‘Running rogue’
The school board in West Memphis could have used several classes in understanding and following our state’s Freedom of Information Act. That might have saved it considerable expense, time and effort in defending against a lawsuit filed by Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen, who I call the “bulldog” for his tenacious zeal.
McCutchen and Stephen Napurano announced they’ve filed a lawsuit against that city’s school district and Board of Education for violating FOIA.
The lawsuit arose following the termination of former West Memphis School District Superintendent Richard Atwill’s contract during a board meeting in April when the board members entered executive session to discuss a “personnel matter.”
I asked McCutchen for the backstory on the suit.
His response: “The West Memphis School District and certain of its school board members have been running rogue. First, several members hastily go into executive session for a ‘personnel matter’ and come out and vote to fire their Superintendent Richard Atwill without cause and agree to pay him a whopping $350,000 of taxpayer money on his remaining contract, benefits and ownership of his district-provided vehicle. At least one board member stated she had ‘no idea’ why Atwill was fired and she voted no to this taxpayer funded lottery.
“Cavalier school board members helped Richard Atwill hit the publicly funded jackpot and at least one school board member was completely in the dark as to the reason why. The same band of board members already had an interim superintendent in place. Why no sunshine? No superintendent should ever hit the lottery for being fired,” he continued.
“After getting away with paying the tax-funded lottery, the district conducted four interviews of superintendent candidates over two consecutive days. Problem is, no notice was given to media or public so they could attend the public portions of the meetings. One board member questioned the legality of the meeting before the meetings started.
“Another board member contacted Arkansas School Board Association attorney Lucas Harder after the meetings and asked if the lack of notice was legal. Harder replied in no uncertain terms the meetings were not legal.
“Bottom line, the public’s business should be conducted in the bright sunshine of transparency, or governing bodies must held accountable.”
The suit contends that, according to board member Kimberly Wolfe, no explanation was given for Atwill’s termination. The board then named Willie Rhodes as interim superintendent nearly a day after terminating Atwill’s contract.
“The board announced in May 2023 that Dr. Terrence Brown was selected as the new permanent superintendent after the board conducted interviews. No notice of these interviews was given to the public or media in clear violation of FOIA. Emails obtained through a FOIA request showed the board secretly interviewed four candidates for the superintendent’s position: Terrence Brown, Wyonia Scott, Toriano Green, and Rodriguez Broadnax.”
There appears to be a complete lack of transparency by several of these board members beginning with the termination of Dr. Atwill, the payment of $350,000 of taxpayer money and concluding with the secret hiring of his replacement. If they should decide to turn around now and fire Brown without cause, taxpayers in West Memphis could be shelling out close to $1 million to two men who are no longer employed, not to mention attorney fees in the FOIA suit.
On a related note, the Western Arkansas Transparency in Government (TIGG) association will sponsor a town hall meeting to discuss and solicit public comment regarding the proposed amendment that will enshrine the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act in our state Constitution and provide additional safeguards to protect our sunshine laws.
This meeting, the first of several set statewide, is 5:45 p.m. Oct 24 at the Fort Smith Public Library (Community Room), 3201 Rogers Ave. McCutchen said the event is free, and the public and elected officials are encouraged to attend and participate.
Similar town halls are set for Fayetteville on Oct. 26 and West Memphis on Oct. 30. Details will be announced on those meetings soon.
Western Arkansas TIGG founder McCutchen will moderate the Fort Smith meeting, which will feature FOIA experts who will discuss and explain the substance and importance of this badly needed amendment.
McCutchen said, “The language of what’s known as the “Arkansas Government Transparency Amendment” will make the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act one of the strongest, if not the strongest, government transparency and sunshine laws in the entire country.”
I can’t encourage valued readers strongly enough to support this amendment at the ballot box for the sake of “we the people” and finally bring an end to constant meddling to weaken it on behalf of special interests. After all, the government is elected by us to serve of us.