How the Little Rock School District Covered Up Violence against a Child, and How Arkansas Politicians Stand to Benefit
Lately, I’ve been blogging about law-breaking administrators, child abuse, student discipline, and the destruction of documents within the Little Rock School District (LRSD.) I couldn’t do it without the help of an increasingly large number of teachers, parents, and students from within the district. These people take real risks in helping me. They deserve our thanks.
In Arkansas, teachers who raise concerns about child abuse, teachers who speak up against “dysfunctional” disciplinary practices, and bloggers who write about unethical practices get punished. Bad administrators cover for each other. The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) pretends not to notice. As a result, children get pushed through a system that teaches them only how to keep their heads down, how to fight, and why nobody can trust the cops.
Here’s a story about how LRSD and the Little Rock Police Department (LRPD) failed to investigate an assault against a child, circled their wagons to protect a violent school principal, and attempted circumvent the Freedom of Information Act when I asked them about it. To the staff of Mabelvale Middle School: Thank you for finding creative ways to smuggle evidence out through the information blockade so that the public can examine it in the light of day.
To the rest of you: Trigger warning. Violence against children.
Part One: Rhonda Hall
On January 30, 2019, Mabelvale Middle School principal Rhonda Hall punched a student in the face. Allegedly, the student had been fighting another child, and Rhonda Hall was preventing them from continuing the fight by separating them while they waited for security to arrive.
A surveillance camera outside a partially-open classroom door shows a group of students watching one girl attempting to enter a room, and Principal Rhonda Hall blocking the girl’s path with her body. After a few seconds, Rhonda makes physical contact with the girl and forces her to back away from the door. Then, Rhonda charges at the girl, pulls her arm all the way back, and punches the girl in the face.
After Principal Rhonda Hall punched this girl in the face, the girl was “transported to the 12th Street substation for further investigation” and formally charged with second degree battery by the LRPD. The police report filed by Officer Kenneth Thompson — himself a childhood victim of violent crime, on loan to Mabelvale in the absence of their regular School Resource Officer — reads:
The school’s principal (Hall) stated, she stepped in between [the girl] and another student from having a physical altercation (fight). [Rhonda Hall] advised once the other student was safe inside a classroom, she used her body to keep [the girl] out the way of getting inside the classroom to the other student. [Rhonda Hall] stated, [the girl] became very upset and punched [Rhonda Hall] in the face. [The girl] agreed with the statement that was given from [Rhonda Hall.]
I have no idea why the girl “confessed” to punching her school principal in the face, when it clearly wasn’t true. Maybe the other kids in the video could provide some clues. Too bad the police never interviewed them, or pulled a copy of the surveillance video. That would have been valuable evidence. I guess Rhonda’s “friend” in the LRPD, Greg Mobley, had other plans.
Instead, the girl was punished for a crime she didn’t commit. She was expelled from Mabelvale Middle School and sent to an “Alternative Learning Environment” for students with behavior problems — one step away from incarceration. That’s how the school-to-prison pipeline works.
Who benefits from this unreported violence against children, and from keeping the families of these young children swirling around the drain of incarceration and poverty?
I’ve already written about the illegal conflicts of interest between LRSD and St. Mark Baptist Church, with regard to the money LRSD pays St. Mark to “rehabilitate” students who have been suspended. Rhonda Hall and her felon husband, Nigel Hall, attend St. Mark.
Nigel Hall was recently sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for defrauding the federal government out of nearly a million dollars through his program “Creative Minds.” He stole the money intended to feed hungry children at four locations in Little Rock.
Meanwhile, Nigel’s wife, Rhonda Hall, assigns out-of-school suspensions to her students at a rate of 44/100. These suspended kids go to Rhonda and Nigel’s church for academic rehabilitation, and the church collects money from LRSD and the Arkansas Department of Education to pay for the services (including religious education) that it provides.
The director of Tendaji at St. Mark — the one in charge of the kids’ rehabilitation — is Shelia Hayes, Rhonda Hall’s childhood friend from back in Helena, AR. Shelia isn’t opposed to hiring thieves. Shelia’s son Jeremy, who works for her at St. Mark, is currently charged with theft by receiving a stolen credit card, and fraudulently trying to spend it. (He also got fired from LRSD on April 4, 2018 for refusing a drug test, and for being charged with possession of a controlled substance.)
Apparently, Education Commissioner Johnny Key (who has been in direct control of LRSD since Governor Asa Hutchinson appointed him in 2015) believes children deserve nothing better than fraudsters and criminals in charge of their education. It fits with his agenda of dismembering the district and selling its parts — below market value — to charter schools. Charter schools have already perpetrated billions of dollars of fraud against taxpayers and students, nationwide. Why would the crony capitalists and profiteers of Arkansas deprive themselves of a piece of that action?
