A federal judge will hold a teleconference status hearing on the continuing case of Gardendale’s new city school system, and its separation negotiations with Jefferson County Schools.

Attorneys for the Gardendale Board of Education filed a motion for the hearing on Monday. They specifically asked U.S. District Judge Madeline Haikala to address the impasse over that JefCoEd refers to as an “exit fee,” more than $30 million it is seeking in order to replace Gardendale High School with an equivalent facility for students displaced by the new system.

Gardendale has long contended that, according to Alabama law, it owes nothing for replacing GHS since the facility is technically paid for already. Their court motion states that they have submitted the additional information requested by the Department of Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represents the plaintiffs in the decades-old school desegregation case against JefCoEd.

“…[I]n light of the Department of Justice and Private Plaintiffs’ request for time to analyze this information, the most efficient use of the Court and the parties’ time would be to begin discussion surrounding the ‘threshold issues’ of Alabama law regarding Gardendale’s right to operate its schools,” the motion states.

There’s no word on whether the hearing will be open to the public or media.

Gardendale is scheduled to take over the high school, Bragg Middle School, Gardendale Elementary and Snow Rogers Elementary on July 1, provided a separation agreement is reached by that date.