“Let’s Talk About It.”

LARRY HICKS (00:40): Good morning, and welcome to another edition of “Let’s Talk About It.” I’m Larry Hicks, your host until 10 AM this morning. “Let’s Talk About It” is heard every Monday from nine to ten AM right here on KABF 88.3. We are “The Voice of the People.”

We’ve got a great program in store for all of you this morning. We have on the show with us someone who has been very instrumental in the blogging world, and she is going to be our guest this morning. We’re going to be speaking, in just a few moments, with a blogger extraordinaire all the way up in Northwest Arkansas, Ms. Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay.

First of all, let me just give you guys a little background information about Elizabeth, because she is someone who has enjoyed doing what she’s doing for quite some time, and she has a very, very interesting career background.

Now we’re going to be talking of course this morning about the Gore vs. Kurrus lawsuit that’s going to be taking place next month. But Elizabeth is an independent journalist and activist in Northwest Arkansas focusing on public education. She started her blog, Orchestrating [Change] in 2018, after a successful 15 year career as a professional violinist. And then, also an eye-opening three months teaching orchestra at a charter school.

Last year, Elizabeth collaborated with Little Rock attorneys and activists to establish the Education Defense League of Arkansas (EDLA) which we hope will be able to get her in and share a little bit about that organization and what they’re doing. It is a public benefit corporation that raises money to fund lawsuits that support educational equity and high quality, along with democratic governance of public education.

And of course we all know that she is someone who has also been tracking to keep us all informed and abreast of the developments that have been happening with the Gore vs. Baker (Kurrus), Little Rock School District case. We’re going to be talking about that development on this morning and we hope that those of you who are tuned into us will enjoy hearing from her and her perspectives in regard to her interest in following this particular case.

So without any further ado, I introduce to all of you this morning, Ms. Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay. And good morning Elizabeth, how are you?

ELB (05:15): That is a good question because you’re right, I’m not from Little Rock. I live in Northwest Arkansas and this wasn’t really on my radar when I first started my blog, Orchestrating Change.

I started blogging more about education policy at the state level — especially with the laws that are being waived or outright broken under the administration of Asa Hutchinson and Johnny Key. Right now we have about 10,000 waivers of school-related laws that have sort of undermined the system that’s supposed to keep schools in compliance with even just basic health and safety and labor standards.

So I started there at the state level, but I telescoped into the Little Rock School District because I consider Little Rock to be sort of the flagship of all the schools in Arkansas. It’s one of the biggest school districts, where pretty much everything happens first and then it radiates outward to the rest of the state.

And the fact that the Little Rock School District has been under direct state control for the past five-plus years makes it a particularly contentious story. It’s sort of like a hotbed for the main political and ideological conflicts in education in Arkansas right now.

So I was looking at the Little Rock School District, and I wrote a blog post called “Rotten from the Head,” which was about criminality among the administrators of [LRSD.] And it gave me a certain amount of notoriety just right off the bat. That’s when people started sending me emails and messages saying, “Hey, you should look at this legal case. You should look at this legal case. You should look at this legal case.” And that’s when the Gore vs. Kurrus lawsuit first came onto my mental radar.

ELB (07:46): Mr. Gore was a teacher from about 2012 to 2015 or 2016 in Little Rock School District. He was working at Hamilton ALE, and then he moved to, I think he was at Watson Elementary, and then he moved to Henderson Middle School, which is where the story picks up for the lawsuit.

[Ryan Chase Gore] was a behavioral interventionist, in early 2015, at Henderson Middle School. And as a behavioral interventionist, he was working with some kids who are considered high risk. Right? At-risk kids that are primarily students with special needs who are already struggling in school. And he built up a good relationship with these students, so they confided in him that in one of the classrooms at Henderson Middle School — Classroom 45 — their teacher, a special education teacher named Isaac Davis, was abusing and assaulting them, and forcing them to physically fight each other in the classroom.

So Mr. Gore, being a teacher, knew he was required by the state of Arkansas to report any suspicion of child maltreatment or abuse to the state police and also to the district. So he did that. He filed his report based on the stories that the kids were telling him. Then he also arranged for the students’ parents to come in and talk to the principal, and he went through all sorts of different meetings and things, but basically nothing ever happened. The district never investigated what was going on in Classroom 45, and the state police never investigated it.

Instead, the district suspended Mr. Gore and then eventually forced him to resign, is what the lawsuit says. It’s basically a wrongful termination lawsuit that has lasted for the past five years.

