Taxpayers in Huntsville's School District must fork over $12,912 in attorneys' fees to Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen after the district lost a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against the board. Circuit Judge Doug Martin found the board guilty of committing several FOIA violations in the case brought by Benjamin Rightsell of Witter.
Seems to me the people got off light, considering today's going compensation for attorneys who win lawsuits seeking reimbursement.
McCutchen had originally requested $13,912 for himself and law partner Stephen Napurano, which they believed was conservative. He said it's the first time he's sought attorneys' fees in an FOIA case.
The board's violations included withholding requested documents and admitting to unlawful instances regarding public meetings that revolved around Title IX violations.
This wholly avoidable taxpayer payout is a troubling development for district taxpayers and an example of what should happen when FOIA laws are violated. The law needs actual teeth to be effective.
Meanwhile, the Huntsville school board is now grappling with internal questions after Washington County Sheriff's Office deputies discovered former Superintendent Audra Kimball and longtime board member Duane Glenn parked in his truck on election day, May 24, about 10 p.m. beneath a bridge on Arkansas 74.
The story was reported by publisher Ellen Kreth in a recent edition of her weekly Madison County Record. Only a few days before the two were found, board members had honored Kimball's request to switch from superintendent to personnel and program compliance director for the district, effective July 1.
Kimball and other administrators remain under investigation in connection with alleged FOIA violations, as well as failing to report the district's Title IX infractions, Kreth wrote.
Glenn told the paper that he and Kimball realize the situation of their meeting looks bad. "And naturally people want to think the worst. Looking bad and being bad ... it's two different things."
Despite appearances, "there's nothing," Glenn added. "That's not the way anything happened."
He told Kreth that rumors regarding the incident amount to a witch hunt, and because the situation doesn't create a conflict of interest, he won't resign from the board or recuse from future votes involving Kimball.
Deputies were checking for stolen vehicles when they came across the truck belonging to Glenn parked beneath a highway bridge.
Footage from body camera video obtained by The Record through FOIA shows two deputies walking across muddy terrain to access the truck, parked near East Arkansas 74 and Hummingbird WC 302 outside Elkins.
Upon approaching, Kreth reported, an officer twice asked what they were doing. Glenn twice replied, "Discussing." Glenn also reportedly told the officers they were returning from eating in Rogers.
"Glenn handed over his identification and Kimball said she did not have any. The deputies asked her name and she answered. Glenn told the officers he lived near Wesley and Kimball said she lived near St. Paul," the story reads. After about 10 minutes, the deputies advised Glenn and Kimball not to stargaze there, according to the incident report.
Glenn, who ran unopposed for Zone 2, was the only returning member when four new board members were elected May 24 and four others sent to runoff elections.
Glenn and attorney Curtis Hogue went to The Record to answer questions about the incident, the story reads. "According to Glenn, he felt sick [that night] and 'it's pouring down rain and I just whip off the road" he said. "The medicine I'm on, when I have to go to the bathroom, I have to go," he said. "So I whipped off. She said, 'Where are you going?' I said, 'I've got to go to the bathroom.' And she's like, 'I need to get home,'" Kreth wrote. "I knew under the bridge, it wouldn't be raining. So I just turned around, parked the truck and I get out ... " Kimball also got out.
After relieving himself, he said he walked to the passenger's side where Kimball had returned and was seated. That's when the deputies arrived, Glenn said.
According to the video, Glenn did not mention being ill or either of them using the restroom to deputies.
Glenn also said it's normal, as a board member, for him to eat dinner with superintendents, mentioning former interim superintendents Dr. Tammi Davis and Dr. Alvin Lievsay.
However, Kreth's story continued, Davis told Kreth that, as superintendents, she didn't eat with board members, including Glenn.
So what, other than appearing odd, at best, does a meeting between top school officials miles away from Huntsville beneath a bridge at 10 p.m. really mean?
Kreth asked the same thing. "I would say that at a minimum, it would have the potential for raising questions but it would not in and of itself result in any ethical violations," and would not be "cause for termination." said Lucas Harder, Policy Services Director of the Arkansas School Board Association.
Kreth said she sought an explanation from Kimball, who didn't didn't respond to calls or text messages.
"Superintendent Jonathan Warren," Kreth reported, "said he had no comments on the incident.
Kimberly Mundell, spokesperson for Commissioner Johnny Key of the Arkansas Department of Education, did not respond to requests for comments.
"'Until it's proven and before us as a board, we really have no say about it,' said new board member Steve Obenshain. 'If she were still superintendent, I can see where it would be a problem, but I don't think she's making any superintendent decisions," he said.
Kreth reported that even though Kimball's contract for her new position is not effective for two weeks, she's no longer operating under her superintendent's contract. Her previous pay was adjusted effective May 20.
"You know people do what they're going to do, but my priority is getting our school back to where people are not afraid to tell kids from other schools that 'I go to Huntsville schools,'" Obenshain said.
The decision whether to resign would be up to Glenn, Harder said. "It would be one of those where it would be possible for him to stay on the board, but there's also the question for him, has this tainted his ability to effectively govern as a board member?"
Glenn said he would not be "bullied off or pushed off" the board. "This is just a typical witch hunt from a group of people who think that somebody else should have gotten a superintendent job or somebody else should have been hired. That's all it is.
He told Kreth, "they're not fit for the position. I mean, that's the stuff that you ought to be 'FOIAing' and trying to figure out about some of these people that's telling you this. You ought to check some of their stuff."
Glenn contends that some are trying to push him off because "all of this Title IX that we went through. It's all the puppet show that's been run on the people that sued."
He said he would explain further at a board meeting.
Glenn said he was reluctant to recuse from future board votes involving Kimball because they are friends and "because there's not anything there. ... I'm sure a lot of the people we hire, whether it's teachers or whatever that are voted on, I mean, I'm probably friends with them," Glenn said.
"If I were married to somebody or something where I thought there was a reason and I needed too, I would. If there's not reason, I'm not going to" recuse, he said during an interview with the Record.
Huntsville has conducted two Title IX investigations during the past year involving students on the boys basketball team who allegedly sexually abused teammates. The district has been sued for Title IX violations resulting from those investigations.
Glenn added that he was reluctant to recuse from future board votes involving Kimball because they are friends and "because there's not anything there. I'm sure a lot of the people we hire whether it's teachers or whatever that are voted on, I mean, I'm probably friends with them," Glenn said.
"If I were married to somebody or something where I thought there was a reason and I needed too, I would. If there's not reason, I'm not going to" recuse, he said during an interview with the Record.
Furthermore, Glenn said, no evidence in the police report or body camera video exists to prove he should recuse.
Glenn said Kimball sought transfer from the superintendent's position because she's "absolutely wore out from all this nonsense. So is everybody. All this Title IX stuff. Just the whole thing."
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.