Injunction sought to prevent council from considering resource officer grant

Kevin Carroll, Fayetteville school resource officer, hands coloring books to children on March 31 at Owl Creek School in Fayetteville. The City Council on Tuesday rejected grant money to hire two additional resource officers to work in the city's schools. (File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)
Kevin Carroll, Fayetteville school resource officer, hands coloring books to children on March 31 at Owl Creek School in Fayetteville. The City Council on Tuesday rejected grant money to hire two additional resource officers to work in the city's schools. (File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/David Gottschalk)

FAYETTEVILLE -- A group opposed to police officers in schools asked a judge to stop the City Council from reconsidering whether to accept a grant to pay for some.

The Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition and Sarah Moore, a city resident, filed a lawsuit Friday in Washington County Circuit Court seeking an emergency injunction against the city to prevent council members from taking the issue up again without the unanimous consent of the council.

City Attorney Kit Williams disagrees with the lawsuit and said the matter can be considered again.

The City Council discussed the grant Aug. 4 and rejected it 5-3. The deadline to accept the grant was Aug. 8, according to the lawsuit. The suit argues a motion to debate the measure at tonight's council meeting is illegal and should be stopped.

"The addition of the measure to the agenda after it failed on Aug. 4, 2020 violates the procedural rules of the Fayetteville City Council, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says the original actions of the council to hear the issue and then reconsider it before voting it down were valid. Teresa Turk, a member of the City Council, has filed a motion dated Aug. 7, 2020, that amounts to a second motion to reconsider the same issue without unanimous approval of the council.

An expedited hearing is sought on the coalition's motion for an injunction. The plaintiffs are requesting a temporary restraining order to prohibit a vote tonight by the City Council or, in the alternative, an emergency injunction prohibiting the city from entering a binding agreement to accept the grant until the lawsuit is resolved.

As of Monday afternoon, no hearing had been set, according to court officials. The case was assigned to Washington County Circuit Judge John Threet.

The lawsuit also argues police working as school resource officers harms students.

"Instead of protecting students, SROs change a school from a social and educational environment into a surveillance zone. This change is a root cause of the school-to-prison-pipeline," according to the lawsuit. "When schools introduce SROs, students are more likely to be arrested, suspended, or expelled. This system perpetuates poverty, low-education rates, and often affects students and families in our poorest and most marginalized communities."

The Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition is described in the lawsuit as a statewide association dedicated to criminal justice reform, including equal justice, reducing mass incarceration and unnecessary criminalization of juvenile school students.

Turk's measure would have the School District take on the cost of the officers not covered by the grant. The federal Community Oriented Policing Services hiring program grant would cover $250,000 to pay for two officers over four years. The School District would pay $342,900, more than the $312,710 matching requirement, to have two higher-ranking officers than the grant normally would provide.

The two officers would come at no cost to the city, but the council would have to accept the grant for the officers to be hired, Williams said recently.

The grant proposal rejected Aug. 4 came with an added condition the two officers would have to be licensed in social work as long as adding the requirement followed state law and the department made a good faith effort to find such candidates. Councilman Matthew Petty introduced the added condition.

Williams said because the council only voted on an amended resolution, not the original item whether to accept the grant, it could be presented as a new item. That, and the School District taking on the entire dollar amount without sharing it with the city, differs from what was originally proposed, he said.

While the deadline to accept the grant passed, Police Chief Mike Reynolds said the grant has a clause for extension, which was granted. The new deadline is Thursday, Reynolds said.

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Legal Lingo

Preliminary injunction

A court order made in the early stages of a lawsuit or petition which prohibits the parties from doing an act in order to preserve the status quo until a pending ruling or outcome. In order to obtain a preliminary injunction, a plaintiff must demonstrate that it will suffer irreparable harm if the motion is not granted

Source: uslegal.com

Ron Wood can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWARDW.

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