Commissioners to Schedule Public Hearing on Protest Ordinance

A measure aimed at protecting schools from disruptions by protests could become a county ordinance next month.

County Commission Chairman Laverne Coleman said the ordinance came about after protestors at Williams Township School picketed near the campus.

In April, John Barnette of True Healing Under God (THUG) ministries organized the protests. The Charlotte civil rights activist was responding to complaints by parents of two children at WTS who alleged a substitute teacher called them “monkeys”. The teacher was reportedly calling down a group of children who were misbehaving in class. Barnette threatened legal action against the county schools if the teacher was not fired. Columbus county Schools took no action after an investigation into the claims.

Parents and teachers complained of protestors photographing license plates and disrupting classes. Teachers were instructed to close the blinds in their classrooms while the protests were going on.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the school for increased security after parents turned out to counterprotest.

Coleman said the county must ride a fine line between suppressing First Amendment rights and guaranteeing the safety of children in school. The timing of the proposed ordinance – as Immigration riots were going on in California and elsewhere – was coincidental, Coleman said.

“Politics do not enter into this,” Coleman said. “This is not about suppressing anyone’s right to express themselves,” he said. “This is about making sure the school day can go on as normal. Students and their parents have a right to expect to be able to attend class without school being disrupted.”

The proposed ordinance, which is still being drafted, is expected to set times and places for protests at or around schools.

County Commissioners are expected to schedule a public hearing on the proposal at Monday’s special called meeting. The hearing is tentatively set to be held at the board meeting July 21. Commissioners do not plan to meet July 7. The board plans to have the ordinance in place before the start of the school season.