Pender NAACP wants school board chair to quit

BURGAW, NC (WWAY) — For six months the Pender County NAACP has been investigating Pender County School Board Chair Tom Roper. Today the civil rights group released its findings, calling for Roper to resign.

The NAACP received the first complaint against Roper in October. It said Roper did not attend required school board meetings, that he had rare interaction with students and parents and that he made derogatory and insensitive remarks concerning minorities. After the investigation began other complaints surfaced about hiring practices of minority candidates, nepotism and disparity in test scores. Today the NAACP said it found the complaint to be valid.

“We all have a dog in this fight,” Pender County NAACP President Rachel Stephens said. “Every family in Pender County has a dog in this fight, and that fight is for our children, because the success of our children has nothing to do with race, background or gender.”

If Roper does not resign the NAACP wants the community choose someone else to replace him in the next election.

Roper said he did not want to talk yet, because he has not had a chance to review the NAACP’s findings.