On January 30, 2019, Rhonda Hall punched an eighth-grade girl in the face. At the time, Ms. Hall was principal of Mabelvale Middle School in the Little Rock School District (LRSD,) so you’d expect there would have been a careful investigation. Unfortunately, it seems that either nobody in LRSD or the Little Rock Police Department (LRPD) was doing their job that day, or some pretty powerful people covered up the truth intentionally.
Immediately after the incident occurred, Rhonda Hall reported her side of the story to LRSD Deputy Superintendent of Secondary Schools, Marvin Burton. Burton was Hall’s immediate supervisor, but he didn’t check to see whether Rhonda Hall was telling the truth. Hall’s story — that the girl punched Rhonda Hall in the eye (with no mention of Hall hitting back) — began to grow legs.
Next, Rhonda Hall went to the police station to press charges against the girl, alleging that the girl had punched her in the eye. The girl was charged with second degree battery, expelled from Mabelvale, placed on house arrest, and enrolled in an Alternative Learning Environment (ALE) for the remainder of the school year. (Click here to read more about LRSD’s racist implementation of its ALE program.)
LRPD did not request or review the complete surveillance video. They, too, took the principal’s word for what happened.
Meanwhile, back at the school…
While Rhonda Hall was at the police station, Mabelvale Assistant Principal Alicia Troutman used the surveillance footage to identify student witnesses. Ms. Troutman had the students write out witness statements. However, when Rhonda Hall returned, she took the statements from Ms. Troutman, and made the kids rewrite their witness statements to her specifications.
Within a day or two of the incident, Troutman’s recent whistleblower lawsuit alleges, many LRSD and LRPD employees knew about the physical altercation between student and principal. However, nobody reported suspected child maltreatment to the DHS hotline. Nobody asked the student witnesses to write new statements without Rhonda Hall standing over them. And nobody — not even LRSD Director of Safety & Security Ron Self — ever questioned the inconsistencies in Rhonda Hall’s story.
Only after I published the surveillance video (on June 19) did LRSD open a real investigation. Read the full report here.
Rhonda Hall’s Story
On June 21, two days after I published the surveillance video, Rhonda Hall submitted a much-inflated version of her story in a statement to LRSD Investigator Marilyn Roberson. Hall alleged that the girl had attacked students standing on the ramp nearby, threatened Mrs. Hall, hit Mrs. Hall in the right eye, and acted as though she would continue to strike Mrs. Hall even after Mrs. Hall “pushed [the girl] away.” Rhonda Hall also said that the version of the video I posted was “edited” in bad faith, to make her look like the aggressor.
No, I don’t have the necessary technical skills to edit a video that effectively. However, when it comes to spotting a fake picture, I’m as capable as the average internet user.
In this photo, taken by LRPD Detective Stephanie Morrison on the day of the incident, there is no visible swelling or bruising of Rhonda Hall’s right eye. Indeed, on June 26, Detective Morrison affirmed: “When I photographed Principal Hall at the detective division I couldn’t see any injury but she also had on makeup,”
You’d think a detective would also have checked whether Rhonda Hall (now under investigation for assault against the girl) had any other active warrants, but apparently Detective Morrison didn’t bother.
On the day after the incident, Rhonda Hall took a selfie and sent it to LRPD School Resource Officer Yolanda Bone. SRO Bone added this photo to the LRPD evidence file against the girl who had been charged with 2nd degree battery for allegedly punching Rhonda Hall in the eye. This photo later played a crucial part in LRSD’s investigation (and ultimate termination) of Rhonda Hall over the summer.
What do you notice about this picture?
Yes, we could discuss lighting, filters, makeup, melanin, and image quality. But that’s not what you should be looking at.
Do you need a hint?
Maybe Mabelvale Assistant Principal David Smith and LRSD Safety and Security Lieutenant Mike Green can give you a clue.
Read this statement from January 31, 2019. It’s allegedly written (but not signed) by Smith and approved by Green — two men who watched the complete surveillance footage, including the part where Rhonda Hall punched the girl. Oddly, it still doesn’t mention any violence (not even in self-defense) by Rhonda Hall. But look what it does say:
Wow! Her left eye? That’s not what the pictures show. (Check out the Nike “swish” on her hat if you’re not sure.)
Maybe these three should have gotten their stories straight before they started filing statements and taking selfies.
Politics is Personal
Look, LRSD is a pressure cooker. All LRSD employees lost their “due process” rights on December 20, 2018, and can now be fired at any time, without cause. The teachers’ union (LREA) has been under attack by the richest people in Arkansas, with the full support of Governor Asa Hutchinson and Education Secretary Johnny Key. Smith and Green (if they truly wrote the “left eye” statement) were probably willing to do anything to protect their jobs — even if it meant framing a child for a crime she didn’t commit.
Honestly, if they had gotten away with it, that would have meant more than just job security. Another “violent, black child” would be a windfall for Asa Hutchinson’s new friends in the private prison industry, and another juicy data point for Johnny Key to use in his “pilot year” of implementing “The Unsafe School Choice Option” for use as a stepping-stone toward total privatization of the entire district.
THIS is the “harm” we are talking about, when we say that billionaire-backed politicians are harming children. THIS is the “school to prison pipeline” in Arkansas. And this is not an isolated incident, not just one bad apple. A whole system of intentional pressure and determined indifference failed this child. Rhonda Hall might be out of it now, but the system continues to churn through children without her.
I’m so disappointed with what’s happened there. This school the children and Teachers have been so neglected. There are other things that happened and have been ignored. The LRSD. Needs Help.