Arkansas: lawsuit seeks redistricting of school board
The Helena Daily World reports: Attorney James Valley was expected to file a lawsuit Friday morning to force the Helena-West Helena School District to redraw its election zones and conduct an election for all school board members in the September school elections. The lawsuit is a civil action brought pursuant to the Arkansas Civil Rights Act.
Nearly 60 Phillips County residents are named as plaintiffs in this latest legal action.
Valley states in his lawsuit that the plaintiffs intend to show that the Equal Protection Clause and the "one person- one vote" principle have been violated. Federal law requires new district lines be drawn following each census. The most recent census was conducted in the year 2000 and the redistricting should have occurred in the year 2001.
The suit alleges that the current school board has failed and refused to draw any new district lines. The suit states that the board ordered new zones to be drawn by an expert in West Memphis but the board failed to adopt a map created by the expert. -- The Helena Daily World: News