Tracing the Trajectories and Legacies of Misbehaving Little Rock School Superintendents and the Harm They Have Caused
On Thursday, June 20, 2019, the Little Rock School District (LRSD) held a public meeting of its Community Advisory Board (CAB.) The CAB is a puppet tribunal appointed by Education Commissioner Johnny Key.Johnny Key, alone,has served as the district’s official “school board” since state takeover in 2015.
Johnny Key serves the rich, white business owners —risen again from the temporary setback that was the Civil War — who have seized control of public education in Arkansas. Their efforts to “reform” public education promise to restore segregation and white supremacy, and to pay dividends to rich investors profiting off the incarceration and “technical training” to which children of less-privileged families will be consigned. The Waltons and their Chamber of Commerce buddies are trying to privatize education so that only the already-privileged have access.
On this battlefield between Walton-funded privatizers and truly public educators, there have been many casualties. The teachers and students who walk into LRSD buildings each day suffer violence, trauma, and the “moral injury” of knowing that their leaders do not have their long-term best interests at heart. Educators and politicians are forced to defend their “sides” in this war (whether by action or determined indifference) rather than work cooperatively for the education of children.
This war is not “reform.” It is violence against children and teachers. Inevitably, the violence has attracted scavengers who want to turn a profit from the carnage.
Before the CAB addressed the action items on its agenda last Thursday, Superintendent Mike Poore recognized retiring Deputy Superintendent, Sadie Mitchell, with a speech that received a standing ovation. During his speech, Poore pointed out the connection between Sadie Mitchell and Chelsea Clinton, citing the praise Clinton has given to Sadie Mitchell in public comments across the nation. Sadie Mitchell has been an untouchable power player in LRSD for decades, receiving the powerful family’s support within LRSD despite Bill Clinton’s efforts in favor of charter schools and Hillary Clinton’s continuation of her husband’s legacy.
Sadie Mitchell is retiring this year. Mitchell’s underling, Veronica Perkins, also resigned abruptly at the same time — with no public explanation.
These ladies are leaving just a few months after Sabrina Stout got fired for working without a license. Apparently, Stout’s drunk driving arrest wasn’t enough reason to fire her — but a lapsed teaching license did the trick.
Their passionate activism has won them a powerful ally in Diane Zook, the new chairperson of Arkansas’ state board of education. Diane Zook is the wife of Randy Zook(who runs the state Chamber of Commerce) and the aunt of Gary Newton (whose Walton-funded lobbying for “school choice” puts him in bed with school resegregationists and profiteers.)
Honestly, it’s not that surprising that Mitchell’s reign is ending just as Diane Zook ascends to power. Zook has the power to grease some squeaky wheels. She’s probably hoping the spotlight of grassroots activism will point somewhere else long enough for her to dismantle LRSD and sell its parts to her rich, white friends — below market value. Calling it a “free market” or “school choice” is a plain lie. This isn’t about competition. This is a hostile takeover.
But I digress. This post is about LRSD administrators running away with our money. Let’s redirect our focus back to the CAB meeting, shall we?
After Mike Poore finished honoring Sadie Mitchell, James Reddish (fresh from his success turning Chicago public schools into profit mills) stood up to talk about offering career and technical instruction in LRSD. CAB Chairperson Jeff Wood queried the cost of the program. After Reddish hedged and failed to provide a direct answer, Wood pointed out, “We’re already in a situation where we’ve been cutting our budget for, like, the last five years.…and we have lawsuit settlements that bind our hands.”
The phrase “lawsuit settlements” caught my attention. Who is LRSD paying off to avoid being deposed in a court case? And what are these folks doing while we’re paying them not to spill dirty secrets about LRSD?
Consider Little Rock School District’s six most recent superintendents.
Roy Brooks served as LRSD superintendent from 2004–2007. With Walton support, in his last year, Brooks secretly implemented a “merit-based pay” experiment on LRSD teachers.
The LRSD school board divided along racial lines when they voted to buy out Brooks’ contract. Only the white (Chamber of Commerce-backed) board members wanted Brooks to stay. Brooks had been serving the white, profit-driven agenda. (One of these thwarted white board members, Baker Kurrus, would go on to have his own turn as superintendent. More on Kurrus later.)
Roy Brooks left LRSD with $650,000 in severance — despite a taxpayer lawsuit attempting to recoup the money — and helped open eStem, a Little Rock charter school in direct competition for the students and resources of LRSD.
Roy Brooks quit eStem in 2010, when they reduced his salary. He quickly took a new job as superintendent in Americus, Georgia. The Americus school board divided (just like LRSD) along racial lines when they voted to hire Brooks: Only the white people wanted him. Americus fired Roy Brooks in 2012, paying him $150,000 to buy out his contract.
Where is Roy Brooks now?
Roy Brooks is the superintendent of Baker County Schools in Newton, Georgia. Go Bears!
Linda Watson, whose brother used to be pastor of St. Mark Baptist Church, ran LRSD from 2007–2011.
Linda Watson brought Freddie Fields and several other of LRSD’s current, unqualified administrators up to the LRSD central office with her. Under Watson, Fields mostly worked as the district’s event planner.
When Linda Watson was fired, after the release of Operation Intercept, LRSD gave her a settlement of approximately $300,000 and a good recommendation to her next employer, in exchange for her promise not to sue them. Freddie Fields stuck around, and is now LRSD’s Director of Student Services.
