Conway school board uses meeting to rail against critical news coverage

FILE — This 2015 file photo shows public school buses. (AP Photo/File)
FILE — This 2015 file photo shows public school buses. (AP Photo/File)

Board members from the Conway School District Tuesday used nearly 30 minutes of the monthly meeting to address the ongoing backlash it continues to face over board policies and proposals -- with one member urging the public to "stop following crazy, slanted, media people."

Patrons filled nearly every seat in the meeting Tuesday at the district office despite heavy rainfall.

After a period of regular school board business, Board President Andre Acklin opened the floor for other board members to speak on the ongoing conversations surrounding various decisions coming out of the district.

Board Member Jason Sandefer spoke first, using about 10 minutes to share his thoughts, largely directed at the media and what he described as his frustrations with the "bias" and "agenda" that "so-called" journalists are pushing.

The few comments Sandefer directed to community members urged them not to "blindly" trust the narrative they are seeing online.

Sandefer also mentioned the district's email retention policy, the board approved policies regarding transgender students use of restrooms and the decision to hold board meetings in the administration building.

The email policy, he said, was not changed to hide anything, but instead changed to a three-day deletion method because of the "harassment" the board continues to get via requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

According to Sandefer, the district has received 69requests since October, with 75% of those coming from four people.

"All these FOIA requests take away from the students," said Sandefer.

The district's email retention policy was put into place prior to the attention the board received in September after approving restroom and overnight policies on transgender students.

During another portion of his comments, Sandefer says transgender students have thanked him for the restroom policy, but adds that he understands all transgender students might not feel the same.

And, in response to the monthly meeting locations, Sandefer said using the administration building, which can hold 59 people at full capacity, is merely tradition and not a tactic to prohibit people from attending.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting, Collum attached a notice to the bottom of the agenda stating maximum capacity at the monthly meeting would be 59 people, citing "city fire code."

The note highlighted that the board meeting would be available for live stream on Youtube for those interested. This is the first time the district has offered to live stream the public meeting.

Collum wrote, "To keep our board meetings safe, effective and free from disruption, we will allow only the maximum number of attendees per city fire code."

He added that any patrons "who cause disruptions" will be asked to leave and that "loitering in the hallways" is prohibited.

Arkansas Attorney Tom Mars issued a public statement Saturday in response to the district's notice on capacity.

"It's absurd for the [Conway School District] to claim that a video broadcast of a board meeting would satisfy the statute allowing electronic communications to be used to allow attendance with 'full participation...'"

Board member Linda Hargis also spoke Tuesday on the some of the backlash the board has faced, including a proposed classroom curriculum policy that has not been adopted. She said the board's reaction to the policy -- which would have banned more than 60 words used in various lessons -- was, "Are you kidding me?"

She added, "That [policy, as written] was not even logical."

The board Tuesday also approved the recent resignation and separation agreement of the district's Deputy Superintendent, K.K. Bradshaw.

Bradshaw was not present at the Tuesday meeting and her reasons for resignation and the board's approval of the separation agreement are unclear.

The district's communication specialist, Heather Kendrick, has recently been removed from nearly all duties under the communications role. Kendrick's role with the district is also unclear.

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