The nonprofit group which runs the Cordia School in Knott County, along with two parents of students who attend the school, have filed a lawsuit seeking to keep their school open.
The lawsuit alleges Education Commissioner Stephen Pruitt and the Kentucky Board of Education over-stepped their authority in seeking to close the school earlier this month. The board voted January 17th to close the school, after Pruitt said structural defects in the building made the school unsafe for students.
“There’s no health or safety issues with that school and unfortunately the Superintendent of schools just came down and unilaterally announced that in his opinion there was and he closed the school and that is simply not the law of this Commonwealth. The letter he sent closing the school says based on these statutes I have the right to close this school. And if you get online and read those statutes the statutes don’t say he has that right. You really have to go to the school to understand how geographically isolated it is. If they close that school, it’s a low income area, where are those 230 students going to go? Some of them may have as long as an hour bus ride. My prediction is, and I hope I’m wrong, if we can’t stop the closure of this school that it wouldn’t surprise me that out of the 230 kids that 40, 50, 60 just drop out of school and give up their educational opportunity.”
The lawsuit was filed in Franklin Circuit Court this morning. It seeks a preliminary injunction preventing the state from closing the school, along with reimbursement for legal expenses. A hearing is set for February 2nd in Franklin Circuit Court.
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