Board Fires Teacher

INAPPROPRIATE CONDUCT CITED AS REASON

PRAIRIE GROVE — In a special meeting Thursday night, Prairie Grove School Board unanimously voted to terminate the employment contract of high school math teacher Melissa Stewart. A motion to terminate the contract was made in public after the board met in executive session for about 75 minutes.

Prairie Grove Police Department cited Stewart on Dec. 3 with knowingly furnishing alcohol to a minor after she admitted to police that on Oct. 31 she purchased and provided alcohol to individuals that she knew to be under the age of 21. Stewart has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is set for trial in Prairie Grove District Court on Feb. 2. During her interview with police, Stewart also admitted to allowing minors to drink alcohol at her home, located outside the city limits, according to police records.

Allen Williams, superintendent of schools, placed Stewart on suspended leave with pay pending the outcome of an investigation of the incident.

Following the meeting Thursday night, Williams provided information used in the school’s investigation. A memo dated Dec. 4 documents Williams’ initial meeting with Stewart on the morning after she was cited by Prairie Grove police. Others at that meeting were David Kellogg, assistant superintendent, and Ron Bond, high school principal.

According to the memo, Stewart admitted in that meeting she went to the home of a former high school student and “tasted” a cinnamon alcoholic beverage while there. Other minors also were at the home. She then left and purchased more alcohol for herself and others and brought it back to the home. She left the alcohol with the minors. The memo states she admitted to knowing the participants were under-age and admitted

to knowing that current students were present at the time.

Based on Stewart’s admissions, she was immediately suspended with pay and was told that she would receive written notice within two business days about the reasons for the suspension and if any further actions would be taken.

The two- page written notice, provided to Stewart on Dec. 7 in a second meeting, shows that Williams would recommend to the School Board that Stewart’s employment contract be terminated.

The written notice states reasons for termination include the fact that Stewart admitted to knowingly furnishing alcohol to a minor and also admitted to permitting minors to consume alcohol in her own residence while she was present, in violation of Arkansas laws.

Her conduct also violated Standard 1 of Ethics for Arkansas Educators, Williams wrote in the notice.

“Your misconduct and extremely poor judgment constitutes ‘conduct which materially interferes with the continued performance of (your) duties,’” the notice states.

Williams stated that the apparent violation of law compromised Stewart’s ability to be an effective teacher at Prairie Grove.

“Parents’ concerns about your extremely poor judgment and the violation of statute and public trust will not be alleviated even if you are found innocent of the anticipated criminal charge,” the written notice said. “Parents expect that a teacher would not purchase alcohol for minors and would not condone drinking of alcohol by those minors in your presence. Your instructional effectiveness, maintaining the appropriate teacher-student relationship, and your ability to establish and maintain an appropriate level of public trust is highly jeopardized.”

Williams said he believed Stewart’s effectiveness as a teacher at Prairie Grove had been “irreparably damaged” and could not be restored.

State law gave Stewart 30 days to request a hearing on Williams’ recommendation to terminate her contract. Stewart did not request a hearing.

The police narrative on Stewart’s citation states that various parents and community members began reporting concerns to police in late spring and early summer that Stewart was having inappropriate contact with students. Concerns were that she allegedly was drinking and providing alcohol to students, sending text messages and snap chats and spending large amounts of time with students during weekend gatherings.

After the meeting, Williams said no one had come to him with any concerns about Stewart’s conduct and her arrest was the first time he had heard of any problems.

“It’s just an unfortunate situation,” Williams said, adding that the administration acted as quickly as it could within the law to resolve the situation. “We feel like this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated.”

Eric Walker, School Board president, repeated Williams’ comment that the situation was unfortunate.

Walker quickly added, “I’m proud of our teachers and staff and administration working so hard for our students. There’s a lot of good teachers and a lot of good administrators and a lot of good students in Prairie Grove. I’d rather look at the good things versus one negative.”

Stewart