Opposition to board continues

RALEIGH -- Demonstrators arrested at a meeting of the Wake County school board gathered again Tuesday to ask the board to rescind policy changes.

At Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, the Rev. William Barber, state head of the NAACP, and Pullen pastor the Rev. Nancy Petty met with others arrested July 20. Those charged include seven ministers and six people of high school and college age.

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice?" Barber said.

Wake school officials said they've sent letters to those arrested barring them from school board meetings unless they give written assurance that they won't disrupt proceedings. As Tuesday's event neared an end, Barber called for the board to rescind its policy change on diversity as a prelude to working with the NAACP for the schools' benefit.

Opposition from civil rights and social justice groups has grown - and attracted increasing national attention - since the board's March 23 vote to end the diversity policy. Its largest manifestation to date was the July 20 downtown march that preceded that night's school board meeting.

"I want all of you to hear the message that you can do it next time," said Marie Garlock, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student who spent her K-12 years in Wake schools.