Only the teachers are actually trying to educate children. Everybody else is just trying to get rich.
Part Two: Getting the Word Out
All employees of LRSD who supervise children are mandated reporters of suspected child maltreatment. Every teacher, resource officer, bus driver, and administrator is required, by law, to report violence against children. Rhonda Hall’s punch to the face of a student, if it resulted in any kind of injury, is considered criminal child maltreatment. Also, it violates LRSD’s policy against corporal punishment.
Why, then, didn’t any LRSD employee report the truth to the Department of Human Services and the State Police? Maybe it’s because they thought LRPD was already performing a legitimate investigation of the incident, or maybe it’s because they’re all too scared of getting fired.
LRSD staff have been working under waivers of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Employee Fair Hearing Act since December 20, 2018. They can be fired without cause and without due process — for no reason at all.
Rhonda Hall is in charge of hiring & firing at Mabelvale Middle School. Her staff is scared of retaliatory termination if they speak against her.
That’s why LRSD employees create fake email accounts and pseudonyms to contact me. I’m the satellite that can direct their signal back into the district without exposing them to retaliation.
When one of the Mabelvale Middle School staff members first sent me the video of Rhonda Hall punching a student in the face, I didn’t want to publish it until I got an “official” copy from LRSD central office. Publishing an official copy from LRSD would protect my original source from retaliation. So, last week, I sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to LRSD Superintendent Mike Poore, asking for a copy of the surveillance video. My email bounced back. I had been blocked by the district.
Not to be deterred, I called LRSD staff attorney Eric Walker, and his assistant, Valerie Hudson. I informed them of my “blocked” status, and made the FOIA request verbally.
Valerie forwarded my request to Rhonda Hall, Eric Walker, John Ruffins, Marvin Burton, Mike Poore, and Ronald Self — Director of LRSD Safety & Security, who also moonlights as adjunct faculty at Arkansas State University.
On Monday, Eric Walker told me that LRSD did not have a copy of this surveillance video. I responded:
“This is the physical altercation that Safety and Security investigated in the process of determining whether a child would be allowed back into school. The child was transferred to an ALE program after this incident. Also, LRPD requested a copy of this video for their own investigation. Perhaps consider reviewing communications between LRSD and LRPD for this video…?”
Eric Walker told me, again, that LRSD did not have a copy of the surveillance video I was requesting. Knowing that this was false (since I had received a copy from an LRSD employee) I emailed Eric yesterday, explaining how I knew there were Mabelvale employees in possession of a copy of the video. I threatened to send a FOIA request to every single person employed at that school if LRSD central office didn’t get its act together. I also let him know I already had a copy of the video in my possession.
Eric Walker offered to reach out to Mabelvale directly. I pointed out that Rhonda Hall (who appears on this video, punching a student in the face) was Mabelvale’s principal, and stood to lose her job if she admitted the video existed. I also told him that Mabelvale staff had informed me that LRSD Safety & Security (Ron Self, director) had already performed an investigation, and ought to have a copy of the video in their records.
Eric Walker responded:
I am concerned about what you’ve said about Ms. Hall and believe an investigation is necessary. Can you email me the video so that I can get it to Mr. Self so his staff can investigate? I do understand what you have said about staff bringing this to the attention of Safety and Security previously. I’ve had one brief conversation with Mr. Self who denies that a video of that incident was brought to his staff.
Interesting. My source/s at Mabelvale were telling me that Mike Green, an LRSD Safety & Security officer who reports to Ron Self directly, had been physically present when Rhonda Hall punched the student. I told Eric I’d need to get permission from my source/s in order to send him the video. However, my source/s said they weren’t sure I could trust Eric Walker, since he was a personal friend of Rhonda Hall.
Eric downplayed his friendship with Rhonda, and asked if I’d consider contacting LRSD Safety & Security Director Ron Self directly. I declined, pointing out that Ron Self’s department had already failed to report the violence appropriately. I also warned Eric Walker that LRSD Safety & Security were spending the day looking for the Mabelvale staffer/s who had “leaked” the video to me, instead of actually sending him a copy of the surveillance video in good faith.
Ultimately, I sent a copy of the video to LRSD staff attorney Eric Walker.
He thanked me.
Then, at 5:30 PM, Rhonda Hall made a cryptic Facebook post saying, “God prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies, so when you see the enemy, don’t look for a fight, look for a fork.” I sent a screenshot to LRSD staff attorney, Eric Walker.
