Simmons' suit attacks school board law

ROME - A state law that kept a then-Gainesville school board member from seeking re-election last year is under attack in federal court.

Kelvin Simmons is a co-plaintiff in the U.S. District Court suit with Bartow County School Board Chairman Lamar Grizzle.

Simmons and Grizzle filed the suit in federal court in Rome.

The law prohibits immediate family of school board members from serving in an administrative capacity in the school system the board oversees.

Simmons' wife, Audrey, holds a position as an assistant principal at Gainesville Middle School. In Grizzle's case, his daughter, Kimberly Ruff, is assistant principal of Pine Log Elementary School in Bartow County, according to the Cartersville Daily Tribune.