HOT SPRINGS -- The president of the Cutter Morning Star School Board led an emphatic, public defense of the district's leadership and administration Tuesday night, saying critics should "take a hike."
School Board President Mark Rash spoke at the end of a two-hour regular session. He defended Superintendent Nancy Anderson against criticisms by members of the community.
"Some of the folks that I think would like to hear this are not here tonight, but we are going to say it anyway," Rash said. "I am really frustrated, I am really upset, I am really disturbed with the amount of time and effort and thorough disruption our administration has been put through. Not only that, but the cost that they have put on us -- not just us, but the community and the kids.
"It is unfair. It is unwarranted. We are looking for pink elephants. We don't have any pink elephants. This lady right here, when we brought her in here, we asked her to come in here and do a job for us. She's come in, she's done the job and she's done it well."
About 60 people had attended the previous board meeting on Oct. 30, and about two dozen of them wore black shirts with the hashtag #standwithjann in defense of Cutter Morning Star Elementary School Principal Jann Gibson, who was suspended on Oct. 30 pending an unspecified investigation related to student safety.
Kent Wasson, a physical education teacher and coach, was suspended on the same day but has since returned to campus. Gibson has not.
Concerned parents initially took issue with Anderson's decision to suspend the two employees before they began to develop other concerns. The suspensions did not require board action.
"It is the superintendent's sole decision to bring an administrator back or keep the teacher/administrator on leave, pending termination proceedings," attorney Cody Kees said Tuesday.
Kees is with the Little Rock law firm Bequette & Billingsley, which represents the district. He said the superintendent has the authority to assess suspensions for district employees.
"With the laws being so strict on discussion of personnel, I am fearful that if I say anything, it could be a violation of that employee's rights to privacy regarding a personnel matter," Kees said. "It is the superintendent's decision to place a teacher on administrative leave."
About 30 people attended Tuesday's meeting. No one in attendance wore #standwithjann shirts. Chad Hooten, a member of the community, emailed a letter to members of the board and the faculty at the school before the meeting.
"Cutter Morning Star teachers and parents are furious," Hooten wrote. "Documents received from the Arkansas Department of Education show Nancy Anderson's salary was $73,257 her first full year [2012-13] as a superintendent. Since then Anderson's pay has rocketed to $111,300 for this year, according to the CMS website. That's a 51.9 percent increase over five years.
"Meanwhile, I noticed my CMS third-grader's sweet, competent teacher, who remains completely silent through all of this, has received a pathetic 1.4 percent increase during the same time period. The elementary school's longtime beloved office secretary has received a 2.3 percent increase."
Board members did not address the letter during the meeting. The letter was published in its entirety in The Sentinel-Record.
The district was classified as being in fiscal distress by the Arkansas Department of Education in December 2011, six months before Anderson began as superintendent. The designation was removed after Anderson's first year.
Rash said no financial improprieties have been discovered by legislative audits, which are conducted every year. He said he is disappointed by those who have made accusations against Anderson and the district.
"I'm tired of it, I'm frustrated with it and for a lack of a better way to putting it, I would professionally request that they take a hike," Rash said. "I'm done with it. I don't know that there is anything we can do to change the things that are taking place right now, but I want everybody here to understand something, don't be mistaken for a minute."
Rash denounced accusations that the district is not transparent.
"Transparency is a relationship between this board and that superintendent," Rash said. "If she does it, it is because we asked her to do it or she came to us to ask permission. If she spent a dime, we told her to spend a dime.
"Don't be confused. Don't allow the thoughts to creep into your head that the divisive crew I am speaking of is ever going to come in here and accomplish what they set out to accomplish because the support is here for this lady right here."
Rash and Donna Fincher, board secretary, moved behind Anderson's seat as he concluded his statement. About two dozen people still remaining after two hours stood and applauded.
Anderson and the members of the board had earlier exited into executive session after an hour and a half of regular session. They returned after 22 minutes and announced no action was taken.
A new position was approved after Anderson requested it to fulfill public requests made under Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act. Six Freedom of Information Act requests totaling thousands of pages of documents were submitted in recent weeks.
"I am asking the board to give me the permission to hire somebody at an hourly wage to come in and help us meet those requirements and stay within the [Freedom of Information Act]," Anderson said.
Rash said he felt the position was needed to deal with the "exorbitant costs" of the "unnecessary situation that we have been dealt."
"The district, as a public agency, has an obligation to respond to public records requests," Kees said. "It is a little bit different with schools because, if it involves personnel or students, that information has to be redacted, but, as far as finances, usually all of that is fair game."
Kees said all of the Freedom of Information Act requests have been fulfilled. He said district employees reprinted many pages as a courtesy to the community.
"That's just the district's attempt to continue to be transparent because ... the finances are all for the people to see," Kees said. "It's just that it takes a lot of digging because, I don't think, the district is required to keep records back to 2011. Some of the records requested that. So, we went ahead and pulled all of that."
Some of the criticisms were made when community members discovered almost $5,000 charged to a district credit card at hotels in central Arkansas between August 2016 and August 2017. Kees said Anderson is only listed on the card, but it applies to many district expenses.
"All the expenses that go on that card are going to be linked to her, but it could be any district expense," Kees said.
"It is because it is her district card being used for district purposes for other staff members," he added.
Metro on 11/28/2017