RIDOE hearing on PHS swordsman: ProJo

As reported in today's ProJo, a closed-door session yesterday heard testimony from Patrick Agin and Portsmouth High representatives. Legal briefs due Friday, decision by education commissioner Peter McWalters urged by Jan 19.

U.S. District Judge William Smith, after a conference in chambers last month, issued an order that said the ACLU agreed to file an administrative appeal with McWalters “so as to not involve unnecessarily the federal judiciary in this dispute.”

But Smith will ultimately decide the case. He asked the lawyers involved, Stephen Robinson for the Portsmouth School Committee and Thomas Connolly for the ACLU, to report to him on the status of the administrative appeal by Friday and has urged McWalters to make a decision by Jan. 19 to help move the case forward. — via Providence Journal