Schools seek more time on civil rights complaint

Hamilton County Schools wants more time to address accusations made by the local NAACP that it is short-changing black students.

It’s an allegation NAACP officials say they’ve talked about for years but filed formally with the U.S. Office of Civil Rights after the association’s May meeting.

The school system recently asked for, and was granted, an extension until Aug. 20 to answer the allegations, at which point the federal government will begin investigating the claims, said Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Scales.

“What we’ve done is sent the questions to various departments for response and, in the next couple of weeks we’ll delve into it,” he said. “We’re faced with opening school, we just needed some more time to answer their questions thoroughly.”