FAYETTEVILLE — Northwest Arkansas Newspapers filed a lawsuit against the Fayetteville School District on Friday seeking the email of a popular teacher who is suing the school system.
Tim Hollis, a debate and forensics teacher at Fayetteville High School, has been barred from school activities until he attends 15 weeks of anger management classes. In his lawsuit, Hollis claims the school’s disciplinary action violates his contract with the district.
The district ordered Hollis to attend the classes last month because of “continued insubordination, hostility and flagrant failure to follow directives,” including a “defamatory” email Hollis reportedly sent to another teacher May 5, according to a memo from Superintendent Vicki Thomas.
Thomas is also named as a defendant in the Northwest Arkansas Newspapers lawsuit. The suit was filed on behalf of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers; Greg Harton, Northwest Arkansas Times editor; and Rose Ann Pearce, Northwest Arkansas Times education reporter.
Pearce initially requested the email in question under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. The school declined to release the email, claiming it was protected under an exception for personnel files.
Ken Swindle of Rogers, Hollis’ attorney, also declined to release the email and sought a court order to prevent the district from releasing any of Hollis’ email between May 2 and May 8 of this year. Circuit Judge G. Chadd Mason will review that order at a hearing Tuesday morning.
The Northwest Arkansas Newspapers lawsuit seeks to be consolidated into Hollis’ original lawsuit so Brandon Cate, Northwest Arkansas Newspapers attorney, can appear before Mason at Tuesday’s hearing.
“On June 8, 2012, the Arkansas Attorney General issued an opinion that the email message appears to be ‘of considerable public significance’ and that ‘it appears that the public interest in disclosure of the e-mail may in fact be substantial,’” said Cate of Springdale.
Both Swindle and Rudy Moore, school district attorney, declined to comment on the Northwest Arkansas Newspapers lawsuit.
Northwest Arkansas Newspapers sought the opinion from the attorney general after the district declined a request for the email.
“We typically handle our pursuit of public records through straightforward requests to public officials who are custodians of the records, not through legal action,” Harton said Friday. “In this case, Mr. Swindle asked the court to seal the records, and the School District has resisted our efforts to review what we and the attorney general believe to be a public record.”