In this last week of the 2019, the Washington Daily News will run a recap of the Top 10 stories of the year about the ideas, issues and events that have created a lot of conversation or most affected the community.  The No. 10 top story of 2019 is the end of a years-long relationship between Beaufort County Schools and Northeast Regional School of Biotechnology and Agriscience.

The year-long legal battle between the Beaufort County Board of Education and NERSBA came to an end in 2019, along with the relationship between the school system and the regional school.

It all started in January 2018 when then-BCS Superintendent Don Phipps briefed the Board of Education on the number of students leaving BCS to attend NERSBA. At the time, approximately $500,000 in state and federal funding was following Beaufort County students to the school.

The next month, the board voted unanimously to withdraw from participation in the regional school. Then-BOE Chairman Mac Hodges recused himself from the vote because he was serving at the time on the NERSBA Board of Directors.

After admonitions from state legislators that North Carolina law contained no mechanism for withdrawal from a regional school agreement, NERSBA sued the BOE in May 2018 for an injunction to prevent withdrawal, which was granted the following June. As a result, Beaufort County students were allowed to enroll at NERSBA during the 2018-19 school year.

Flash-forward to June 2019, and the matter was still in the court’s hands to decide. It was then that Superior Court Judge Cy Grant ruled the Beaufort County Board of Education was justified in its attempt to withdraw from participation in NERSBA.

While attorneys representing NERSBA initially indicated the regional school might appeal the ruling, the two parties formally settled the dispute in July.

“In order to avoid the uncertainty inherent in litigation, and the attorneys’ fees and other expenses that would be associated with the prosecution and defense of the claims and counterclaims in the litigation, including the appellate procedure, and after good-faith negotiation, the parties have agreed to resolve and to settle this litigation,” the settlement read.

Under the agreement, students currently enrolled at NERSBA are able to finish their education there. Starting with the 2019-20 school year, however, students from Beaufort County were no longer eligible to apply to attend NERSBA. Beaufort County Schools will still be considered a “participating unit” at the school until the last local students graduate, with a member of the BOE serving on the NERSBA board.

Since the lawsuit was settled, the North Carolina General Assembly has formalized a mechanism for school systems to withdraw from regional schools. Under the amended law, the local board must pass a resolution expressing a desire to withdraw, which would then need to be approved by the regional school’s board of directors. Then, the State Board of Education would have the final say on whether or not the participating school system can withdraw.

The amended law can be viewed at www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2019/S301.