8:49 a.m. update
Monday's Bentonville School Board meeting adjourned at 12:40 a.m. Tuesday after the board had listened to public comments for about five hours.
The board did not discuss or act on the anti-discrimination policy after hearing public comments. Travis Riggs, board president, said any such action would be delayed until the board's next meeting June 1.
The board does not accept public comments at its first meeting of each month.
Original story
BENTONVILLE -- More than 200 people turned out for Monday's School Board meeting, many of whom wanted to comment on a proposed change to the School District's anti-discrimination policy.
About 80 people signed up either at the meeting or days earlier to address the board. Those who signed up were given either three or five minutes to speak, depending on whether they had registered in advance.
Principal moves
The Bentonville School Board hired two principals at its Monday meeting. Don Hoover was chosen as principal of Lincoln Junior High School and Eric Hipp as principal of Ruth Barker Middle School. Hoover, a former secondary principal of the year in Arkansas, is principal of Springdale’s George Junior High School. Hipp has been an assistant principal at Bentonville High School for two years.
Source: Staff report
The period for comment started about 7:15 p.m., after the board concluded its regular business for the night.
Five of the first six speakers spoke against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes under the district's Equal Employment Opportunity policy. Board member Grant Lightle, who proposed the change last month, also has suggested adding veterans and parental and marital status to the list.
Rodney Frye of Bella Vista was the first person to address the board. He asked those in the room who were in favor of keeping the policy as it is to stand. Dozens of people in the room stood up.
There are "biblical, financial and moral" reasons to oppose the change, Frye said.
"You're dividing this community. It's time to unite this community," he said.
There's no known problem with discrimination against those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, he said.
Jacky Littlefield of Bentonville also weighed in against the proposed change.
"A board member stated at the last meeting we have got to stop as a board wasting time on things that do not improve our kids' education," Littlefield said. "In my opinion this is one of those issues that's not going to improve our kids' education."
Chris Cash of Rogers said he has many friends and business clients who live in the Bentonville district. Cash said many people would pull their children out of the district if the anti-discrimination policy were revised.
"I don't understand why we're trying to counteract a problem that doesn't exist," Cash said.
Kirk Barnett, a gay man and parent of two children in the district, gave a different view. Current policy permits homosexuals to be fired simply for being homosexual, he said.
"I stand before you because I feel strongly if you allow individuals to be honest about themselves, you will get the best from them," Barnett said.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth are twice as likely to commit suicide as their peers are, he said. He asked board members to consider what kind of message they'd be sending to them by not revising the anti-discrimination policy.
"You are one more person telling them they do not matter," Barnett said.
The anti-discrimination policy wasn't on the board's agenda for Monday's meeting; however, at the beginning of the meeting, board member Brent Leas urged the board to add discussion of it to the agenda. That motion failed by a 4-3 vote.
Leas then immediately motioned to ratify the policy as it is and keep it that way, unless a change is mandated by the federal government.
Matt Burgess, a board member, said he was concerned about taking such a vote before giving everyone at Monday's meeting a chance to speak.
"I think it sends the wrong message to everyone involved," Burgess said.
Lightle also argued against taking a vote because it hadn't been advertised in advance.
"One of the reasons we have the agenda is so the public knows what's coming before the board," Lightle said. "If you adjust agendas in real time it doesn't give the public the opportunity to know what's going on."
Leas eventually dropped his motion after Superintendent Michael Poore assured him he could bring it up again later in the meeting.
The board hadn't had time to discuss or vote on the issue as of press time Monday.
Monday's meeting, held at Ruth Barker Middle School, was the second chance the public had to weigh in on the anti-discrimination policy in front of the board. The first time was last month. Out of 18 people who spoke at the April 20 meeting, 15 were against the proposed policy change.
At its May 4 meeting, a board vote on whether to continue considering the matter ended in a 3-3 tie. Poore, after consulting with the district's attorney and others, had advised the board to hold off on making any decision until the U.S. Supreme Court hands down its ruling on same-sex marriage. The court's decision is expected by the end of June.
Dave Perozek can be reached at dperozek@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWADaveP.
NW News on 05/19/2015