LH (09:49): That’s incredible that it has lasted that long. And that raises a lot of eyebrows with people throughout — not only the educational community — but throughout the city and (Pulaski) County in and of itself, about how something like that could be prolonged for such an extensive period of time.

Mr. Gore served, as you mentioned, as a behavioral interventionist teacher, which is not an easy job to perform when you are working with young children who have issues in regard to their attitudes and how they interpret things that are not only challenging for them in the school itself, but, you know, from their environment oftentimes and home life. And that’s a very difficult thing to do, to your best estimates.

Why, and what was it you were able to glean that perhaps could have led to the indecisiveness on the part of LRSD at that time, not to investigate these charges that Mr. Gore had brought to their attention? And do you think that this was a case where they were trying to protect Mr. Davis and not have an interest in protecting the children?

ELB (11:20): Yeah, that’s exactly what I think. I–

Well, so, you have to know that Isaac Davis is a former Arkansas Razorback football player. And one of his recommendations, when he applied for his job in Little Rock School District, was from Dr. Fitz Hill, who is, as you know, now a member of the State Board of Education and a former Razorback coach. Basically Arkansas royalty. So I think the football connection made it especially appealing to protect Mr. Davis — Coach Davis — if at all possible.

[Isaac Davis] had a history, even before 2015, of being suspended without pay in Little Rock. It started in 2010. He was suspended for using profanity against students, for grabbing students by the face — Inappropriate physical contact. So [Davis] had a history of this, but the district also had a history of looking the other way.

I think it has to do with the football connection, and maybe also his Greek fraternity ties because he’s a Sigma, which is the same fraternity that the principal of the school at the time — Frank Williams — was a member of. So they were fraternity brothers, and Coach Davis is a Razorback football player. I think that gives him a wider margin of error than most of the rest of us enjoy.

LH (12:48): When you take a look at Mr. Davis’ background, and you find out that there had been previous claims against him in regard to his attitude towards some of the children and some of the students — engaging in overly-confrontational and physical manners — to do what? I don’t know, by a teacher doing such a thing.

Is there a history — a documented history of that? Is that something that, in our interest, on behalf of trying to get this information out to the public at large, a way by which we can validate what you just shared with us?

ELB (13:39): Well, anybody can request a copy of the personnel file for any public school employee. And that’s what I did: I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the district to get Coach Davis’ personnel file. The suspensions and the reasons for them are all part of that personnel file so anybody could double-check it.

KATV also aired a video from inside Mr. Davis’ classroom. It starts with Coach Davis sitting in a chair across from a student who is also seated at his desk. So they’re both sitting down and Coach Davis is, is using really profane language that I won’t repeat here today. But if you look on the KATV website, you can probably find it. [Davis] is using profane language against the student and calling him names and the kid’s sitting there saying, “I’m not that, I’m not that, I’m not that.” And then Coach Davis gets up and walks over to the kid who’s still sitting down.

So Davis was never — from the video — he was never in physical danger. Right? He was coming towards the kid, not the other way around.

Then, the phone that was recording the video falls, and you hear — it sounds like student being picked up and slammed to the wall or the floor, which is what, of course, the students said had happened. You can’t see it in the video, but I think it really speaks to the environment within Classroom 45 at the time.

ELB (15:45): Not even a little bit. No, absolutely not. And that horrifies me, honestly. Because, okay. The state of Arkansas still allows corporal punishment of students, technically speaking. I think last year during the legislative session, we managed to pass a law that says you can’t use corporal punishment against students with special needs. But other than that, it’s still technically legal.

But Little Rock School District, in their district-wide policies, has banned corporal punishment across the board. When it lists out — in the student handbook — what your student discipline options are, corporal punishment is not in there.

So it was clearly against district policy and probably against state law, in terms of maltreatment of children. But no, Isaac Davis never got a written reprimand or any sort of suspension without pay or administrative leave with pay after that video came out on KATV, or when the students tried to report it. No.

ELB (17:16): Yeah, that’s a good question too. And this is one of the really sad parts of the fact that this lawsuit has dragged on for five years.

Little Rock School District did an internal investigation, to some degree, of this circumstance where Mr. Gore had reported the students’ allegations against Isaac Davis. And their investigator at the time, Ricky Newth — William Newth, but “Ricky,” he goes by Ricky — he wrote up a report, and then he was later deposed (you know, interviewed under oath) for the Gore vs. Kurrus lawsuit.

