New Rock Hill, Unroe trial date set; trial has been postponed twice

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, June 14, 2006

A new trial date has been set in the federal lawsuit against the Rock Hill Board of Education.

Former special education teacher Brent Unroe and his wife, Amanda, will now take their complaints against the school district to court Sept. 6.

The Unroes are suing the school district, alleging that Brent Unroe was terminated unfairly from his job as a teacher and that his children were discriminated against while they were students in the district because the children are black. School officials deny the claims.

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“We believe the evidence will demonstrate our clients did nothing wrong and the jury will see it that way,” the board’s attorney, R. Gary Winters, of Cincinnati, said.

Mike Moore, attorney for the Unroes, was not available for comment.

The trial originally had been set for Jan. 24 but was postponed to give the two sides an opportunity to reach an out-of-court settlement. The trial was rescheduled for last week but was postponed again to make way for a criminal trial.

The Unroes are asking for more than $3 million in punitive and compensatory damages, but stated in their lawsuit they will accept less money if Brent Unroe is reinstated as a teacher and/or if superintendent Lloyd Evans, elementary school principal Freddie Evans and his assistant principal Vickie Evans are fired by the school board.

This is one of several Rock Hill school issues that remain in limbo.

Trial dates have not yet been set for two other federal lawsuits pending against the district.

Shara Jenkins and Brenda Mulkey Reynolds both claim in their respective lawsuits that their diabetic children were discriminated against by school officials. Again, school officials deny those claims.

Also, the Ohio 4th District Court of Appeals has yet to rule on an appeal filed by three board members who were removed last year in a lawsuit.

Citizens Against Poor Spending successfully waged a campaign to remove Lavetta Sites, Wanda Jenkins and Paul R. Johnson from the board, claiming they were guilty of various acts of “malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance of office.”

However, Jenkins was returned to the board a month after the lawsuit that removed her when voters reelected her to the school board.

Sites and Johnson were returned to their seats in early 2006 after special judge Fred Crow issued a stay allowing them to retain their seats pending the outcome of their appeal.

Aaron McHenry, court administrator for the 4th district, said the judges have not indicated when they might return a ruling in the matter.