Freddie Fields helped cover up violence against a student at Mabelvale Middle School this year, by requiring LRSD’s “Alternative Learning Environment” to exit students with legitimate ALE needs in order to accept a girl who had been wrongfully accused of assault on her school’s principal (even though it was really the principal who punched her.) Moreover, Freddie Fields’ neighbors have warned me that he is not above arson, statutory rape, insurance fraud, or having his henchmen cut my car’s brake lines.
Where is Linda Watson now? She went on to the Pine Bluff school district, where she was fired in 2015 (although she still gets to collect her full teachers’ retirement.) Linda Watson received a settlement from Pine Bluff as well: $500,000 from the district’s insurance company to keep her mouth shut about “illegal expenditures of state money and other violations of law.”
Happy retirement, Linda!
Thanks for leaving us with Freddie Fields, the gay subculture of the Boulé (a secret society of African Americans known for cynically capitalizing on the institutions of white supremacy,) and St. Mark Baptist Church as your legacy. Go Gryphons!
In 2011, against the recommendations of their outside consulting firm, LRSD hired Morris Holmes out of retirement to lead LRSD for a second time. He vowed to clean up Linda Watson’s mistakes, but didn’t have much time.
Chuck Thompson, author of Better Off Without ‘Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession, says Max Brantley told him:
The consultant money was wasted, in the end. Internal board politics forced [the LRSD school board] to turn to Holmes as a compromise choice. It’s somewhat complicated to explain, but it’s a mixture of racial and gender politics, and settlement of old scores.
Holmes shuffled some principals around, called for civil rights attorney John Walker to “examine himself,” regarding the racially-charged, litigious atmosphere in LRSD, and otherwise stayed out of the news.
Holmes opposed the charter school expansions in Little Rock, so he was basically doomed from the start.
Dexter Suggs replaced Morris Holmes in 2013. Suggs brought his girlfriend, Jordan Eason, into the LRSD central office because she gives really good H___.* When Suggs left, Eason stayed.
Dexter Suggs also gave LRSD its spin doctor, Pamela Smith. Smith is another St. Mark Baptist Church mainstay, and a friend of Mayor Frank Scott, Jr.’s family. In 2015, Dexter Suggs tried to eliminate the jobs of Marvin Burton, Sadie Mitchell, Daniel Whitehorn, Robert Robinson, Renee Kovach, and Shoutell Richardson. Funny how Dexter Suggs “resigned” immediately after he tried to fire these LRSD power players — but all the power players stuck around.
Dexter Suggs left LRSD in 2015, shortly after state takeover of LRSD, disgraced by a plagiarism scandal that caused Indiana Wesleyan University to revoke his doctoral degree. Suggs took a settlement of nearly $250,000 when he left.
Where is Dexter Suggs now? He got a new doctoral degree last year, and will be an Assistant Superintendent in Merrillville, IN — a Chicago suburb whose demographics look a lot like Little Rock. I wonder what his job reviews will look like there…?
from http://ipsb-s.blogspot.com/2009/07/think-happy-thoughts.html
Enjoy those “fat checks,” Dr. Suggs! You’ve certainly left a mark.
Early in 2015, Education Commissioner Johnny Key assumed control of LRSD and appointed Baker Kurrus (remember the white guy who loved the pro-business agenda of Roy Brooks?) as the new superintendent.
Baker Kurrus’ administration studiously ignored frequent reports of Coach Isaac Davis’pattern of assaulting minority children with special needs at Henderson Middle School. Kurrus also fired Ryan Gore, who tried to blow the whistle on Davis’ violent behavior, even though HR Director Robert Robinson and Principal Willie Vinson had offered Gore a transfer for the following year. LRSD (and Baker Kurrus, personally) are still involved in an ongoing lawsuit brought by Ryan Gore.
Johnny Key fired Baker Kurrus in 2016, mostly because Kurrus seemed to be obstructing the progress of Asa Hutchinson’s Walton-funded education agenda.It was a long con, and many of us fell for it.
At the tail end of Kurrus’ superintendency, Frank Scott, Jr. began working with LRSD students in the corrupt Tendaji program at St. Mark Baptist Church, alongside his self-dealing future staffer, Stephanie Jackson.
Last year, Kurrus lost his mayoral campaign (in a run-off) to Frank Scott, Jr. Frank Scott got campaign money from Lisenne Rockefeller,** even though she is a rich, nationalist, white woman and her husband was the long-time employer of Baker Kurrus.
Basically, the Rockefellers bought both mayoral candidates so their education agenda would represented regardless of what color the next mayor turned out to be.
Where is Baker Kurrus now? Even though he lost the mayoral election, Baker Kurrus is helping run Arkansas’ capital city from a spot on the mayor’s Transformation and Government Reform subcommittee. Meanwhile, Mayor Frank Scott is pushing for direct city control of Little Rock schools, with an eye toward the profit-driven “white agenda” so beloved by the billionaires of this world.
Until then, LRSD continues to be under the “control” of its current, low-performing, mail-order superintendent from the Walton family stronghold in Bentonville — Mike Poore.
Philanthropy-driven education reform is too divisive, too inequitable, too secretive, too white, and too susceptible to unproven fads and frauds. Public education is a public service. Serve the people, not the profiteers.
**Lisenne Rockefeller has also given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Linda Young’s pet project in Fort Smith: The US Marshals Museum.
Remember Linda Young? Aside from being an Arkansas heiress, she’s also LRSD’s Grants Director, currently vulnerable to a felony charge for an illegal conflict of interest involving the Tendaji program at St. Mark Baptist Church.