“It is pled in a manner in violation of North Carolina Rule of Civil procedure making it difficult to respond by reference to numbered paragraphs,” wrote Neal Garris Yarborough, a Fayetteville attorney hired to represent the county in the lawsuit filed by the University of North Carolina's Center for Civil Rights.

The county's response was filed Monday in Halifax County Civil Court.

(See related story)

“It is denied that the Halifax County Board of Commissioners is obligated to 'structure a system of public education' of any kind because the board is not legally authorized to structure a system of public education.”

Yarborough notes in the motion the plaintiffs have not alleged a statutory basis for attorney's fees in its complaint. “An objective reading of the plaintiffs' complaint would indicate the plaintiffs are suing the defendant board of county commissioners for not doing something it should do — to which the defendant disagrees — as opposed to doing something it does not have the authority to do.”

The motion challenges the standing of plaintiffs named in the original lawsuit, from parents and guardians of students in the county school system to the Coalition for Education and Economic Security to the county branch of the NAACP. “These Plaintiffs have failed to make sufficient averment regarding their legal existence or their capacity and authority to bring this action 'to vindicate the rights of Halifax County's schoolchildren to receive a sound basic education' in a representative capacity …

“The Defendant moves the court, pursuant to North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure to dismiss the complaint for failure to join necessary parties, to wit, at the minimum, the following: the State of North Carolina, the State Board of Education, the board of education for the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District, the board of education for the Weldon City Schools, the board of education for the Halifax County Public Schools and the respective members of those local school boards ...”

While the plaintiff is asking the court to find school consolidation is the answer for at-risk children in the county school system, Yarborough argues in the motion the UNC Center for Civil Rights has misapplied state Constitutional requirements and “have failed to include — as defendants — in this lawsuit the parties most affected thereby.”

He writes: “The state constitution assigns shared responsibility for public education to the General Assembly, the State Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction.”

The state board, he said in the motion, shall supervise and administer the free public school system and the educational funds provided for its support and shall make all needed rules and regulations.

Regarding the three-district configuration, Yarbrough wrote, “It is the North Carolina General Assembly that established the three-district school system of which the plaintiffs complain. The North Carolina General Assembly not only established the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District and the Weldon City Schools by special legislation over a hundred years ago, but the North Carolina General Assembly has continued to maintain and, when it deemed necessary, change the three district school system in Halifax County by on-going amendments to its original legislative authorization.

“In addition to having the capacity to legislatively merge the three districts by special legislation, the General Assembly recently adopted general legislation whereby the State Board of Education could do so; the North Carolina General Assembly and the North Carolina State Board of Education not taking steps to do so would indicate that it is the public policy of the State of North Carolina that the three districts in Halifax County remain as such and to do otherwise would impinge upon the rights — constitutional, statutory and otherwise — of the State of North Carolina and the State Board of Education.”

All three boards of education have the authority to initiate consolidation and merger, the motion says. City school administrative units may be consolidated and merged with contiguous city school administrative units and with county school administrative units upon approval by the State Board of Education of a plan for consolidation and merger submitted by the boards of education involved and bearing the approval of the board of county commissioners. “The primary role of a county in North Carolina is to provide funding for certain activities as dictated by the North Carolina General Assembly ... To provide for the county's share of the cost of kindergarten, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary public education.

“As compared to the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina State Board of Education, the North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction and the local boards of education, county boards of commissioners have the least impact on the structure and effectiveness of public education in North Carolina, including the county of Halifax.”

Says the motion, “While it may be possible to somehow effectuate the plaintiffs' stated goals without the involvement of the Halifax County Board of Commissioners, it is impossible to try to effectuate those goals through litigation without joining other necessary parties and, therefore, the plaintiffs' complaint should be dismissed.”

The only entity in Halifax County that has a constitutional obligation to provide every schoolchild in Halifax County with the opportunity to receive a sound basic education is the State of North Carolina, not the county commissioners, the motion said.