This Monday: NC Supreme Court Hears School-to-Prison Pipeline Case [1 Attachment]
Date: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 3:49 PM
On Monday, March 22, at 9:30 AM, the Supreme Court of North Carolina
will hear oral arguments in the case of two Beaufort County students who
were excluded from educational opportunities for nearly five months, due
to a five second fight in the school courtyard. For the first time, our
State’s highest Court will consider the implications of long-term
suspension from school — an epidemic in North Carolina — on students’
fundamental constitutional right to education.
Please come (early – the school boards’ supporters will also be
gathering, and the Justices need to know that the students have strong
support, too) to the Supreme Court, at 2 East Morgan Street, in downtown
Raleigh. A map, showing parking decks near the courthouse, is attached.
The argument begins at 9:30.
If you’d like to read the briefs (see below for all the wonderful
individuals and groups who wrote and joined amici briefs in support of
the students), go to: http://www.ncappellatecourts.org/nc_main_1.nsf,
and search, by case number, for 480A09.
Jane Wettach, Director of the Children’s Law Clinic at Duke Law School,
will be arguing for the students. Lewis Pitts and Erwin Byrd of
Advocates for Children’s Services of Legal Aid are co-counselling with
Jane. More than 45 individuals and groups, whose names follow, joined in
as amici in support of the students:
I. JUSTICE ROBERT F. ORR AND JUDGE CHARLES L. BECTON
II. NORTH CAROLINA ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE – filed by Travis Payne of
Edelstein and Payne
III. IN-STATE ORGANIZATIONS BRIEF – filed by Jack Holzman of the
North Carolina Justice Center, on behalf of:
1. Concerned Citizens for the Betterment of Beaufort County Schools
2. The North Carolina Justice Center
3. ACLU of North Carolina
4. North Carolina Black Leadership Caucus
5. Parents Supporting Parents (of Guilford County)
6. The Southern Coalition for Social Justice
7. The Center for Death Penalty Litigation
8. The Office of the Juvenile Defender
9. North Carolina Conference of NAACP Branches
10. Tamar Birckhead
IV. COUNCIL FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS – filed by Laurie Gallagher
V. NATIONAL BRIEF, filed by Benita Jones of the North Carolina
Center for Civil Rights of the NC School of Law, on behalf of:
1. Advancement Project
2. Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. and Legal Aid of
Western Ohio, Inc.
3. Advocates for Children of New York (AFC)
4. The Alabama Disabilities Advocacy Program (ADAP)
5. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
6. The Barton Child Law & Policy Clinic
7. The Center for Civil Rights at UNC School of Law
8. The Charles Hamilton Houston Intitute for Race and Justice at
Harvard Law School
9. The Children and Family Justice Center
10. The Children’s Law Center of Massachusetts
11. Connecticut Legal Services, Inc.
12. The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
13. Education Law Center
14. Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana
15. The Legal Aid Society of Birmingham
16. The Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
17. The NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
18. The National Association of council for Children
19. The National Association of Social Workers
20. The National Children’s Law Network
21. The National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
22. The New York Law School Racial Justice Project
23. Public Counsel
24. The Southern Poverty Law Center
25. TeamChild
26. The University of Tennessee College of Law Education Law
Practicum
27. Sharon A. Bourne-Clarke
28. Melissa Kenney Ngaruri, Esq.
29. Heather E. Price, MA
30. Russell Skiba, Ph.D.
31. Anita Wadhwa
32. Julie Waterstone
Thank you for fighting for students’ rights.
Erwin Byrd
Staff Attorney
Advocates for Children’s Services
Legal Aid of North Carolina, Inc.
P.O. Box 2101
Durham, NC 27702
(919)226-0051, ext. 417 (telephone)
(919)226-0566 (fax)
