2nd firing letter says coach spent untidily

A new termination letter from the North Little Rock School District accuses high school football coach Brad Bolding of failing to follow district rules involving nearly $140,000 in purchases made between late August 2013 and this January.

The letter, made public Thursday by Bolding's attorney, also lists more than $94,000 in purchases made before Aug. 9, 2013, the date when the district says it admonished Bolding in writing to adhere to the district's purchasing policies and procedures.

The letter is the second firing notice the North Little Rock High School head coach has received in less than a month. It was released a day after the school district canceled a special School Board meeting in which Bolding had planned to fight allegations made in a previous firing notice issued Jan. 30.

District administrators said they canceled the hearing and sent the revised firing letter so they could include new information that had surfaced in the past few weeks.

Also Thursday, the district said it found documentation showing it had received two state grants -- one for the football program and one for basketball -- totaling about $9,000 and spent them on items for students.

The nonprofit NLR Athletic Foundation, which is separate from the school district, had raised questions about whether the money had been properly spent in an article published by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette this week. The grants came from the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District.

Bolding's attorney, David Couch, said the district should withdraw the latest termination letter and put his client back to work.

Nearly all of the purchases listed on the latest firing letter were paid for with money from outside foundations or funds raised by Bolding or football players, Couch said.

"What that detailed information shows is how much money Coach Bolding raised and was spent on the kids in the North Little Rock football program. None of that money went into his pocket," he said.

Any checks made out to Bolding were for legitimate reimbursements, the attorney added.

Bolding has denied any wrongdoing and said he believes the school district is retaliating against him for raising questions about spending in the athletic department.

In the latest firing letter, Superintendent Kelly Rodgers wrote that the district first noticed in August 2013 that Bolding wasn't following the district's purchasing procedures regarding "numerous" items of athletic equipment and supplies.

Rodgers listed 19 purchases totaling more than $94,000 that were made before or during August 2013 including a single purchase of $81,795.56 from BSN Sports on Aug. 8, 2013.

"Despite being directed in writing on August 9, 2013, to obtain prior written approval for the purchase of athletic equipment and supplies in the future and confirming on July 29, 2014, that you would follow all District procedures for purchasing and fundraising, you have failed to follow District rules, regulations, policies and directives," Rodgers wrote.

Rodgers also listed 60 additional purchases made since Aug. 30, 2013, for which the district says Bolding either failed to follow purchasing procedures or "disregarded applicable law and policy by failing to properly inventory the purchases over $1,000."

Forty-two of the purchases were under $1,000, though some made on the same or adjacent dates totaled $1,000 or more. The largest single purchase cited after August 2013, was $38,739.13 to BSN Sports on Jan. 15, 2014.

Bolding's lawyer said Thursday that the August 2013 memo cited in the new termination letter says the school district wouldn't be responsible for purchases that didn't comply with its policies, not that Bolding would be fired.

"It's really a memo that says you need to get all purchases approved, and if you don't, the district doesn't have to pay for them," he said. "I don't understand what the district's problem is."

In addition to the list of purchases, the new letter includes a reference to a "student-athlete's stepfather's work on campus with football players during off-season practice."

It does not mention a social media post Bolding made in November that led to a reprimand in December. The post had been included in Bolding's first firing letter.

On Thursday, Rodgers said he couldn't comment on the new letter because of the Arkansas Teacher Fair Dismissal Act.

"We're not able to share that until we get to the public meeting. That's very unfortunate because we're not able to show the public all the facts, but the employee has rights and we're obligated to protect those rights," Rodgers said. "We would like this to be over. We would like this to be finished. We would like to get back to normal."

Couch said Bolding will be appealing the latest letter and again request a public appeal hearing.

The district has put his client, his family and the football players in "limbo" for 40 days, Couch said, and now "we have to start the process anew."

"If it was that bad, it should have been included in the first letter. When they canceled the hearing yesterday, they said it was new information that they've discovered in the course of their investigation. Everything in that letter they knew before Jan. 30," he said.

Couch said he also is considering filing a complaint with the Arkansas Department of Education over how the school district has dealt with Bolding.

