AMITE – As expected, plaintiffs in the Tangipahoa school desegregation suit are back in court weeks after a plan aimed at resolving issues was thrashed at the polls.

The plaintiffs’ motion alleged the school board and superintendent Mark Kolwe are in contempt of Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle’s orders in the four-decades-old case.

Filed Wednesday, the motion claims that the board and superintendent have implemented discriminatory hiring practices; defied the advice of a Desegregation Compliance Officer; created a hostile work environment for the Chief Desegregation Implementation Officer; and used the desegregation plan and magnet programs as a ruse to continue a segregated school system.

It asserts hiring practices follow quotas for the number of black teachers and calls minority recruiting a joke, while challenging Kolwe’s qualifications to do his job.

Lemelle approved a 250-page desegregation plan in March 2010.It included proposals rejected by voters this spring.

The plaintiffs said they withheld their contempt motion until after the election “so as not to create controversies that would adversely affect the outcome of the recent school tax elections.”