The Ironton Tribune

Never mind the money, let’s get this thing settled.

That was the word Wednesday from one of the attorneys representing a citizen’s group in its lawsuit to remove three Rock Hill School Board members.

Austin Wildman said he has sent visiting Judge Fred Crowe a motion withdrawing his client’s request to have Lawrence County taxpayers cover the cost of more than $61,000 in legal fees incurred in filing that lawsuit.

Last month the Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal filed by the three school board members who were removed from office in the lawsuit, Lavetta Sites, Wanda Jenkins and Paul R. Johnson.

The appeals court said the lawsuit judgment entry was not a final appealable order because it did not specify who was going to pay those legal fees.

Wildman said he hopes, now that the money issue is out of the way, the larger issue, that of whether the board members may keep or lose their seats, will be resolved.

“It is immensely frustrating when we have a straightforward case and it’s taken nearly a year,” Wildman said. “Everything is supposed to be done within 90 days.”

Steve Rodeheffer, attorney for Sites, Jenkins and Johnson, was not available for comment on the matter.

Wildman said he and co-counsel Eric Schooley may be taking other action in this case in the future.

Last spring, the Citizens Against Poor Spending (CAPS) group filed a lawsuit, seeking to remove the three board members from office, citing various acts of

“misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance of office.”

In October 2005, a Lawrence County Common Pleas Court jury sided with CAPS and removed the board members from office. But the three board members filed an appeal of that jury verdict and Crow granted them a stay, allowing them to remain on the board pending outcome of their appeal.

The issue is a moot point for Jenkins, who was reelected to the board only weeks after the civil trial.

This lawsuit is one of several facing the Rock Hill Local School District.

Three parents have filed federal lawsuits, claiming school officials discriminated against their children. In one case the children are African-American; in the other two, the children are diabetic. Those case are pending in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.