Judges order talks, block BISD meeting

By KEN FOUNTAIN
August 7, 2009
Posted: August 6, 2009, 7:06 PM CDT Last updated: August 7, 2009, 9:31 AM CDT
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In a day of legal moves, one state district judge on Thursday ordered Beaumont ISD and the plaintiffs in the South Park school dispute must participate in mediation, while another judge blocked the district from holding an emergency school board meeting on the matter. District Judge Bob Wortham, who on Monday temporarily barred the district from proceeding with the planned demolition of the structure built in 1923, ordered the district and the plaintiffs - the Beaumont Heritage Society and 1966 South Park alumnus Eddie Estilette - to engage in mediation with local attorney Marsha Norman. Wortham gave the parties a Sept. 6 deadline for a good-faith effort at mediation. He told The Enterprise by phone that if both parties come to him by then to extend the deadline, he would be amenable. However, a Sept. 21 trial date will stand, he said. Melody Chappell, school district attorney, said she hopes members of the South Park community will be able to participate in the mediation, but that is something she needs to discuss with the school board. Michael Getz, attorney for the plaintiffs, said he was "disheartened" by Chappell's comments. He said it is inappropriate to think only South Park parents should be included, since all BISD taxpayers are being asked to pay for a new school.

Read more in Friday's Beaumont Enterprise.