Yaa Appiah-McNulty (YAM,) principal of Henderson Middle School (HMS) in the Little Rock School District (LRSD,) sued me for Defamation and Libel yesterday afternoon.
Two hours before YAM filed her complaint, Gary Newton (anti-LRSD lobbyist for Arkansas Learns) started singing YAM’s praises on Twitter, garnering “likes” from State Board of Education member Diane Zook and Rep. Andy Davis (Governor Asa Hutchinson’s surrogate in the State House.)
Since Arkansas Learns is swimming in Walton family funding, I asked Mr. Newton whether his organization was paying for YAM’s lawyer. He has not responded.
My own lawyer, however, responded immediately. When I sent Matt Campbell YAM’s complaint (viewable here) he emailed, “Hahahaha!” It’s pretty clear to both of us that YAM’s lawsuit is a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP.) If the court agrees that I’ve been SLAPP-ed, I’ll be eligible for protection and compensation under Arkansas’ anti-SLAPP and SLAPPback laws.
In the meantime, though, let’s review the facts.
Yaa Appiah-McNulty is suing me over what I wrote in Rotten from the Head. She claims, “Defendant’s statements are defamatory, demonstrably false, not grounded in fact, and paint Plaintiff as a criminal. Defendant has no basis to claim that disciplinary records were destroyed, nor does she offer any evidence of same.” A few sentences later, she continues:
Defendant’s statement: “…someone went into the school’s software and deleted several student disciplinary records dating back at least to October” is not only untrue, it is reckless. Plaintiff is the sole person in charge of the school’s disciplinary records. By asserting that disciplinary records have been altered and deleted, Defendant is claiming Plaintiff is the one who did so, thereby accusing her of criminal activity. If Defendant had such proof, she should have provided it and offered that proof to law enforcement rather than threatening to do so on The Blog. Further, possession and dissemination of student records (and screenshots of same) by Defendant could be a violation of the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). Surely the teacher(s) she references, who provided screenshots of these student records, is guilty of violating FERPA.
Well. Which law enforcement organization should I provide these documents to? The Prosecuting Attorney’s sister worked in LRSD, and was a teacher in the HMS combined classroom where children with special needs were physically assaulted by Isaac Davis. Governor Asa Hutchinson’s Republican Party (a supermajority) has at least one “fixer” working in LRSD’s central office, trying to influence elections by meddling in Pre-K enrollment. No Arkansas law enforcement agency has shown any interesting in prosecuting a corruption case against LRSD.
You know what? I’ll just post the records here. Look at the date and time of each of these deletions. They were all deleted early on March 8, 2019, mere hours before LRSD released the discipline records to me officially, at 5:48 PM that same day.
I know of 25 records deletions that occurred on March 8, 2019 — between my March 5 FOIA request and LRSD’s response. Note: No student names = no FERPA violations. YAM and the LRSD need to untwist their panties and face the consequences of their actions.
Someone at Henderson deleted discipline records. Either it was Darlene Little-Knighten, whose name is on the deletions, or it was Yaa Appiah-McNulty, who asserts in her lawsuit that she is the “sole person in charge of the school’s disciplinary records.”
Why isn’t LRSD stepping in to discipline YAM for criminally mismanaging student disciplinary records?
Jordan Eason, LRSD’s Employee Specialist, has been working with Yaa Appiah-McNulty since the 24 Henderson teachers wrote their grievance against YAM back in February. YAM notified Eason of the grievance as soon as it was filed, on February 20, 2019. Next, Eason — by her own admission — crafted YAM’s response to the grievance. After YAM put it into her own words, Eason helped her edit a final copy, suggesting:
I do not think you should leave in the next to the last sentence. Although it may be true, it’s worded as an assumption and accusation. Trust me on this. We are respectfully making that clear without saying it. We know who the players in the grievance are. We know the agenda. I crafted the responses from you very carefully. I do like some of your additions and wording.
LRSD’s central office helped Yaa Appiah-McNulty stomp down the 24 teachers who had the temerity to file an informal grievance. Jordan Eason helped prepare Yaa Appiah-McNulty for the discipline administered to at least one of the HMS teachers at a meeting on February 26. And now, Yaa Appiah-McNulty has the support of Gary Newton and the Waltons while she tries to stomp me down for writing about it.
Bring it on.