State skirted law, LR schools suit says

Attorneys for three members of the recently disbanded Little Rock School Board contend that state officials broke the law by failing to submit to legislators reasons for the state takeover of its largest district.

In an amended lawsuit filed electronically Tuesday, the attorneys say Education Commissioner Tony Wood had to provide statements to the state's House and Senate education committees within 10 days of the Arkansas Board of Education's decision, according to Arkansas Code Annotated 6-13-112 (a). The statements must lay out why the Education Board took over the district and what steps the district can take to remove itself from the state's authority.

An email to the Arkansas Department of Education's attorney Jeremy Lassiter went unreturned Wednesday, when state offices closed at noon because of inclement weather.

Calls to Wood and the district's interim superintendent, Dexter Suggs, also were not returned Wednesday.

The Education Board voted in January to take control of the state's largest district, removing the seven-member board and making Suggs an interim superintendent. The move came after six of the district's 48 schools were labeled as academically distressed because fewer than half of the students at those schools scored at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams during a three-year period.

The six schools are Baseline Elementary; Cloverdale and Henderson middle schools; and J.A. Fair, Hall and McClellan high schools.

Attorneys said in the original suit -- and again, in the amended one -- that the Education Board did not have the authority to take over the district. In the new suit, the attorneys said the Education Board "has no plan for improving performance at the six schools."

The Education Department continues to meet with leaders in the school district, department spokesman Kimberly Friedman said Wednesday.

"ADE is reviewing and gathering information about existing processes such as financial, staffing, and instructional practices," she said in an email. "We are working toward developing a plan to improve academic achievement and long-term financial stability for the district."

Tuesday's amendments also added a plaintiff and defendant.

Now, district parent Barclay Key -- who headed an online petition signed by more than 600 opposing the state takeover -- is joining the four other plaintiffs in suing Wood, the Board of Education and H. Baker Kurrus, who has been added as a defendant. Wood recently tapped Kurrus, an attorney and a former Little Rock School Board member, as the head of a committee that will evaluate and make recommendations on the Little Rock School District's finances.

Key -- along with Doris Pendleton, a resident of Zone 1 in the school district, and former School Board members Dianne Curry, Jim Ross and C.E. McAdoo -- is asking Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen to reinstate the elected board. The suit also asks Griffen for a preliminary injunction, which would stop the state's takeover of the nearly 25,000-student district.

The Arkansas Constitution places certain responsibilities, including setting a tax rate to raise money for schools, under elected school board members, according to the lawsuit.

"Without a School Board that is elected by the people, there can be no election," the lawsuit said. "Only an elected Board of Directors can perform this responsibility."

Metro on 02/26/2015