Simmons' suit attacks school board law

By Ken Stanford Contributing Editor

Posted 9:45AM on Friday 22nd January 2010 ( 14 years ago )

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.

Kelvin Simmons at a hearing in Gainesville last September at which he was denied a spot on the November election ballot.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2010/1/226423