[Newth’s] deposition is part of the evidence, but he won’t be able to be cross-examined at trial because Ricky Newth died last year.

So: The scope of the investigation that Little Rock School District did into the situation at Henderson that affected both Isaac Davis and Mr. Gore is, in my opinion, incomplete. Ricky Newth says, in his deposition, that he never interviewed any of the teachers or students or parents — when you would think that would be step one — but he never interviewed them. Instead, [Newth] just came to the school and picked up copies of written statements from some of the faculty at Henderson. So I think that left a giant, gaping hole in the so-called “investigation” that, now, will never be filled, because of Mr. Newth’s death.

ELB (19:51): Well, I don’t think the district ever really…

I’m not sure I completely understand your question. You’re asking me why the district focused more on finding a reason to discipline Mr. Gore, instead of finding a way to protect the kids?

ELB (20:23): Right? Yeah. Those kids who made the report were stuck in that classroom for the rest of the school year. And then again for the following year, because Isaac Davis stayed a teacher, stayed in that classroom, and was allowed to continue whatever culture he created.

I think this is another surprising aspect of the case: I think maybe because of the relationship between Isaac Davis’ co-teacher, Paula Korte, and–

So you have to know: In Henderson Middle School, Classroom 45 is divided into A and B. They’re conjoined classrooms that share an entrance and are sometimes combined. You know, combining students or combining work, right? So they’re a conjoined classroom.

The teacher on the other side of that wall at the time when these students made their allegations, her name was Paula Korte. She has since retired from the district, but [Korte] is the sister of the Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney, Larry Jegley. And I think maybe, on some level, her belief that Coach Davis was not doing anything that wasn’t called for — I think that reached the ears of the prosecuting attorney before anybody else had the chance to be heard.

And so I think the combination of Coach Davis being a football player who’s sort of under the protection of his fraternity brothers within the district — and then also his team teacher being the sister of the prosecuting attorney — sort of biased the perspective of the leadership in charge of both law enforcement and the Little Rock School District as a whole.

LH (22:23): You think this also might’ve been representative of a very subliminal effort on the part of supporters of Razorback football?

I mean, I’m a fan of University of Arkansas’ football program and the sports programs period, for many, many years. But when incidents of this nature begin, take shape, or have questions about people who come out of the programs, who you would think for the most part, by and large, are — and I’m sure most are — very fine and honorable young men, who are pursuing their respective line of education to help other young people along the lines…

[Do you think] that they become more concerned about imaging, as opposed to dealing with the substance of what a former classmate/student/football player/what-have-you may be having? I mean, there were clearly — based on the complaints made against Mr. Davis early on — were some issues that Mr. Davis himself was, was having. And no one was really paying any attention to that, or at least enough not to, you know, try to make overtures in terms of helping him. I mean, what are your thoughts related to that spiel I just gave?

ELB (24:05): I think it’s pretty clear that Isaac Davis has some influential, media-savvy people in his corner. And I think it’s not a stretch to think that it might be the University of Arkansas football program.

After Coach Davis left Little Rock School District, one of the TV news programs — I’m sorry, I forget which one — they did a special interview with Coach Davis, specifically, about head injuries. About his experience playing football and getting concussions, which I think is pretty common for football players. And then, what are the symptoms that still affect him? That would include behavioral changes and mood swings, and things that might excuse or explain what could otherwise be considered aggressive or abusive behavior towards kids.

So I think, yeah, I think the fact that he’s part of this football culture — and probably also the fraternity culture — gives him a lot of allies that are helping him still, even after he left the district. Helping him polish his image, and explain away anything that might otherwise be considered a negative character flaw.

LH (25:36): We’re speaking with Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay, and Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay is out of Northwest Arkansas. She is considered to be one of the more prolific bloggers, who just simply does good work and tells a story like she views it and she does not engage in a lot of conjecture. Much of her work is–

Those of you who are tuning into us this morning, if you look into her blogging over the course of the period of time that she’s been doing it, you’ll see that she has been pretty accurate about the information that she publicly displays to the communities at large. And this morning we are talking with her about the Gore vs. Baker (Kurrus) incident and case — and lawsuit — that is going to be heard in September of this year. And September might be a tentative date, as well, given the nature of us still battling the COVID-19 virus infection.

