In a strongly worded letter sent Monday to the school system, state Board of Education Chairman William B. Cobey Jr. said the school system must do the following:

• Submit the Halifax budget for detailed review by the State Board of Education or its designees.

• Require all employment actions to be approved by the SBE or designees.

• Require the district enroll middle and high school students in the state Virtual Public School when there is not a licensed teacher employed to teach a course required for high school graduation.

(See related story)

But David Harvey, president of the county chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a telephone interview today, “It doesn't matter what the state does. It's not going to solve the problem with education if the state steps in. We need to have one unified system to come together to educate every child the same way with one funding source. That's the only way to solve education in Halifax County.”

While some people might think the school merger issue in the county disappeared with the county commissioners election in November, Harvey said the issue is alive and well. “That's never been buried as long as there are civil rights issues involved when you've got children living in Roanoke Rapids across from a school that they can't go to. It's a civil rights issue.”

He said the problems facing the county school system are irrelevant and the NAACP is engaging parents in Hodgestown, Southgate and other communities whose children are barred by district lines from attending school in the city. “We're trying to educate them they have been disenfranchised for years by the city of Roanoke Rapids and the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District by indirectly paying money to the Roanoke Rapids Graded School District, and doing it for years, that goes for upkeep. We are engaging those families. There should be nowhere in this country where children live across from a school they can't go to. It's blatant racism.”

Compared to Weldon and the county school system, Roanoke Rapids might be a better school system, but, he said, “It's not like they're sending them to a prestigious school. It's people who are trying to protect the school who are blatant racists. It's one of the worst school systems and they want to keep as many out as they can.”