District’s personnel uncertainty continues

A Cutter Morning Star High School coach recently returned to campus a month after he and another employee were suspended pending an unspecified investigation related to student safety.

The Cutter Morning Star School District will hold its regular monthly meeting Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the board room of the administration building, 2800 Spring St.

Coach Kent Wasson and Cutter Morning Star Elementary School Principal Jann Gibson

were suspended on Oct. 11. Gibson has not returned to campus.

Superintendent Nancy Anderson said she still cannot comment, as it is a personnel matter. Anderson said the suspensions were made at the behest of the district’s administration and did not require board approval.

A group of concerned parents who organized support for Gibson and Wasson also declined to comment. About two dozens guests attended the school board’s last meeting on Oct. 30 wearing black shirts with the hashtag # stand with-jann.

Attorney Cody Kees said afterward he expected the matter to be resolved the week of the Oct. 30 meeting. Kees is an attorney with the Little Rock law firm Bequette & Billingsley, which represents the district.

Anderson emailed employees of the elementary school at 4:50 p.m. on Oct. 11 of a faculty meeting to be held at 7 p. m. that day in the district’s teacher workroom. The Sentinel-Record submitted a request for the communication under Arkansas’ Freedom of Information Act.

The Cutter Morning Star School Board approved the district to hire an administrative substitute during a special meet- ing the same evening. The district hired a short-term replacement as principal of the elementary school Terry Lawler, who retired as principal of Langston Aerospace and Environmental Studies Magnet School in the Hot Springs School District in January 2016.

Multiple sources with the district and in the community told the newspaper complaints were filed with the Arkansas Department of Human Services relating to the administration of corporal punishment of a student. The Garland County DHS office has not responded to requests for comment.

Frustration with the suspensions led to increased scrutiny by parents of the district’s financial dealings and leadership. Parents discovered almost $ 5,000 in hotel stays charged on a district account between August 2016 and August 2017.

The newspaper requested a statement from the district after protesters gathered outside of an event on campus Nov. 9. One of the protesters, Courtney Post, shared her concerns during a television interview.

Post has volunteered since 2015 to submit school- related news items to the newspaper, as the district did not have a designated position for the role. The newspaper received an email from Anderson on Wednesday to remove Post from any correspondence with the school district.

Anderson said board members are always informed of required Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators and other professional development training and meetings attended by herself and the district’s administrative team. She said no audit findings in the last four years “indicate any misappropriation of school district funds including travel expenditures.”

Voters approved a new investment of almost $19.2 million during the next 30 years in September through an increase of 8.4 new debt service mills and the extension of 15.5 existing mills for an additional 12 years. The approval cleared the district to receive more than

$7.8 million through the state’s Academic Facilities Partnership Program to construct a new high school, with a basketball arena, and make various improvements to the campus.

The estimated cost of the high school and arena project is almost $14.5 million. The total cost of all upcoming projects on campus is projected to be about

$18 million.