The Sentinel-Record

Board members vote to fire CMS principal

- JAY BELL

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of eight articles about the terminatio­n hearing and ultimate firing of Jann Gibson, principal of Cutter Morning Star Elementary School. The Cutter Morning Star School District held the hearing from 5 p.m. Friday to almost 1:20 a.m. Saturday. Board members voted at the end of the hearing to fire Gibson.

Members of the Cutter Morning Star School Board voted at around 1:10 a.m. Saturday, following an eight-plus hour hearing, to accept the recommenda­tion of Superinten­dent Nancy Anderson to terminate the contract of employment of Jann Gibson, the elementary school principal.

More than 70 guests were present for the start of the meeting at 5 p.m. Friday, aside from the board members, administra­tive personnel and three to five deputies from the Garland County Sheriff’s Department who rotated in and out of the meeting throughout the night. The Eagles also hosted four home basketball games throughout the evening against Poyen. More than 60 guests were present to hear the final determinat­ion at about 1:18 a.m.

The board voted to assess all seven of the district’s reasons to recommend terminatio­n as true. The district’s administra­tion provided a packet for the board and Gibson’s attorney, Robert Newcomb, of Little Rock, to outline the reasons for Anderson’s recommenda­tion. Attorneys Jay Bequette and Cody

Kees, of the Bequette & Billingsle­y law firm in Little Rock, presented the administra­tion’s case. Accepting the allegation­s as true provided the board with cause to terminate Gibson’s contract.

Board President Mark Rash, Secretary Donna Fincher and board member Sandy Walker voted to accept all seven reasons as true. Eddy Slick, vice president of the board, voted to accept all seven accusation­s, save for one. Board member Jared Hawthorn voted against six of the seven reasons.

Rash, Slick, Fincher and Walker voted to fire Gibson. Hawthorn was the only board member opposed.

The newspaper submitted a request under Arkansas’ Freedom of Informatio­n Act at 2:16 a.m. Saturday for the packet developed by the administra­tion for the hearing. The request had not been fulfilled by presstime Saturday night.

At least two of the reasons involved alleged physical abuse of two elementary school students. The mothers of both students testified for almost 20 minutes each during the hearing on Friday.

The Sentinel-Record follows The Associated Press privacy guidelines, and does not identify possible juvenile victims of abuse, or the names of their parents, which could potentiall­y identify them. Both parents stated their names during the hearing and the names of both children were publicly stated multiple times by various officials.

Gibson was informed on Nov. 27 by the Arkansas Department of Human Services she had been cleared of child maltreatme­nt accusation­s in both cases. She and Kent Wasson, a physical education teacher and coach, were suspended on Oct. 11 by the district pending an investigat­ion.

A gag order enforced by the district prevented either employees to discuss their personnel matters with anyone. Wasson returned to campus earlier in November.

Gibson received a terminatio­n letter on Nov. 2. Certified school employees recommende­d by the superinten­dent for terminatio­n can request open or closed hearing. Gibson requested an open hearing and reaffirmed her preference for an open hearing at the start of the meeting on Monday.

The parents of the two children in question testified about the alleged abuse caused in one case by Wasson in a paddling witnessed by Gibson and another paddling by Gibson witnessed by Haley Thornton, a first-grade teacher. Anderson said she did not have knowledge of the cases until shortly before she made the decision to suspend Gibson and Wasson.

The testimony of the teachers and Anderson were contradict­ed by multiple school personnel, as well as Garland County sheriff’s Deputy Mark Kizer, a 20-year veteran of law enforcemen­t. He was the district’s school resource officer.

School nurse Katee Fendley, administra­tive assistant Pam Jackson and first-grade teacher Haley Thornton each directly contradict­ed statements made by the parents, as did Kizer. Newcomb said Anderson made no attempts to corroborat­e the parents’ claims with the office and school personnel.

Kizer claimed Anderson accused him of “sleeping with” Gibson. Library media specialist Heather Hughes said Anderson directed a staff member to install a secret recording device in the library, and guests of the meeting alleged Kees attempted to coax Fendley into a violation of the Health Insurance Portabilit­y and Accountabi­lity Act of 1996 when he asked her to assess a picture of a student’s bottom provided by his mother after he was paddled.

Fendley said the Arkansas State Board of Nursing advised her not to make such assessment­s in an open hearing. Attorney Sharon Street, who represente­d the school board and moderated the meeting, said Fendley refused to answer the question and advised Kees to move to another question.

Kees also questioned Terry Lawler, the interim principal of the elementary school, to provide informatio­n about the district’s allegation­s of a lack of documentat­ion of corporal punishment, inadequate lunch time without duty obligation­s for faculty members and a master schedule that did not provide the mandated time allotment for art and music education. Anderson said the developmen­t of the school schedule is ultimately the responsibi­lity of the principal.

Lawler, Anderson and Gibson, the final testifier of the hearing, were each questioned by the attorneys for more than an hour. A total of 13 testifiers were questioned between 5 p.m. and 11:23 p.m., when Kees, Newcomb and Bequette delivered their final arguments. The board adjourned into an executive session at 11:50 p.m. and returned for the final vote at 1:08 a.m.

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