That [lawsuit] is going to, after five long years, finally going to come to a head. And we are pleased that she agreed to come on our program this morning to talk about the case, and to talk about what she has been able to glean and find out, and investigate over the period of a time that she’s been interested in following this case.

When we come back, we’re going to speak with Elizabeth about the Education Defense League, and we’re also going to be talking with her about some of the criticism that she has been under, regarding having to put some focus on black administrators in the Little Rock School District, and whether or not that was well received by those who were familiar with her blogging and her writings and how she responded or responded to that.

So we want you to keep your dial set right where it is and that’s on 88.3 FM, KABF, as you continue listening to “Let’s Talk About It.” We’ll be back right after these very important messages.

LARRY HICKS (31:55): We’re speaking this morning with Ms. Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay. She is a blogger who has been following the Gore vs. Kurrus lawsuit that is going to be taking shape in September of this year. We are very pleased to have her on the program this morning to share with us her work, in terms of following this particular story, and case.

As I mentioned, Elizabeth’s blog — [she] started her blog, Orchestrating Change in 2018, and she has continued doing some very, very good work — work that she’s interested in, regarding equity and education in the entire state of Arkansas.

And not just in the Little Rock School District, but throughout the state. She talked about some of the other aspects of things that, there have been expressions about regarding LRSD and some of the alleged acts of criminality that have taken place. Hopefully in the last portion of the program we can get her to respond to some aspects of that. But before we do, I want to ask her about the Education Defense League of Arkansas.

If you would, Elizabeth, share with the listening audience what the organization is about and what efforts you’ve been undertaking in order to bring attention to the public at large about some of the disparities of the lack of equitable education throughout the state of Arkansas.

ELIZABETH LYON-BALLAY (33:42): Oh, thank you for asking me this. I would love to talk about it!

Last year, in conjunction with Alex Handfinger who lives in Little Rock — he’s an activist there with Grassroots Arkansas — Alex and I incorporated a public benefit corporation called the Education Defense League. We have a website at eddefenseleague.org. And basically our mission is to raise money to help pay legal fees for lawsuits that benefit students and teachers, not just in Little Rock, but around the state — in situations where there are laws that need to be fixed, or laws that need to be enforced but won’t be enforceable in any way other than through legal action.

So right now we have one lawsuit going, that the Education Defense League has funded and continues to fund through the generosity of our donors. And that is a lawsuit involving the Little Rock School District to try to remove the restrictions on the return of local control. Because, you know, the Little Rock School District has been under the direct control of the state of Arkansas since 2015 — more than five years ago.

In 2014, Little Rock elected its first majority-black school board. They never even really got to have a meeting, because the state swooped in two months later and seized authority. Right? They ousted the board, and the State Board of Education installed Johnny Key, who’s our Secretary of Education (at the time, he was called the education commissioner) — installed him as the acting school board for the district. And he’s been the unelected head of the district since then. So more than five years, now.

Our state law says that after five years, a district under state control has to be annexed, consolidated, or reconstituted — and then released to local control. Of course, annexation isn’t a possibility because Pulaski County Special School District is still undergoing some federal desegregation work. And consolidation likewise, right?

The neighboring school districts to Little Rock are just not available for that sort of thing. So it has to be reconstitution, which is defined in the law as replacing the superintendent or maybe a couple — I think there are a couple of other choices — but then the state has tried to do a lot more than that.

[The State Board of Education] say they’re going to have school board elections for Little Rock School District in November. But even after those elections take place, the new school board will be limited in how it can act: It won’t be allowed to hire or fire a superintendent for the district, and that’s a really major– that’s probably the primary way that the school board can shape the direction of a district. Right? So they won’t be allowed to do that and won’t be allowed to file lawsuits. The school board is going to have to grow from seven to nine people to get more representation from West Little Rock. (Author’s note: LRSD won’t be allowed to recognize the teachers’ union for collective bargaining, either.)

There are all these– all these restrictions on local control, and basically the position of the Defense League is that the limitations are not legal. So of course, that’s what the lawsuit aims to do: Remove them.

We have plaintiffs — one is the parent of a student, one is a teacher, and one is Jim Ross who used to be on the school board for the Little Rock School District — the school board that got deposed. So we’re trying to represent a little bit of everybody, and make a change that improves the situation for everybody in Little Rock.

