The Arkansas Claims Commission has put a hold on a settlement agreement between the state and the family of a former Pulaski County Special School District superintendent after the state failed to present information about a previous settlement.
Commission Director Norman Hodges said he learned of a Dec. 31 settlement with the family of Charles Hopson after reading about it in a March 7 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. That $75,000 settlement resolved a federal lawsuit filed by the family against the school district, but did not resolve the family’s claims against the state, the family’s attorney said.
Under the settlement approved by the commission, the state will pay $25,000 to Hopson’s estate. Hopson’s wife, Patricia, filed the claim last April against the state Department of Education, arguing that his estate was owed the remaining money from a three-year contract he signed with the district.
Hopson died in October 2012 at age 54.
Hodges said he told Commission Co-Chairman H.T. Moore about the previous settlement after reading about it in the paper and that Moore “shared my concerns.” Hodges said “we’ve never had that situation before” and that the commission decided to put a hold on the order until an April 10 hearing.
“They’re coming in to explain why the commission was not told about the other settlement,” Hodges said.
Aaron Sadler, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said in a statement that the office presented “what we and [the Department of Education] believed to be a fair and appropriate settlement.”
“The attorney general’s office complied fully with Claims Commission rules when presenting this settlement. The commission has some additional questions about the resolution of the federal litigation. We are happy to answer the commission’s questions and provide additional information to assist Commissioners in their decisions,” Sadler said.
Hopson was recruited for the Pulaski County job in 2010, while he was assistant superintendent of the Portland School District in Oregon. He signed a contract to run from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2013, with an annual salary of $242,431.
In the contract, Hopson “agreed to be bound by the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act along with its full procedural protections and due process, as a matter of contract between the parties,” the family’s attorney, Rickey Hicks, wrote in the claim.
The state Education Department took over the school district in June 2011 and Hopson was dismissed, along with the School Board.
Hopson moved to Texas after he left the school district and worked for Houston public schools until his death.
Many of the claims made in the federal lawsuit were identical to those made with the Claims Commission. But Hicks said U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. told him that the case against the state would have to be filed with the Claims Commission, which handles claims against the state.
Hicks said the Claims Commission case is the last proceeding the family has left that is connected to Hopson’s employment at the school district. He said the family has already signed a settlement with the state and is only waiting on the Claims Commission’s approval.
“I was a little bit taken aback to see them take that sort of action,” Hicks said.
Hicks said that he planned to be at the commission hearing to answer questions, but that the state’s attorney would be responsible for explaining why information about the previous settlement was not provided.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/02/2014