LITTLE ROCK — Linda Watson today will assume the job of interim superintendent of the 26,000-student Little Rock School District, succeeding Roy Brooks, who left the position Thursday after a $635,000 district buyout of his contract.
Watson, who has been senior director of student services, is becoming the district's interim chief executive at a time when she and a handful of other district officials are being investigated by the Pulaski County sheriff's office on allegations of state ethics law violations. The allegations stem from payments made in 2004 and 2005 to the employees for work in certain district-related programs in addition to their regular district salaries.
The Little Rock School Board selected Watson several weeks ago to be Brooks' immediate successor for the 2007-08 school year.
School Board President Katherine Mitchell, who is similarly under investigation for a possible ethics law violation for her work for the district, on Thursday announced Watson's start date after the School Board met for nearly two hours in executive session to consider the terms of Watson's contract.
Mitchell said the proposed contract terms will be given to attorneys to negotiate further. Any contract must ultimately be voted on by the School Board and signed by Watson to be final.
Among the provisions stillto be determined by the attorneys is Watson's salary, Mitchell said. Brooks earned an annual salary of $198,000 this past year. He also received an annual payment of $25,000 to an annuity. Mitchell said the annuity would likely be dropped from Watson's contract because of the 10-month duration of the contract. Watson will be eligible to apply for the more permanent superintendent position when the board begins that search.
Watson, who attended the early part of Thursday's School Board meeting but left the administration building well before discussion about her new position, currently earns a salary of $112,992 plus a $1,200 car allowance and a stipend of $3,000 for the doctorate degree that she holds. Watson did not return a message seeking comment about the new job and the investigation.
Asked whether Watson's part in a legal investigation was a concern to the board in its deliberations, Mitchell said, "Not really," adding that the board members were told by the district's internal auditor that the extra payments to Watson were for work she did while on vacation from her district job, on weekends or after her regular business hours.
Sandy Becker, the internal auditor, confirmed that Watson was paid in a nontraditional licensure program for work she did during her off hours according to time records that he reviewed over two days' time. He said he had not completed a study of a different teacher mentorship program for which Watson also received extra pay.
The investigation into payments to Mitchell, Watson and others from state grant programs to the Little Rock School District were the result of complaints filed by Bob Powers, aLittle Rock district parent, with the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney's office in Mitchell's case and the Arkansas Department of Education in Watson's case.
John Rehrauer, spokesman for the Pulaski County sheriff's office, said Thursday that the investigation of Mitchell was nearly complete and the results could be sent to the prosecuting attorney as soon as next week.
Asked if that investigation included a review of Watson's work in the grant programs, Rehrauer said he didn't want to be too specific but the sheriff's office had looked into all that it had been asked to look into and the results of that would be forwarded to the prosecuting attorney.
Julie Johnson Thompson, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Education, said the complaint filed by Powers was referred to the Pulaski County prosecutors office earlier this month.
The report from the sheriff to the prosecutor is considered part of an open investigation and, as such, is not public information.
In the case of Watson, Powers wrote in his complaint to the Arkansas Department of Education that he believed that among the laws she may have violated was Arkansas Code Annotated 6-24-111(b) that says that "unless written approval is granted by the Commissioner of Education, it is a breach of the ethical standards of this chapter for administratorsto be or become the employee, agent, or independent contractor of any party contracting with the public educational entity they serve."
An employee of the Little Rock district since 1987, Watson most recently served as senior director of student services and before that, assistant superintendent for student discipline. She has been an assistant principal at Hall, Fair, McClellan and Central high schools and also served as interim principal at Central for six months in 1993.
She started her teaching career in 1977 through 1979 as a junior high science teacher in Topeka, Kan. She has a doctorate in educational administration from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, a master's degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and two bachelor's degrees - one from Philander Smith College and the other from Washburn University in Topeka.
Watson will replace Brooks, who completed packing up his office Thursday afternoon and left the school district. Earlier this week, he, his attorneys and the School Board, through its attorneys, agreed to a $635,000 buyout of Brooks' contract.
In compliance with the terms of the settlement agreement, Brooks and his attorneys filed a motion in federal court Thursday asking that the superintendent's lawsuit against the School Board and district - including his request for about $70,000 in legal fees and expenses from the district - be dismissed.
U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele, the presiding judge in the case that was filed as a way to save Brooks' job, agreed to the request later Thursday and ordered the case dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it can't be refiled.
Front Section, Pages 1, 11 on 08/24/2007