Five Charlotte parents who sued in September to force Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to resume in-person classes have been ordered to pay $11,620 in legal fees for two educators' groups included in their suit.
The parents filed suit in early September, when CMS and many other districts across the state were holding all-remote classes because of the pandemic. The suit was dismissed in March, as CMS was in the process of bringing students back to classrooms.
They named the CMS board, Superintendent Earnest Winston, board Chair Elyse Dashew, the North Carolina Association of Educators and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, which is a branch of NCAE. The parents named the educator groups because of their advocacy for remote learning; they alleged that violated the state constitution and laws against collective bargaining.
In an order dated July 18, Judge Karen Eady-Williams ruled that the associations are private groups that can't violate constitutional and statutory requirements for public bodies. She ordered the plaintiffs to pay attorney's fees.