Plaintiff Plans To Drop Lawsuit Against Union County Over Illegal School

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — The lawsuit against Union County over its illegal school schedule next year will be dropped according to one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Pushback from parents forced the Union County School Board to pass a motion rescinding the previously approved school calendar for next year.

“I hate to say that  we got what we wanted. I think it’s more we got what was fair and what was right in upholding to the law,” said Dominique Morrison.

Morrison is a mom and a summer camp business owner. She’s part of the lawsuit accusing the county of not having a school calendar that meets North Carolina law.

The school board voted last month to start the school year three weeks earlier so that the fall semester would end before winter break.

“I think the main problem I had was that it was done with no notice. I know that they say ‘oh, it’s just one summer,’ but COVID was just one summer and it did hefty damage to the kids and to business,” said Morrison.

In a special meeting Friday morning, the school board voted to overturn the December decision.

“Facing legal action, we had no recourse but to change back to the original calendar, which would comply with the North Carolina calendar law,” explained Union County School Board member Gary Sides.

Sides was one of 3 school board members who voted against going back to the legal schedule.

“The idea was that starting early enough so that the semester would conclude right at the Christmas break, just like our community colleges and our universities,”

Rutherford, Gaston and Cleveland counties currently operate on school schedules not compliant with state law.

With the vote on Frirday, Morrison says she plans to drop the lawsuit.

“There’s no reason to go any further with us. it’s just that the laws, the law, and they chose to follow it and I’m thankful for that,” Morrison tells WCCB Anchor Gary Brode.