Court upholds decision on ex-school trustee’s son|[2/17/06]
Published 12:00 am Friday, February 17, 2006
The Mississippi Court of Appeals has upheld a Warren County Circuit Court decision that said the Vicksburg Warren School District acted properly when it expelled the son of a member of the Board of Trustees.
In a decision handed down Tuesday and made public Thursday, all nine appellate judges affirmed the original action of expulsion of Tyler Barrett, son of former District 1 Trustee Chad Barrett.
“This just means we were right in every decision we made,” said Superintendent James Price.
In November 2003, Tyler, who was a student at Warren Central High School, was expelled by the district’s discipline review committee for the remainder of the 2003-2004 school year for alleged possession and sale of controlled substances while at school.
Barrett appealed to the Board of Trustees to reverse the decision, but the board upheld the committee’s recommendation.
Barrett then appealed to the Warren County Circuit Court, and again the board’s decision was upheld. On Wednesday, the appeals court concurred with Judge Tyree Irving writing the opinion for the court.
“Although there was no evidence of actual possession of a controlled substance by Tyler Barrett, we find that there was a substantial basis from which the committee and the school board could reasonably infer that he possessed and sold controlled substances while at school…
“Therefore, we find that the circuit court properly affirmed the committee and school board’s decision to expel Tyler Barrett for the remainder of the 2003-2004 school year.”
Barrett, who was elected to a six-year term in 1998, continued to serve on the school board throughout the appeals in his son’s case, but resigned in July 2004 and did not seek re-election. Voters in the district chose Jerry Boland as their new school board representative in November 2004.
Barrett could not be reached for comment, and his attorney, Mark Prewitt, did not return phone calls.