"They sent a termination letter and then on the eve of the hearing withdrew it and filed a new termination letter that has stuff in it that they knew about to begin with. That doesn't seem ethical," he said.

Couch said he's reviewed emails that show the "tone and tenor" of district administrators' discussion of Bolding changed last fall after he brought up concerns about unpaid invoices and the size of athletic director Gary Davis' office in the new sports complex being built.

"His office was, like, 2,000 square feet approximately and they have, like, 600 square feet for nine coaches," Couch said.

Bolding's personnel file notes that he was reprimanded for "walking out" of a meeting with Davis regarding the new complex. The reprimand said the athletic director's office was reduced in size and the space for the coaches and student athletes was enlarged after Bolding left the meeting.

The newest firing letter also includes actions by Bolding two years ago that the district has said violated Arkansas Activities Association rules.

The district said Bolding made improper contact with star wide receiver K.J. Hill; his stepfather, Montez Peterson; and his mother, Deidra Peterson, before Hill enrolled in the district.

The district claims Bolding arranged to have or was aware of Peterson's work on campus with football players during off-season practice. Peterson volunteered with the North Little Rock football program in January and February 2013. In August 2013, the school district hired him as a campus supervisor.

The school district "self-reported" a potential violation involving contact with Peterson earlier this month to the AAA, and agreed to forfeit 10 football and at least 24 boys' basketball games, including the Class 7A state boys' basketball championship, during the 2013-2014 academic year.

The district also accused Bolding of giving Peterson a $600 check from the NLR Athletic Foundation about a month before Hill enrolled in the North Little Rock district as a sophomore.

Bolding has challenged the evidence submitted by the school district to support the forfeits, particularly two letters from Peterson that gave differing accounts of the $600 check dated Feb. 7, 2013.

He has also said he directed Hill to the high school principal when he first met the student and his parents in late 2012. On Feb. 4, Hill signed a national letter of intent to play football at Ohio State University.

Also Thursday, district officials said they had accounted for surplus state tax money received in a grant from the Central Arkansas Planning and Development District.

The nonprofit NLR Athletic Foundation purchased about $7,500 worth of athletic apparel for the football team -- warm-up gear the grant had been intended to pay for. Foundation officials and Bolding said they didn't know where the grant money had been spent.

Planning district officials said they had asked the school district repeatedly for canceled checks to account for the grant funds, and received no response. The school district submitted a receipt for the fleece pants and shirts that showed the foundation paid for the athletic gear, but said Thursday that was because of a short turnaround for responding to the request.

Denise Drennan, the school district's chief financial officer, said the planning district had requested documentation regarding the grant funds so they could release them in response to a request under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

The school district's books for 2013 were in storage, she said, so the athletic department requested invoices for the purchases directly from BSN Sports and turned in what the company sent back, which was an invoice for the purchases made by the NLR Athletic Foundation.

Drennan and Rodgers said Thursday that they had since been able to trace the grant money to another purchase of athletic apparel for the football team.

"We can show that the money was expended on kids, for students, in the particular sport and for similar items to the warm-ups," Drennan said.

Drennan said those receipts had been submitted to the planning district to see if that will be an acceptable expenditure. Planning district staff said the district sometimes allows substitutions of like purchases, she said.

Drennan said the school district also was able to track a second grant from the planning district that was given to the basketball team in December 2013, for $1,500 to pay for basketball shoes. The school district also submitted those receipts to the planning district to close the second grant.

Couch said Thursday that the grant money still was not spent on what it was intended for, and Bolding, who doesn't have direct access to the football fundraising account, shouldn't be the person held responsible.

"It sounds like they're making up stuff after the fact to cover up either impropriety or incompetence," Couch said. "You would think there would be a system of controls, accounting checks and balances to make sure the money is spent correctly, especially when you have someone with an auditing background."

Rodgers said the school district's policy is that coaches and teachers who apply for small grants are in charge of making sure that money is spent correctly. He said the district plans to change its policies and institute stronger accounting controls.

School district officials discussed the grant late Thursday in an interview that ended after the planning district's office had closed.

A Section on 02/27/2015