Eric responded, “Interesting — I’ll submit as a part of investigation.”
Within minutes, Rhonda Hall’s secretary, Shikara Linsy, started firing staffers from Mabelvale Middle School’s “summer bridge” program. She blamed poor enrollment numbers, telling teachers not to come to work for the rest of the week. But why would an employer get rid of staff on a Tuesday evening? Only if law enforcement were suddenly taking an interest in whether Linsy were properly licensed to administer an LRSD summer program, whether her employees were hired in accordance with the law, and whether the students who “signed in” each day were actually showing up for instruction.
Assuming, of course, that anybody in Arkansas actually enforces the law. What does Attorney General Leslie Rutledge’s “Public Integrity Division” actually do, anyway?
Oh, never mind. Leslie Rutledge is running for governor, on a platform of “school choice” that is bound to appeal to the Waltons. She has a vested interest in the “failure” and dismemberment of Little Rock School District. NO WAY will Leslie Rutledge investigate the bad behavior of LRSD administrators, if that means she looks less appealing next to Sarah Huckabee Sanders in a gubernatorial race.
FYI, there’s another surveillance video of Rhonda Hall assaulting a student at Mabelvale Middle School, dated January 14, 2019. LRSD didn’t handle that one any better than this one.
Update: LRSD responded, via a statement given to Arkansas Times, to this blog post at 11:43 AM on June 19, 2019 (less than a day after I posted.)
Statement
June 19, 2019Yesterday, the LRSD administration was made aware of footage from a video of an incident, alleged to have happened on January 30, 2019, that was reported to us through a blog. The video depicts an altercation between a staff member and a student. As soon as we learned of the incident, we immediately launched an investigation, which included contacting the Child Abuse Hotline. Due to the fact that it is not actual LRSD surveillance video, our investigation will require additional follow-up with multiple individuals — students and staff. However, we will be diligent in our efforts. The staff person has been placed on paid administrative leave pending a more thorough review of the incident. Please know that LRSD takes such matters seriously and when made aware, will investigate swiftly and thoroughly, and follow our protocols. Because this is a personnel matter, we will not be able to provide additional comments at this time.
LRSD is committed to providing a safe, welcoming, and nurturing educational atmosphere for all students.
Pamela Smith
Communications Director
Department of Communications
Update 6/20/2019: This morning, I had a conversation with a source from ALE, who is familiar with the policies and procedures of the program and has taken training on these procedures. This person told me:
We use the school’s discipline records along with police reports. We assume that the school records are accurate and truthful. A simple fight with another student does not get you to ALE. Assault on staff does. With this being said the rights of this student were violated and we would have never accepted her if the true story would have been told. ALE is a rough place and can actually turn a good kid bad….We would have rejected this little girl and sent her back to her home school if the truth was known.
Another thing…When this happened our middle school was full and we actually had to exit students to make room for her. These students were not ready to exit but that was a directive given by Freddie Fields.
Freddie Fields is the head of student placement in LRSD, and controls the budget for special education. He runs the LRSD hearing office, and supervises the guidance counselors.
I first wrote about how Freddie Fields spends taxpayer money (in Fleecing the Kids: Financial Habits of a Little Rock School Administrator) one of Freddie’s neighbors emailed to warn me that Freddie Fields was protected from the consequences of any wrongdoing, and that I should probably take precautions to protect my family’s safety.
I learned Freddie’s neighbors had, “talked to his boss, his insurance company, police officers and anyone who would listen” about things like arson, drugs, and underage partners coming and going from his house — but LRPD’s investigations were always cut short by orders to drop the inquiry. No police officer would tell the neighbors who had given the orders to stop investigating, or why.
Fast-forward two months: When I published this blog post (never mentioning Freddie Fields,) the Facebook comments started rolling in. More warnings, and prayers for my physical safety.
The fish rots from the head. If LRPD is indeed under orders not to investigate Freddie Fields’ misdeeds, this corruption is much bigger than the Little Rock School District.
Update 8/11/2019: Yesterday, the student’s mother told me her daughter WILL NOT be in an Alternative Learning Environment for the 2019-20 school year. She will be back in “regular school” as a student at J.A. Fair. We count this girl’s exit from the ALE program as a success story. Best wishes for the new school year!
Update 8/15/2019: Today, Rhonda Hall was charged with assault. Her trial is scheduled for 10/31/19.
Update 8/29/2019: Tonight, Rhonda Hall appeared before the LRSD Community Advisory Board and was TERMINATED for her violence toward students this past January. Finally.