The Board of Directors of
the Little Rock School District held a special meeting on Thursday, April 11,
2002, in the Boardroom of the Administration Building, 810 West Markham Street,
Little Rock, Arkansas.� President Baker
Kurrus presided.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Baker
Kurrus
Katherine Mitchell
MEMBERS ABSENT:
Mike
Daugherty
ALSO PRESENT:
T. Kenneth James, Superintendent of Schools
Beverly Griffin, Recorder of the Minutes
I.��������� CALL
TO ORDER
Vice
President Judy Magness called the special meeting to order at 5:03 p.m.� Five members of the Board were present at
roll call; Mr. Kurrus arrived at 5:17 p.m. and Dr. Daugherty was absent.� Kathy Daneshmandi, teacher ex-officio
representative from Cloverdale Elementary School, and Amy Blackwell, student
ex-officio from Hall High School, were also present.�
II.�������� PURPOSE OF THE MEETING
The agenda for the special meeting follows:
I.
Personnel Actions
A.
McClellan Football
Coach
B.
Summer School
Principals
II.
Student Hearing
III.
ACTION
Ms. Magness called the meeting to order at 5:03 p.m. A quorum was stipulated without a roll
call. Four members of the Board were
present; Dr. Mitchell arrived at 5:15 p.m., Mr. Kurrus arrived at 5:17 p.m.,
and Dr. Daugherty was absent.
Personnel
Actions
Dr. James presented a
recommendation to employ Bryan Hutson as the head football coach
at McClellan High School. Mr. Berkley
made a motion to approve the Superintendent’s recommendation, Ms. Strickland
seconded the motion and it carried 4-0.
B. Summer
School Principals
The Superintendent
presented recommendations for summer school principalships at the middle and
high school levels. Sherry Rogers
was recommended to serve as the summer school principal at Pulaski Heights
Middle School; Jerome Farmer was recommended for the position at
Parkview High School. Mr. Berkley moved
to approve the recommended assignments.
Mr. Rose seconded the motion and it carried 4-0.
The Board recessed at 5:08 p.m. to conduct the agenda session. They reconvened at 6:15 p.m. to conduct a
closed student hearing.
Mr. Kurrus convened the hearing by noting that the
Board had read information provided to them and that they were ready to hear
facts related to allegations made against the student. Mr. Kurrus read the written report provided
by the school administration. Following
presentations of facts and statements from witnesses and the student, the Board
took a brief recess and went into deliberations at 8:25 p.m. They returned from closed session at 9:05
p.m. and reported that no action had been taken in recess.
Mr. Berkley made a
motion in favor of the findings of fact presented by Dr. Watson. Ms. Magness seconded the motion and it carried
4-0.
As for punitive
action, the Board asked the Superintendent to recommend sanctions based on the
background information presented.
Specifically, that the student had no prior disciplinary sanctions, and
had consistently good grades.
Dr. James recommended that the student be removed from his school and placed in
an alternative setting for the remainder of this school year. Mr. Rose made a motion to uphold the
superintendent’s recommendation; Ms. Magness seconded the motion.
The attorney
representing the student asked for the Board to consider allowing the student
to remain at the CIC where he has been attending school since January. By consensus, the Board agreed to stipulate
that Dr. Watson may determine the best placement options for the student. The motion, as amended, carried
unanimously.
IV. ADJOURNMENT
There being
no further business before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m. on a
motion by Ms. Magness, seconded by Mr. Berkley.
APPROVED:
04-25-02 Original
documents signed by:
H.
Baker Kurrus, President
Tony
Rose, Secretary