LITTLE ROCK — A hearing on whether to temporarily stop the Little Rock School Board from using public money to buy out the remainder of Little Rock Superintendent Roy Brooks' contract is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox.
A group of Little Rock residents who filed the lawsuit in June asked the judge on Monday to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the School Board from paying the buyout or taking other action on the superintendent or his position until a full hearing can be held in the case.
The School Board voted 4-3 on May 24 to exercise a clause in Brooks' contract that permits the board to unilaterally terminate Brooks' contract. The contract calls for 90 days' notice to the superintendent and payment of all compensation that he would otherwise earn if he remained on the job for the duration of the contract. Officials estimate the buyout would cost the district at least $500,000. Brooks is scheduled to leave his job in late August.
On Tuesday, the School Boardchose longtime district employee Linda Watson as interim superintendent to replace Brooks until it can make a more permanent choice for the position.
The group of Little Rock residents filed its lawsuit on June 13 against the School Board and School District. The lawsuit contends that the publicly funded buyout amounts to severance pay, which is not authorized by statute. It further argues that paying a public employee to not work is unconstitutional, and it asks that the provision in Brooks' contract that permits a buyout be declared null, void, inoperative and unenforceable under state law.
The group of plaintiffs in the lawsuit is headed by Teresa Gray, who has served as the spokesman for Little Rock Mothers for Progress in Our Schools. That group has publicly supported Brooks during his fight to keep his job.
But in the lawsuit, which seeks temporary and permanent injunctions against a publicly funded buyout, the plaintiffs say the case is not about the leadership battle. The plaintiffs say it is about using public funds to buy out a contract.
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 07/21/2007