Meetings Act both through the enforcement of an onerous ticket policy and the complete exclusion of the public from the Committee of the Whole.

“This is a great victory for the rights of all citizens to open and transparent government,” said Mark Dorosin of the UNC Center for Civil Rights. “It is also, I believe, a decisive statement that the school board cannot continue to attempt to push through its agenda without meaningful input and scrutiny from the public.”  

Dhamian Blue of Blue Stephens & Fellers LLP was co-counsel for the plaintiffs and appellants in the lawsuit, along with attorneys from the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP, the UNC Center for Civil Rights, the North Carolina Justice Center, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, and Wood Jackson PLLC.