Bentonville School Board delays policy vote

BENTONVILLE -- The School Board stuck around past midnight Monday to hear dozens of community members comment on a proposal to add to the School District's anti-discrimination policy.

The board also agreed to postpone any action on the matter at least until its next planning meeting June 1.

Next meeting

The Bentonville School Board plans to hold its next meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 1 at the School District’s Administration Building, 500 Tiger Blvd. No public comments will be allowed during that meeting.

Source: Staff Report

Board member Brent Leas made a motion, seconded by Rebecca Powers, early during Monday's meeting to hold a vote that night on whether to alter the policy. But Leas and the rest of the board eventually agreed to hear all those from the public who had signed up to speak at the meeting before taking any action. Leas and Powers have said they are against changing the policy.

The period for public comments began about 7:20 p.m. and ended at 12:40 a.m. By that time it was too late to take action. Board President Travis Riggs thanked Leas and Powers for agreeing to postpone the vote.

"They made a motion tonight they fully intended to be discussed and voted on, but because of the volume of comments, they graciously allowed their motion to be put back on our pre-agenda meeting," Riggs said, shortly after midnight. "So thank you all for being flexible and honoring our commitment to listen to our community."

Board member Grant Lightle suggested last month the board amend the district's Equal Employment Opportunity policy to include sexual orientation, gender identity, veterans and parental and marital status to those statuses protected from discrimination. The issue has been a topic of debate in the district ever since.

That debate took center stage again at Monday's board meeting.

Those against the policy change cited various reasons for opposing it. Some said adding protected classes would leave the district open to additional lawsuits. Others said they were concerned about how children would be affected by teachers who would feel more freedom to discuss their sexuality. Others said there's no point in trying to fix a discrimination problem that doesn't exist.

But Deb Bartholomew, a bus driver for the district for four years, told the board she lives in fear of being bullied at work because she is homosexual. The district's anti-bullying policy that applies to students doesn't extend to school employees, she said.

"Everyone at the bus barn still thinks I'm single, but when I got married two years ago, I couldn't share my exciting news with anyone at work for fear of discrimination, harassment and even dismissal," Bartholomew said. "I have never brought my wife to any of the bus barn potlucks. I don't even wear a wedding ring. I have to constantly guard against sharing anything of a personal nature with any of my co-workers for fear of being harassed, bullied, if they figured it out."

State Rep. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, was the last speaker of the night. He said he had expressed his views on the proposed policy change privately with board members, but also wanted to share them publicly. He doesn't favor the change and said "the vast majority" of his constituents agree it's not necessary.

NW News on 05/20/2015

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