Fired North Little Rock superintendent calls dismissal attack

Board heard audio, saw email before vote

Bobby Acklin is shown in this file photo.
Bobby Acklin is shown in this file photo.

Comments made by the North Little School District superintendent in an audio file sent to School Board members by the high school principal were among the issues that led to the superintendent's termination during a board meeting Thursday night, officials confirmed Friday.

Principal Scott Jennings sent board members the email and audio file, both of which were obtained Friday by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette through an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act request.

The email and audio file refer to a grievance hearing from 2019, which Superintendent Bobby Acklin had described to Jennings as a political move by School Board President Tracy Steele to garner votes in the mayoral election. Steele announced in November that he planned to run for the mayor's office.

School Board members conducted their meeting Thursday night using social media to adhere to social-distancing recommendations related to the coronavirus pandemic.

[AUDIO: Click here for the recording sent by Jennings to members of the North Little Rock School Board » arkansasonline.com/425nlremail/]

Members went into a lengthy executive session before returning and voting publicly, 4-3, to immediately terminate Acklin's contract. Board members Sandi Campbell, Lizbeth Huggins, Cindy Temple and Natalie Wankum voted for the termination. Steele, Rochelle Redus and Dorothy Williams voted against it.

Acklin had served as North Little Rock's superintendent since October 2018, and he said Friday that the actions taken against him Thursday night were paramount to a "lynching."

Acklin said the School Board agreed to buy out his $175,000 contract, which he had already signed for the next school year, along with $7,680 he would have received as a vehicle allowance and insurance.

Wankum requested Thursday that the board go into executive session to discuss the email and audio clip board that members had received.

Jennings sent the email to School Board members. In it, he details a conversation he had with Acklin about a grievance hearing regarding racial discrimination related to a summer school job.

"I asked Mr. Acklin if the hearing could be postponed because we had not had a chance to review the Level 3 grievance," Jennings said in the email. "Mr. Acklin told us that he did not add the hearing to the agenda but rather Board President Tracy Steele had added the Level 3 hearing himself. Mr. Acklin said President Steele had added the Level 3 Grievance to the agenda on [Sept. 17] to be heard on Sept. 19. Mr. Acklin told us that the hearing would happen and he could not stop it."

Jennings said in the email that on the day of the hearing, the teacher who filed the grievance wasn't present, Steele adjourned the meeting and the hearing was rescheduled for Sept. 26. He said after a Sept. 24 meeting he asked Acklin why Steele was so adamant about hearing the grievance.

"His response to me was very disturbing," Jennings said in the email.

Wankum said Friday that Acklin could be heard in the audio clip saying Steele didn't want to hear the grievance and that it was a political move. Acklin also can be heard saying that Sandi Roy, an Arkansas Education Association representative, wanted to hear the grievance and that Steele wanted to let her have her way because she was going to help him get some votes.

Jennings said in the email that the School Board voted 7-0 that the issue wasn't grievable.

"At this point, I feel that I have no other choice but to inform you of this very serious concern for my own protection," Jennings said in the email. "There are careers and lives and mental health of staff members that should not be affected by politics. My job and the jobs of impacted staff members are tough enough without adding a political agenda to the mix. The statement Mr. Acklin made to me on September 24 was given to me as a fact, not his opinion."

Jennings said in the email that he was initially hesitant to take the issue to the School Board because of previous incidents of what he perceived to be targeting by a couple of board members, but he said the seriousness of the incident compelled him to do so.

Steele denied in an interview Friday night that the decision to hear the grievance was politically motivated. He said the decision to proceed with the grievance hearing was unpopular among many in the district.

"That particular event [which led the grievance] happened before I announced I was a candidate for mayor," he said. "The room was filled with teachers, counselors and coaches who were asked there to come support the principal. This one teacher just wanted to be heard, and that wasn't a popular decision, but I don't make choices off of that."

Steele said he believes some people will do anything to prevent him from becoming mayor.

"It wasn't just something to hurt Acklin, but it was meant to hurt me as well," Steele said.

Acklin said Friday that he knew that the audio clip had something to do with his previous conversation with Jennings.

"I told them I was supporting Mr. Jennings and that it was all political," he said. "It was no big deal, and it was nothing I wouldn't repeat."

Acklin said he wasn't told about the contents of the email, but he thought it might have involved something he sent to the staff earlier this week about a rumor of a secret meeting where the firing of staff members was discussed.

"I got frustrated and sent out an email to staff apologizing, but told them this was a lie from the pit of hell and that whoever wrote it was a friend of Satan," Acklin said. "This was a devilish, targeted action specifically to hurt me. This email was just to build a case to make me a bad guy."

Wankum said Friday that Thursday's executive session had nothing to do with the email Acklin had referred to. She said the board had given Acklin a list of goals, and he hadn't achieved those goals.

Steele said he was taken by surprise by Thursday's decision to terminate Acklin.

"An important decision like that shouldn't happen without community input," Steele said. "To make such an important decision on Zoom during a pandemic was a bad choice. For a principal to record his superintendent was not right."

Acklin said the entire ordeal was a coordinated attack against him.

"It was like a lynching," he said.

Acklin said he was frustrated because he had spent a lot of time in federal court fighting for the school district in a desegregation lawsuit, but he couldn't protect himself from what he felt was prejudice.

"You never feel good when they target you and they target you for your race," he said. "That is the only explanation. You don't fire a superintendent for having a balanced budget. You don't fire a superintendent for raising test scores. You don't fire a superintendent for successfully moving the Central Office.

"Then what did you fire him for? There ought to be a reason, but there wasn't."

Steele wouldn't comment on whether he believes racial bias was involved in the decision to terminate Acklin's contract, but he said he felt that Acklin never had an opportunity to fully do his job.

"He never had the full support of the board," Steele said. "I think different personalities couldn't come to an agreement. I do feel like he wasn't given a fair chance."

Steele said that despite the challenges, Acklin made great progress while he was superintendent.

"The district was finally moving forward," he said.

[EMAIL: Click here for the text of Jennings’ email » arkansasonline.com/425nlremail/]

Acklin said he believes Wankum played a key role in his termination. He said nothing specifically had happened recently between the two, but that he believes clashes over time had added up.

"I wouldn't let her be superintendent," Acklin said. "I am not firing coaches because you want me to. I hired people who I felt were better for the job, and sometimes she wouldn't like that."

Wankum said she clashed with Acklin only when it came to school security and safety.

"My children attended the middle school and high school, and I take it personally when I hear my child calling me because there has been a bomb threat and the power is out," she said. "As a mother it makes you scared, and as a board member it makes you furious."

Wankum said she was "shocked" that the motion to terminate Acklin's contract passed.

"I had no idea it would go through," she said.

Metro on 04/25/2020

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