Charter of financially troubled school revoked

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Board of Education has revoked the charter of a Little Rock school after unauthorized withdrawals from its bank account left it without enough operating funds.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the board voted Friday to immediately revoke the charter of Covenant Keepers College Preparatory School and to close the school.

The board also amended the charter of Friendship Aspire Academy, allowing it to serve Covenant Keepers’ 104

sixth- through eighth-graders.

Education Department attorney Mary Claire Hyatt says nearly $176,500 was taken from Covenant Keepers’ account in January without approval by the school operator or board. Another nearly $12,500 was withdrawn Feb. 8, the day the previous withdrawals were discovered.

A complaint filed with Little Rock police accuses former Covenant Superintendent Valerie Tatum of recently making unauthorized bank withdrawals.

Tatum has declined comment.

Judge asked to reconsider pass for ex-lawmaker

LITTLE ROCK — A federal prosecutor is asking a judge to reconsider her ruling allowing indicted former Arkansas state Sen. Gilbert Baker a more than two-day pass from a substance-abuse treatment center in Russellville to attend his son’s wedding and rehearsal dinner in Conway.

A motion filed Thursday says that because of “an inadvertent misunderstanding,” prosecutors were not aware that Baker requested a 50-hour pass when they did not initially object to the request.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Harris on Wednesday granted a request for Baker to leave the treatment center from Feb.

22 through Feb. 24. Thursday’s motion recommends Baker be given a pass from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Feb.

23 to attend the wedding. Baker has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge and must undergo substance abuse counseling as a condition of his pre-trial release.