The Meridian Public School District is one step closer to resolving a longstanding desegregation case. 

School board members on Wednesday voted to adopt a handbook for the district’s police department. The handbook will help get rid of the dark cloud that has been hovering over the district, Superintendent Amy Carter said. 

In October 2012, The Department of Justice filed suit against the Meridian Police Department, Lauderdale County and two youth court judges and the Mississippi Division of Youth Services, alleging those entities systematically violated the due process rights of students referred by the Meridian Public School District. 

A federal judge in October 2017 dismissed the suit against Lauderdale County and the youth court judges. It was announced this May that the Meridian Police Department had reached substantial compliance in its case, moving to a phase of self evaluation. In August, The Mississippi Department of Human Services Division of Youth Services announced it was coming close to resolving its part of the suit.

Because the Meridian Public School District was under a 1967 desegregation order, which prohibits the district from discriminating against students based on race, it was not named in the 2012 suit. 

As part of 2012 lawsuit, the district created a memorandum of understanding with the Meridian Police Department related to when police can arrive on campus and established an independent police department within the district. The district continues to work with the Department of Justice to resolve the desegregation case.

“The district wants to move forward with this,” said John Compton, attorney for the district.

The Meridian Star requested a copy of the district’s police handbook that was approved Wednesday. A district spokesman said a copy of the PDF was not ready for public review. The Star has filed a Freedom of Information Law to obtain the handbook.

A hearing on the desegregation case will be held in February 2019, Carter said.