S-1 ex rel. P-1 v. State Board of Education

OPINION

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge:

The essential issue presented is whether following dismissal of an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for prudential reasons as moot, the § 1983 plaintiffs may yet be found prevailing parties by virtue of post-dismissal events and therefore entitled to an award of attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988. In this appeal by the State of North Carolina irom such an award, we find no error and affirm.

I

When this action began, SI and S2 were handicapped children enrolled in the Ashe-boro, North Carolina city schools. In the fall of 1983, after notifying the principal at the…