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RALEIGH – Clergy members arrested during protests at the Wake County school board in 2010 are holding a news conference Tuesday to again ask for mediation. The group will soon face trials for their charges because the school board rejected that option in the past.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby says trials could start as early as next month.

Dozens of arrests were made at school board meetings in the summer of 2010 when things got heated over the controversial student assignment plan. Charges ranged from disorderly conduct to trespassing.

The school assignment plan that's now in place was in its beginning stages. Opponents argued eliminating the student diversity policy would lead to segregated schools.

The school board turned down requests for mediation instead of taking protestors to trial.

“Right now, we're going forward with the charges. Some of them may be offered a first offenders differed prosecution if they're eligible. Some of them may enter pleas of guilty if they accept responsibility. Some of them may go to trial,” Willoughby said.

Some Democratic members of the board say their rejection of mediation did not mean they wanted trials.

“We believed it was the district attorney's jurisdiction to decide on mediation. Perhaps we missed an opportunity to make our preferences better known but I support mediation for those defendants who are seeking mediation,” said school board member Christine Kushner.

Meanwhile, others say some activists took the measure to extremes.

“If you're going to use acts of civil disobedience in a bullying process to a community and you say it's for a cause and a conscience, then you need to deal with the consequences and not try to skirt the consequences now that the tides have turned,” board member John Tedesco said.

Stay with News 14 Carolina. We'll have more from the news conference with clergy and the board's afternoon worksession.