North Little Rock School District official resigns; superintendent says 'you could call it abandonment'

Board OKs deal after firing fails

The North Little Rock School Board at a special meeting Monday approved a small slate of personnel changes for the coming school year, including the July 2 resignation of Henry Anderson Jr., the district's director of secondary education and assessment.

Anderson, who was a high school principal in the Crossett, Pulaski County Special and Little Rock school districts before becoming a districtwide administrator in North Little Rock, is listed on the Marvell-Elaine School District's website as that district's superintendent.

That website posting, as well as other documents, caused North Little Rock Superintendent Bobby Acklin to recommend last week to the district's School Board that Anderson be fired for holding jobs in two districts.

But the North Little Rock board at its Thursday meeting voted 4-3 against the termination recommendation.

That led to Monday's recommendation that Anderson's departure from the North Little Rock system be a resignation.

"He has resigned," Superintendent Bobby Acklin said in an interview after the board's single 6-0 vote on the staff changes, which also included the hiring of a new principal for Crestwood Elementary School.

"Now, he didn't turn a resignation in to me, but he's working in Marvell-Elaine School District," Acklin said about Anderson.

"So, whatever you call it, I call it a resignation, but you could call it abandonment, I guess. He hasn't been at work."

Acklin said he selected the July 2 date as the resignation date for Anderson based on seeing Anderson's signature as superintendent on a Marvell-Elaine district teacher employment document, known as a binder, for employment in the coming school year. That document is dated July 2.

Acklin said he believes Anderson's dispute with the North Little Rock system over a departure date is about issues such as "vacation days and stuff like that."

Acklin said the secondary education director's job will be advertised in the coming days.

Contacted after Monday's North Little Rock board meeting, Anderson would only say that he became superintendent of the Marvell-Elaine district July 15. He deferred any elaboration on the transition in his employment until he could speak to his attorney, who is Rep. John Walker, D-Little Rock.

A review of Marvell-Elaine School Board minutes from the district's website shows that the board there voted 6-0 on June 24 to hire Anderson as superintendent for one year. The minutes don't give an effective date for the employment.

But in a July 7 email to the Marvell-Elaine School Board, Anderson wrote that he was declining the chief executive's job because a final contract agreement had not been reached between himself and the Marvell-Elaine district.

The Anderson email was acquired and circulated to the North Little Rock School Board members and to others by Jimmie Cavin, a North Little Rock resident who routinely makes Arkansas Freedom of Information Act requests for information to the North Little Rock district as well as to other government organizations.

Cavin also circulated a copy of a contract between Anderson and the Marvell-Elaine district that states that the first day of work for Anderson was July 15 and that his annual salary would be $94,000.

Cavin argued to the North Little Rock board members that Acklin's attempt to fire Anderson pressured Anderson -- who did not submit a resignation letter to North Little Rock -- to accept the job in Marvell-Elaine at mid-month.

As Marvell-Elaine superintendent, Anderson succeeds Joyce Cottoms. The Marvell-Elaine district is classified by the state of Arkansas as a district in fiscal distress, meaning in part that all district expenditures are subject to state approval.

Anderson said his new job is a challenging one, but one that he is excited to take on.

In addition to acting on the Anderson issue, the North Little Rock board on Monday approved the hiring of Connie Bamburg to be the principal at Crestwood Elementary.

The board vote also approved the transfers of Kiffiany Lard from English teacher to assistant principal at North Little Rock Academy, and Dwight Kelly, a music teacher, to assistant principal at Glenview Elementary.

Metro on 07/23/2019

Upcoming Events