FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville School Board voted to "further consider" a personnel matter that it discussed during an executive session Wednesday evening.
The School Board did not identify the employee who was the subject of the discussion.
The board called to order a special meeting at 5 p.m. and went into executive session for about two hours.
Superintendent Matthew Wendt, who is on paid administrative leave, was asked to join the board during the executive session. He was with the board for about an hour.
When the board reconvened in public, Traci Farrah, vice president of the board, consulted with Susan Keller Kendall, the board's lawyer, before asking the board to vote.
"The board has deemed it appropriate to proceed with further consideration of a personnel action," Kendall said in a statement afterward. "The Board will not make any personnel decisions without ensuring that constitutional due process is afforded to its employees. The Board has been diligent in its efforts to bring a fair and swift resolution while respecting the rights — constitutional, privacy, or otherwise — of all parties involved."
— Ashton Eley
EARLIER:
The Fayetteville Board of Education is set to hold a special meeting Wednesday evening, a proceeding that comes the same month the district's superintendent took a leave of absence as a sexual harassment complaint against him was investigated.
It wasn't immediately clear if the meeting was related to Matthew Wendt, the schools chief whose leave went into effect April 8.
The school district began the investigation after receiving the complaint March 14, it said in a previous statement. It noted then that it takes such allegations "very seriously and has in place a zero tolerance sexual harassment policy."
The complaint became public earlier this month after the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette received a copy of a letter from the complainant's lawyer, Suzanne Clark, to the district's general counsel, Chris Lawson, dated April 2. Clark confirmed by phone the letter was written by her.
The letter expressed Clark's frustration that more had not been done regarding her client's complaint. Her client experienced Wendt's abusive conduct, he stalked her home and he threatened not to give her a raise if she refused to have sex with him, according to Clark's letter.
Wendt has denied the allegations.
The special meeting is set to begin at 5 p.m.
Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reporter Ashton Eley contributed to this story.