PINE BLUFF — Former Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Jerry Payne has sued the district, saying the School Board breached its contract with him.

The School Board fired Payne without cause Feb. 28, effective June 30. In May, the board decided Payne’s termination would be with cause and issued a list of reasons.

Payne’s attorney, Keith Billingsly of Little Rock, was out of town Monday, and someone in his office said he was unavailable for comment. A number for Payne could not be located. A message left for the new Pine Bluff schools superintendent, Linda Watson, was not returned.

Initially, Payne’s attorney filed the lawsuit in Jefferson County Circuit Court Oct. 15. On Nov. 2, the school district filed a “notice of removal” with U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes, requesting the case move from that court to the federal district court level. The school district filed a motion with Holmes that same day to dismiss the case.

Holmes issued an initial scheduling order Nov. 5. That order includes a proposed hearing date before a jury beginning at 9:15 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2013.

Payne’s contract showed that he was to be compensated $145,000 annually.

In his suit filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Payne says that “almost immediately” after his hiring on July 1, 2011, the district, “acting through various members of its duly elected board of directors, began an intentional process to frustrate [Payne’s] ability to act as superintendent of the district.”

Further, “the conduct on the part of the district ... is contrary to Arkansas law,specifically Arkansas Code Annotated 25-19-106, which requires a public body, upon returning from executive session, to reconvene in public session and vote in public on any such motion to terminate a contractual agreement.”

Payne’s initial firing took place in an executive session and was not voted on publicly at the Feb. 28 School Board meeting.

Three months later, the board decided Payne would be fired with cause.

A May 18 letter from the school district’s attorney, Luther Sutter of Benton, to Payne outlined detailed reasons for Payne’s termination.

Among the reasons: The board thought Payne “misrepresented facts ... in conducting district business.”

The board said Payne paid a vendor more than $7,700 without its approval and that Payne failed to comply with written directives issued to the superintendent.

In the Nov. 2 request for dismissing the case, Sutter wrote that Payne “was properly terminated under the no cause provisions of the contract,” and that Payne was “afforded the due process required under federal and state law.”

Payne says in his suit that his termination has caused him to suffer “significant damages in excess of that required for federal court jurisdiction and diversity cases, in addition to harm to his reputation.”

He asks for a jury trial, unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 11/13/2012