August 14, 2003
The
Board of Directors of the Little Rock School District held a special session
immediately following the regular agenda meeting, on Thursday, August 14, 2003,
in the Boardroom of the Administration Building, 810 West Markham Street,
Little Rock, Arkansas. President Judy
Magness presided.
MEMBERS
PRESENT:
Judy Magness
Tony Rose
Larry Berkley
Mike Daugherty
Baker Kurrus
Katherine Mitchell
MEMBERS
ABSENT:
None
ALSO
PRESENT:
Morris Holmes, Interim Superintendent
Beverly Griffin, Recorder of Minutes
I. CALL TO ORDER
President Judy Magness called the
special meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. immediately following the scheduled agenda
meeting. A quorum was stipulated
without roll call. All members of the
Board were present.
In addition, Katina Ray, teacher ex
officio representative from Rightsell Elementary School, was also present. The student representative, Antonio Jones
from McClellan High School, did not attend.
II. PURPOSE
OF THE MEETING
The agenda for the special meeting
contained the following action items:
A. First Reading
- - Revision to Policy DGD, VISA Pro-Card
B. Polling Sites
for Annual School Election
C. Mileage Reimbursement
Rate for Employees
D. System
Engineer Position
E. Board Vacancy
F. Contract
Approval
G. Employee
Hearings
III. ACTION:
Prior to consideration of the agenda items, Mr.
Rose moved to suspend the rules to review and consider action on an item not
previously listed. Dr. Mitchell
seconded the motion to suspend the rules, and it carried 5-1,
with Ms. Magness casting the “no” vote.
Mr. Rose made a motion to revise board policy
BCB, by eliminating the entire first paragraph and the first word of the second
paragraph, and inserting the definition of “related” from the first paragraph
into the second paragraph of the existing policy. Mr. Rose read the policy as proposed. Dr. Mitchell seconded the motion.
After a lengthy discussion, Dr. Mitchell called
for the question, and Mr. Rose seconded.
The vote to call the question failed 4-2.
Dr. Daugherty requested a written copy of the
proposed policy prior to consideration of action, and Ms. Magness asked that
the Board follow it’s usual process to revise a policy by placing it on the
agenda for first reading at the regular board meeting on August 28.
The motion to consider the proposed revision on
first reading failed 3-3.
The Board members agreed by consensus to include the revision of policy
BCB for first reading on the action agenda at the regular August board meeting.
A. First Reading
- - Revision to Policy DGD, VISA Pro-Card
Policy DGD, VISA Purchasing Card
was approved by the board in February 2003.
Administrators proposed a revision to the policy to include purchases
over $1,000 upon the recommendation of the Procurement Department and written
approval of the Chief Financial Officer.
The Board was asked to approve the proposed revision on first reading,
with second reading to be on the agenda on August 28.
Mr. Kurrus moved to approve the
proposed revision with a correction, removing language “in certain
circumstances” from the policy as presented.
Mr. Rose seconded the motion and it carried 6-0.
B. Polling Sites
for Annual School Election
The Pulaski County Election Commission
requested permission to reduce the number of polling sites in the school
district election zones having no contested race. Voters in zones 3, and 7 have more than one candidate to
consider; therefore all polling locations would remain open. The zone 6 candidate is running unopposed;
therefore only five voting locations within that zone would be open. Implementation of the plan proposed by the
Election Commission would save the District approximately $12,000.
Mr. Berkley moved to approve the
recommendation to implement the reduced number of polling sites in zone 3. Mr. Kurrus seconded the motion and it carried
unanimously.
C. Mileage
Reimbursement Rate for Employees
Dr. Stewart presented a recommendation
to increase the reimbursement of mileage to thirty-one (31) cents per mile
effective September 1, 2003. This
recommendation is based on the negotiated agreement between the LRSD and the
Classroom Teachers Association, which allows that teachers be reimbursed at the
rate allowed by the Arkansas Department of Education. Other employees of the District are paid at the same rate as
teachers, based on Board policy DKC-R.
Mr. Kurrus made a motion to approve the
increase in mileage to 31˘ per mile
effective September 1, 2003. Mr. Berkley
seconded the motion and it carried 6-0.
D. System
Engineer Position
The Board approved an extension to the
EDS contract for professional services to assist with continued implementation
of the Technology Plan at the May 22, 2003 board meeting. The District determined that they could hire
the System Engineer who worked for EDS, and renegotiate the contract with EDS
to lower the contractual fee from $252,000 to $145,548. The action will result in an overall savings
in the amount of $30,000. Mr. Berkley
made a motion to approve the administration’s recommendation; Dr. Mitchell
seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
E. Board Vacancy
Ms. Magness explained that Ms.
Strickland’s resignation from the Board was effective August 6, 2003. She had consulted with an attorney at the
Arkansas School Boards Association, and was advised that since the annual
school board election is scheduled in September, there was no need to go
through the process of selecting an interim board member from zone 7. Only one regular board meeting is scheduled
between now and the September board meeting, when the newly elected board
members will be sworn in. No action was
taken.
F. Contract
Approval
The contract for Dr. Morris Holmes, Interim Superintendent of Schools, was presented for
the Board’s review and approval. Mr.
Berkley made a motion to approve the contract as presented. Dr. Mitchell seconded the motion, and it carried
unanimously.
The Board took a brief recess at 6:20
p.m. and called for an executive session to conduct a closed employee hearing.
G. Employee
Hearings
Beverly Williams provided the Board
with a summary of the recommendation to terminate an employee. Mr. Frank Martin, Executive Director of the
Classroom Teachers Association, represented the employee.
The administration called a witness to
provide details of the circumstances surrounding a threat of bodily harm by the
employee. The witness stated that the
employee not only threatened him personally, but also stated that he would harm
the witness’ family. Other witnesses testified
that the employee was behaving in an erratic and threatening manner on the day
of the incident. As a result of this
behavior, a custodial supervisor, referred the employee for drug
screening. The drug screen was
negative.
The employee was a custodian at an elementary
school for nearly 3 years. He testified
that he and the witness had a verbal confrontation, but that he did not
threaten to do harm to the witness or his family. He stated his belief that the witness was “on his case” for being
late and taking more than an hour for lunch.
He admitted that he was agitated at the witness, but that he did not
intend to harm the witness or his family.
Mr. Martin asked the Board to consider
reinstating the employee with sanctions short of termination. He stated his belief that the administration
had failed to prove and establish a true threat of bodily harm, and suggested
that a period of suspension or probation would be more acceptable.
The Board recessed at 7:40 p.m. for
deliberations. They returned at 8:05
p.m.
Mr. Berkley moved not to uphold the
recommended termination and offered as an alternate sanction, to suspend the
employee for ten working days without pay.
The administration was directed to reassign the employee to another work
site, and place him on a six-month probation.
Dr. Mitchell seconded the motion and it carried 5-1, with
Ms. Magness casting the “no” vote.
IV. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the Board,
the meeting adjourned at
8:10 p.m. on a motion by Mr. Kurrus, seconded by Mr. Rose.
APPROVED:
_ 08-28-03 __ Originals
Signed by:
Judy
Magness, President
Larry Berkley, Secretary