Day School Hearing Today

A superior court judge will hear defense arguments today seeking to dismiss charges against Cambridge city officials and residents in the highly-controversial Commonwealth Day School dispute.

The suit was filed in October by then-Attorney General James M. Shannon, who charged that community pressure and harassment forced the predominantly-Black elementary school to leave Cambridge almost two years ago.

The prosecution, now represented by Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wriggins, and defense will meet this afternoon in Middlesex Superior Courthouse to argue the defense's motion for dismissal.

Shannon joined with the parents of 16 Commonwealth Day students to argue that four top city officials and four former neighbors of the school engaged "in a racially-motivated conspiracy." The suit charges that the defendants waged a systematic campaign of harassment that eventually forced the school to leave its Cambridge home.

Commonwealth Day announced its decision to leave its 113 Brattle St. location in August 1989, after a one-year occupancy.

The suit names as defendants Commissioner of Inspectional Services Joseph Cellucci, former Commissioner of the Department of Public Works (DPW) William Summers, Daniel Evans, a DPW inspector, and another unidentified DPW inspector. In addition, the attorney general named Arthur and Jean Brooks of 115 Brattle St. and Ralph and Charlotte Sorenson of 117 Brattle St.

A few days after Shannon filed suit, the Sorensons responded with a counter-suit, charging the attorney general with "intimidating and coercing" them in his investigation of the case.

More recently, the eight defendants' lawyers filed separate motions to dismiss the case, arguing that no evidence exists to prove that their clients acted inappropriately. In addition, they argue that the concerns raised by the attorney general's suit are no longer relevant.

"Neither the Commonwealth nor the private plaintiffs could show that the city officials did anything improper nor that what they did caused any harm," said Scott P. Lewis, the lawyer representing the officials, in an interview Friday.

The state's suit includes claims that these Cambridge city officials stopped all trash pickup at the school for several weeks in the summer of 1988 and later conspired to conceal their neglect. The state also claims that they barred Commonwealth Day officials from moving equipment into their building, acting at the request of school neighbors.

But Lewis, who will ask the court to dismiss the prosecution's seven claims and request for relief, said that "in our view, none of the allegations that the plaintiffs have brought warrant the case going to court."

Paul E. Stanzler, an attorney with Burns & Levinson representing Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, said he will emphasize that Shannon's claims are no longer relevant.

"The attorney general wants only two things: an injunction and the establishment of a trust fund," Stanzler said Friday. "The case is over. It's dead. You can't get an injunction for something that happened over two years ago."

The assistant attorney general and the private lawyer who are handling the case for the Attorney General's Office refused comment Friday on the defense motion to dismiss.