Why did Jennifer Nelson, Shikara Linsy, and Falloncia Earnest remove and destroy files from the front office over the 2019 summer break?
Part One: Video Evidence
On June 19, 2019, when I published a surveillance video of Mabelvale principal Rhonda Hall punching a student in the face, the Little Rock School District (LRSD) placed Hall on paid administrative leave immediately.
Two days later — according to LRSD surveillance videos I obtained from LRSD Safety and Security Director Ron Self via the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) — Mabelvale staffers Shikara Linsy and Jennifer Nelson entered the front office, sorted through several documents, and removed them from the school. Linsy and Nelson discarded some of these files in the locked box intended for offsite shredding — but loaded most of the documents into a backpack and a cardboard box that they carried away when they left the building.
This video raises several red flags. Most importantly, it likely represents two LRSD employees destroying evidence of the misappropriation of federal grant money. Before we delve into the financial issues, though, let’s consider the propriety of these two women accessing the school building on Friday, June 21, 2019 in the first place.
On May 23, 2019, Principal Rhonda Hall had emailed the entire Mabelvale staff, ordering all employees to surrender their building keys before they went “off contract” for the summer.
Shikara Linsy was on a 10-month, 203-day clerical contract that ended on June 20. She was already “off contract” by June 21, and should not have had access to the building. Nevertheless, she arrived before Jennifer Nelson, and let herself in to pull these documents from her desk.
Why did Linsy choose to come in on a Friday when she was already off-contract? Well, during summer vacation, LRSD custodians work Monday-Thursday, and take Fridays off. Linsy and Nelson must have hoped their visit would remain unobserved.
Unfortunately, when Falloncia Earnest arrived on Tuesday, June 25, 2019 to continue removing documents from Shikara Linsy’s desk (including the locked filing cabinet to the right of the desk) she was observed by a custodian. She explained she had just needed to pick up some school letterhead — but how could an off-contract paraprofessional, supposedly without a key to the school — seriously expect the custodian to believe that excuse?
The surveillance video shows Earnest opening multiple drawers (and the locked filing cabinet) in Shikara Linsy’s desk, pulling out specific documents, and leaving with them in her hand.
LRSD Safety & Security Director Ron Self must have seen these staffers suspiciously removing and destroying documents on the surveillance footage. The very next day, he made a personal appearance in the Mabelvale front office, with Joshua Long, to check the shredder box for documents they could salvage.
Whatever the results of Self’s investigation into the destruction of documents, LRSD must have been pleased with the work of Jennifer Nelson and Falloncia Earnest: They were both promoted during the summer break.
Falloncia Earnest will be teaching seventh- and eighth-grade social studies without a license, and Jennifer Nelson will be Mabelvale’s new assistant principal. Mabelvale doesn’t have a waiver from the law governing teacher licensure requirements in core classes, but apparently that doesn’t stop Superintendent Mike Poore or Education Secretary Johnny Key from rewarding bad behavior.
Part Two: Who Knew?
On July 22, 2019, I sent LRSD a FOIA request for all the documents collected from the Mabelvale shredding box by Ron Self in his investigation of Jennifer Nelson. The next day, Self responded, “I have no responsive documents.”
Interestingly, Ron Self included Randy Rutherford on this response. At first, I didn’t understand why. I had just published two posts about Poore’s intent to promote Rutherford to “Executive Director of Secondary Education,” but I didn’t realize that Johnny Key had already approved Poore’s plan. I checked with the Arkansas Department of Education immediately.
Turns out, Johnny Key hadn’t approved Poore’s recommendation. Poore had just decided to proceed with Rutherford’s promotion on the assumption that Key would rubber stamp it. When my critical posts about Rutherford came out, Poore defended Rutherford to Key, and urged him to approve Rutherford’s promotion quickly. “As a result of my having a verbal approval to move forward with Randy, he has begun to work in that role with the understanding that he was the ‘recommended’ candidate,” explained Poore.
This means: By July 22, 2019, multiple, district-level administrators in LRSD (Mike Poore, Randy Rutherford, and Ron Self) knew about the existence of these surveillance videos, as well as their potential significance.
Part Three: Follow the Money
Jennifer Nelson, Shikara Linsy, and Falloncia Earnest removed files from Shikara Linsy’s desk after Rhonda Hall was placed on administrative leave. What were these files, and why did these women remove them?
Shikara Linsy is the Site Coordinator for Mabelvale Middle School’s 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) program. She has control over the $660,000 in federal grant money that Mabelvale is collecting over the course of five years.
In order to guarantee the continuing flow of federal money, Shikara Linsy (who is designated as site coordinator on the grant application signed by lame-duck superintendent Baker Kurrus on May 19, 2016) has to ensure that Mabelvale’s 21st CCLC before-school, after-school, and summer programs serve at least 80% of their estimated enrollment numbers.
Mabelvale’s 21st CCLC application estimates 75 after-school students, 50 summer students, and 50 before-school students. However, my sources among the Mabelvale staff report there are only about a dozen students who attend tutoring before school. They do not know how Shikara Linsy is padding the before-school enrollment numbers to meet the federal grant requirements.
The Mabelvale faculty do know how after-school enrollment works, though. Since only about 20-25 students actually participate in the 21st CCLC after-school program, Shikara Linsy has arranged for student athletes who attend after-school practice sessions to “sign in” with the 21st CCLC program, grab some food, and then go to practice.
Mabelvale’s 21st CCLC summer program enrollment works the same way: Only about ten students are actually enrolled in the 21st CCLC program. However, with the cheerleaders, drill team, and volleyball players all “signing in” each day before they go to practice, Mabelvale looks like it’s meeting the enrollment requirements for its federal grant money.
Each of the student athletes who “signs in” as a 21st CCLC after-school student brings in $1200 in federal money for LRSD Grants Director Linda Young and Mabelvale Site Coordinator Shikara Linsy to distribute as they see fit.
$1740 to Pinot’s Palette for a painting party that required a 60-person minimum.
All Mabelvale staff were invited, in addition to the 21st CCLC students.
This looks like exactly the type of falsified enrollment data that got Rhonda Hall’s husband, Nigel Hall, convicted of fraud and sentenced to 27 months in federal prison. It appears that Shikara Linsy, Jennifer Nelson, and Falloncia Earnest decided they needed to destroy the evidence as soon as Rhonda Hall got removed from the school.
Worse, it appears that Ron Self, Randy Rutherford, and Mike Poore have deliberately decided to look the other way, despite having 43 days between when I alerted them to the existence of these surveillance videos and when I finally received copies from LRSD central office.
What’s it going to take for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to get involved? How high does this corruption go?
Good job. Keep them coming. You know that Leslie Rutledge is the last person I would trust with uncovering corruption.
Amazing how some of these employees are still on the district’s payroll. I have been an employee here for over 24 years, and I just thought I knew how the district operated…. much darker than I could have ever imagined!! Such a shame😎😎😎😎😎😎