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Southampton County Board of Supervisors Chairman Dr. Alan W. Edwards reported Tuesday, April 1, that the board was filing suit against the Southampton County School Board and school division superintendent due to a reported lack of response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Edwards noted that the decision to file the lawsuit came at the Board of Supervisors’ (BOS) March 25 meeting. He indicated that Southampton County Public Schools was given five days’ notice and that the lawsuit would be filed in Southampton County General District Court on Wednesday, April 2.

“Basically we just ran out of patience, and our legal team said, ‘Look, they’re not going to do anything. They’re stalling,’” Edwards said. “So, we really didn’t want to do this, but that’s the way it is.”

On Aug. 27, the Board of Supervisors had voted unanimously to pursue a forensic audit of the school division and requested the Southampton County School Board’s cooperation in this effort. The Board of Supervisors’ vote followed a Citizens Comment Period earlier that evening during which 17 people spoke, all expressing concerns about the state of the school system.

The board’s vote also followed a period of about four years in which some members of the board had sought answers to specific questions regarding the school division’s finances.

During this same period, some School Board members had complained that the Board of Supervisors was trying to overstep its authority and should focus its attention on developing the county’s economy rather than trying to run the school system.

School Board Counsel Pamela O’Berry, of Sands Anderson PC, had noted in a Sept. 19 letter to the county that “a forensic audit is an examination of financial records to derive evidence to prosecute a party for fraud, embezzlement or other financial crimes.”

In that same letter, O’Berry indicated that there exists no legal authority for the Board of Supervisors’ desired forensic audit of the school division.

On Nov. 6, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to engage the law firm of Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP to represent the BOS as it seeks to learn more about the management and finances of SCPS.

“What’s happened is, the law firm is interviewing people who volunteered who wanted to talk (about SCPS), and when questions come up about pursuing what these people were complaining about, that’s what the FOIA’s about,” Edwards said. “The FOIAs were generated by questions that the interviewed people were bringing up.”

Edwards said 17 FOIA requests had been submitted to SCPS as of April 1, “and they’ve not responded to any of them.”

When asked if the traditionally allowed time for a response to a FOIA request had expired, meaning five working days, with a possible seven-working-day extension, Edwards said, “Oh, yeah, it’s been months.”

“The law firm has been in contact with (the School Board’s) lawyer, and their lawyer has been saying, ‘Oh, well, we might sit down with you,’” Edwards said, but he indicated that nothing came of this. “That’s the reason we’re going to court, because their lawyer is not cooperating either.”