The Friday open line and video roundup. Don’t be confused a story mentioned here by Benji Hardy on a child welfare tragedy is still coming today. Stay tuned.

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* PULASKI SCHOOL DISTRICT IN FEDERAL COURT: John Hofheimer of The Leader in Jacksonville provides an update on a federal court hearing on the Pulaski County School Disrict’s progress to meet desegregation guidelines and also on the detachment of a new Jacksonville School District.

The federal court won’t be the arbitrator of detachment disagreements between the Pulaski County Special School District and its offspring, the Jacksonville-North Pulaski School District, District Judge D. Price Marshall told interested parties Friday morning.

An exception to that would be issues regarding desegregation.

Regarding the several questions brought before him, Marshall said he needed more information and documentation before ruling, deferring that until May 19, the next desegregation status report.

John Walker, representing the Joshua Intervenors, told the judge that PCSSD had been too busy dealing with detachment issues to advance toward the goal of desegregation and unitary status.

Patrick Wilson, representing Jacksonville, told Marshall that the not all interests of the two districts were aligned and that Jacksonville sought to be named a party to the case before Marshall.

Marshall said he wasn’t convinced.

Walker told the court that the Joshua Intervenors had been excluded from talks and negotiations regarding division of assets and liabilities between the two districts, land asked for discovery, but Marshall said the parties could probably work that out together and directed Wilson and Allen Roberts, for the Pulaski County District, to include Walker in subsequent meetings and negotiations.

Mark Burnett, representing certified personnel at Pulaski County, said the Personnel Policy Committee rejected Superintendent Jerry Guess’s proposal to create two separate seniority tracks for the two districts, pretty much keeping teachers at existing schools. He said his group would offer its own seniority proposal within a week.

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