The Montgomery County School District and several individuals seeking civil action in response to the upcoming consolidation of the Winona Separate School District and the Montgomery County School District have amended their federal lawsuit to include Montgomery County.
According to the suit, filed on June 18, 2018, Montgomery County was included as a defendant because the board of supervisors approved the creation of two voting districts, one north and one south, to elect the consolidated school district’s two elected members. The other three members will be appointed by the Winona Board of Aldermen, as dictated by the consolidation statute.
With the city population eliminated from the county, neither of the two county districts are a minority heavy district, and the Montgomery County School District contends that “it [is] highly unlikely that a black will be elected from either district. Accordingly, the statute effectively dilutes the voting power and strength of blacks in Montgomery County.”
The makeup of the consolidated school board is central in the litigation, with Montgomery County School District pushing for an all-elected board elected from the five existing supervisor districts.
The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday in a special-called meeting to discuss the litigation. The board went into a closed meeting to discuss the litigation. They retained County Attorney Alan D. Lancaster to represent the county.
“[The Montgomery County School District] did not ask for any relief against the county,” Lancaster said. “They didn’t like our districts. [The board of supervisors] was told to come up with two districts as required by the state and that is what they did.”
Lancaster said in his 40 years as county attorney for Montgomery County, he has never had a political subdivision of the county sue the county.
Because the Montgomery County taxpayers fund the Montgomery County School District in part, taxpayer funds are being used to fund the plaintiffs’ attorney as well as the defendants’ attorney. County taxpayers living within the Winona Separate School District are also funding the defendants in the suit against the Winona Separate School District.
Montgomery County School District Attorney Chynee Bailey said, “The only relief we are asking is injunctive relief until the court declares that the consolidation statute is unconstitutional and enjoin the effective date until we’re able to have a full hearing on the merit.”
Bailey said the most recent court action regarding the litigation is that the case has been moved to the court of Judge Neal Biggers of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
“Judge Biggers did allow supplemental briefing, but there has not been a ruling,” Bailey said.
With the effective date for the consolidation just days away, Bailey said, “If the court fails to rule before the effective date, I feel it is just a disservice to the students of the Montgomery County School District and the Citizens of Montgomery County. They deserve to have an answer before the effective date.”
