Chancellor Deborah J. Gambrell stuck down an attempt Tuesday contesting the consolidation of the Lumberton and Lamar County school districts, rejecting the complaint by the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors. The voluntary consolidation is scheduled to begin July 1.
In a 12-page ruling, Gambrell said the motion for summary judgment filed by the Mississippi Department of Education and joined in by the Lamar County School District is granted. All claims against The Commission on the Administration of Consolidation of the Lumberton School District by the Pearl River Board of Supervisors and the Poplarville Separate Municipal School District were dismissed with prejudice.
Lamar County Superintendent Tess Smith said Wednesday afternoon she is “pleased and thankful for the ruling.”
“Actually, it is a ruling in favor of the students of Lumberton,” she said. “As I have said from the beginning we are ready to fully welcome them to the LCSD family.”
Lamar County School Board attorney Rick Norton said Gambrell heard initial arguments on those motions two weeks ago before issuing the order Tuesday. Because of technical problems, the order was not filed in Pearl River Chancery Court until Wednesday.
Gambrell also said in the order that it is a final judgment “and is subject to appeal.”
The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors filed the first motion for summary judgment on April 23, followed the next day by the state Department of Education. The Lamar County and Lumberton school board then each filed motions on April 30 calling for summary judgments in the case, joining with the state Department of Education to have the case dismissed.
The Pearl River County Supervisors said through attorneys R. Andrew Taggart Jr. and David G. Porter that “there exists no genuine issues of material fact in this case,” and the plaintiffs “are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.”
The state Department of Education’s response by Assistant Attorney General Harold E. Pizzetta III and Attorney General Jim Hood said summary judgment in favor of the defendants is warranted because “this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction on this untimely appeal filed in the wrong court.” The summary judgment should be in the defendants’ favor because “the plaintiffs’ proposed statutory interpretation is wrong as a matter of law,” the motion stated.
Gambrell had scheduled a two-day trial on June 28 in Lamar County to hear the Pearl River Board of Supervisors’ complaint.
The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors filed a legal complaint Nov. 20, 2017, seeking a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunction and declaratory judgment to stop the consolidation plan. Gambrell denied the preliminary injunction on Jan. 22 after a hearing Jan. 16 in Columbia.
