Ellen Kreth, publisher of Huntsville's Madison County Record, is spearheading an important public service investigative series about the origins and effects of the scandal that has rocked the public school system in that community of 2,500.
After two years of sexual assault incidents allegedly committed by some former ninth-grade members of the Huntsville junior high school basketball team, the school board has faced intense community reactions to its decision that reduced and/or threw out the original punishments handed the students.
Students and parents have since protested at school board meetings and vocalized their frustrations toward the board's leniency. Victims have stated they don't feel the district has listened to them. A petition is circulating that seeks school board members' resignations.
The Title IX investigation into players during the 2019-2020 season (who deny involvement in the abuses) was completed on Aug. 24, 2021, and handed over to outside decision-maker, Fayetteville attorney Brian Hogue. Other investigations continue.
In an edited version, below is how The Record is reporting as a concerned watchdog for its community in describing the origins of this scandal in the second segment of an in-depth series:
"On Feb. 9 ... someone in the community called Huntsville High School Principal Roxanne Enix ... . The person informed Enix of what basketball players called "baptisms" ... when several players physically restrained younger teammates while other players ... placed their genitals in or on the restrained players' faces, foreheads or in their hair.
"Players were also 'bean-dipped,' which occurred when players placed their rectum on another player's face or nose. These acts happened to multiple players on various occasions during two basketball seasons.
"The person calling Enix requested anonymity from The Record out of fear of retribution. Enix said at first she didn't understand what the person was saying, what "baptizing" was and the severity of it, but after comprehending, she said she felt physically ill. That night, she called Director of Athletics Tom McCollough.
"'Honestly, who would ever think something like this was happening?' McCollough said. 'It just absolutely still just blows my mind this did happen.' McCollough then called Huntsville School District Superintendent Audra Kimball.
"Due to the [Feb. 9] snowstorm, the district would not act on the allegations for two weeks. Arkansas law requires mandated reporters to immediately report incidents to the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline.
"Despite being asked repeatedly, Kimball, who is a mandated reporter, said she does not remember an exact date or a timeframe when she called the hotline, and referred all questions for this article to the school district's attorney, Charles Harwell. Harwell did not respond to emails asking when the district called the hotline.
"'I looked to find the date of the call but I could not find it in my records,' District Title IX [Coordinator] Tonja McCone said. 'I do know 100 percent that the call was made because I sat in Mrs. Kimball's office while her and Mrs. Enix provided the information to the hotline.'
"In the Title IX report in the 2020-21 investigation sent to parents, in regard to calling the child abuse hotline, the district stated that it had 'consulted with the school lawyer regarding this and also spoke with the school resource officer,' but it did not state the hotline was called. The first official hotline call The Record can verify was not made until March.
"Huntsville School Board President Danny Thomas said it would be an innocent mistake if the district failed to immediately call the hotline. 'We've all tried to do the very best we could with what we've had and tried to do the right thing by these kids. But it definitely doesn't seem to be coming out that way that we have,' he said.
"Asked why the school potentially delayed calling, Thomas said, 'Isn't that probably the right thing to do is to gather the information to find out what's going on before you start jumping the gun?'
"Thomas said he did not know Kimball had known since Feb. 9 when he texted her the night he found out--Feb. 22. 'When I found out, I called my superintendent, tried to follow procedure on what I thought we should do and they should to be on top [of] it,' Thomas said.
"The Record obtained text messages between Kimball, Thomas, and other school board members.
"'I'm sure you're aware of evidently some serious matters going on with the junior high boys in the locker room situation. There's a storm on the horizon over this, I'm afraid. We can talk about it tomorrow, but sounds pretty bad,' Thomas texted to Kimball Feb. 22.
"'Yes, I'm very aware. Tom [McCollough] is on top of it. They started investigating today. As a mom, I'd be pissed too!' Kimball texted back.
"'My understanding is some parents are ready to, or going to have, an attorney," Thomas responded. 'Have you heard that. As a parent I would be the same exact way. Pissed off and I don't know that I would be able to be talked to about it. ... As far as I'm concerned, I don't care about whose kids they are that we're [sic] doing those things. Their ass's need to be out of there,' Thomas texted. Thomas let Kimball know 'Three different parents sent word to me.'
"'What I can't understand is why those boys didn't gang up and retaliate or tell somebody,' Kimball texted back.
"Thomas replied, 'Well there's no excuse for that. That is crossing several lines and the reality part of it is if those parents wanted to get an attorney, it's a slam dunk, I would think, on those kids that did it, and their parents would have to deal with the consequences, in my opinion. It's just about as bad as if they brought a gun to school. And what coach and where was he at when all this has been going on. I understand one kid said it happened to him 11 times,' Thomas texted.
"'After the games they won after the coach left the locker room. [Junior High School head] Coach [Kaleb] Houston,' Kimball texted back. 'Send me the parents' names and I will call them and assure them it's being dealt with. I assure you Tom took it very serious. It won't be swept under the rug,' Kimball stated.
"Families said Kimball never contacted them.
"Houston stated that he knew nothing about what was taking place ... . He resigned on Aug. 2, just days before the school year began but after summer basketball practices had begun.
"Thomas did not inform board members. 'No, I was instructed not to by the attorney,' he said. 'The situation is that Mr. Harwell felt like it was best that I was to stay completely silent on the situation with the rest of the board and not inform the board of anything until all the investigation part was taking place and so that's the reason we just keep it the way it was,' Thomas said.
"Lucas Harder, policy services director of the Arkansas School Board Association, said Thomas acted appropriately by not divulging the information. 'Because generally school board members are not supposed to receive information except for when it comes to them through appropriate channels,' Harder said. 'In order for them to act as finder of fact and a jury effectively, they need to not have received information outside of the hearing so that they can take disciplinary actions at that time.'"
The Madison County Record's series is published on its website, mcrecordonline.com.
Association apologizes
Speaking of school boards, I read the other day that the National School Boards Association (NSBA) has profusely apologized for the letter its president and CEO sent to the Biden administration last month asking the U.S. Department of Justice to crack down on "threats of violence and acts of intimidation" at local school board meetings.
Just days after the letter was released, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he'd ordered the FBI to join local law enforcement to strategize on how to address a "spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence" against school board members.
That controversial letter asked the Biden administration to use the Patriot Act to look into alleged "acts of malice, violence and threats against public school officials" which "could be the equivalent to a form of domestic terrorism and hate crimes."
It's preposterous to label concerned American parents and others who pay taxes to operate these schools and have realistic expectations of those managing the system as prospective criminals.
After experiencing the justified wrath from untold parents and their elected representatives for about a week, the NSBA apologized for its letter and its language. In addition, the association apologized for not securing prior approval from that organization's board to even send such an inflammatory letter.
In other words, a couple of partisan (and not particularly bright) NSBA administrators apparently decided to take matters into their own hands by summoning the feds with the "sky-is-falling" letter that boomeranged to discredit their entire organization.
Mike Masterson is a longtime Arkansas journalist, was editor of three Arkansas dailies and headed the master's journalism program at Ohio State University. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.