LH (38:30): Let’s transition to a, another area of great interest and that’s dealing with Ryan Chase Gore in and of itself. Because from what I’ve been able to review, and in terms of the information that we have been made aware of and been able to investigate regarding this particular case, there have been some really contrived and deliberate attempts on the part of either the district, in and of itself, or individuals singularly about the character of Ryan Chase Gore — to make Mr. Gore appear as though he’s a raving lunatic who never should have been in a position to serve in the capacity of a behavioral interventionist in the first place, in the school district. And in many ways, as you read the case in and of itself, they try to create that perception in the minds of people who are going to be reading.

What’s your thinking in relationship to the character of Ryan Chase Gore, based upon what you’ve been able to glean and know?

ELB (39:50): Well, I understand why you’re asking me that, but I don’t think — I don’t think his character or his history really should affect the case at all. And anybody who’s trying to spin it that way is probably trying to protect themselves.

I will say: I don’t think there is any reason to doubt what Mr. Gore has alleged in the lawsuit, or in his original report of suspected child maltreatment. I think it’s too broadly accepted. Nobody has ever disagreed with the facts that he’s presented, you know, and several other people have filed similar reports against Coach Davis over the past 10 years.

So it’s not just Mr. Gore against everybody else. It’s most people agreeing on the facts and maybe they wish these facts weren’t true, or they wish that Mr. Gore wasn’t talking about them. But the fact that Mr. Gore has taken a public stance to file this lawsuit — I think says really good things about Mr. Gore’s character. Because he’s the only one who’s actually taken it this far.

I think it needs to be in front of a judge. And if [Mr. Gore] hadn’t filed this lawsuit, these kids would never have their day in court. You know what I mean?

LH (41:21): I know exactly what you mean. And I agree 100% with that.

Let me ask you if — whether you’re familiar with any other employees who may have experienced some fallout from the suit that Mr. Gore has filed against the Little Rock School District there. To your knowledge, have there been other educators who have some familiarity with the histories of Mr. Davis, Mr. Williams and all, and have made expressions about the openness and transparency of these gentlemen, in terms of dealing with these students? Have others come forth or have they been intimidated not to do so as a result of, well, what’s happened with Mr. Gore?

ELB (42:15): Well, I know at the time that there were other teachers at Henderson Middle School who were making the same reports and who — in writing over and over, repeatedly to the state police and anybody else — were supporting Mr. Gore’s story. One of them is Tina (Miller) Cosgrove, who’s still employed in the district. I think, because one of her written reports was entered into evidence in the Gore vs. Kurrus lawsuit, I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets called in as a witness when this goes in front of the judge.

But in terms of currently, I don’t know if I’ve seen other Little Rock School District staff who are still involved with the main characters of this particular story.

I will say some of the administrators who handled the Gore “discipline” are still in positions of power, and are still acting the same way they did in Mr. Gore’s case. Because you know, when Ryan Gore filed his report of suspected child maltreatment, Mr. Gore got suspended without pay for seven days because allegedly he used profanity in a conversation (about the allegations of child maltreatment) with his boss, the principal of the school.

I think that’s already sort of unfair because, because using profanity in a conversation with your colleagues — I mean maybe that deserves a suspension. But Isaac Davis had already been reprimanded and suspended twice for using profanity, and it was a three-day suspension instead of seven. And he was using profanity against students.

So there was — it’s already not a level playing field. And then, [Mr. Gore’s] seven-day suspension for using profanity against his boss — Mr. Gore’s suspension — got turned into a recommendation for termination. Not based on any new evidence, or any recurrence of unprofessionalism on Mr. Gore’s part, but just because Gore appealed the suspension.

He fought it, right? [Mr. Gore] went to a level three hearing on whether or not he cussed out his boss at work — in my opinion, just because he appealed [his initial suspension], Johnny Key (the education commissioner) and Baker Kurrus decided to fire Mr. Gore, which I think is really a stretch.

How can you punish somebody for trying to do the right thing, right?

ELB (45:11): That sort of thing keeps happening. So Johnny Key is still in charge of the district. Robert Robinson is still in charge of human resources. Jordan Eason is still the employee relations specialist, or I think she’s had a title change, but the people who are making the HR decisions are all the same.

And there’s another whistleblower lawsuit that got filed last year, in 2019, from Mabelvale Middle School, where the assistant principal was trying to report misuse of federal funds. Right? And she got suspended for insubordination (Author’s note: LRSD says they suspended her for failing to report suspected child maltreatment, but there were six other people with the same obligation, and LRSD only suspended the AP.) and she appealed it. And at her appeal hearing, Jocelyn — Oh, I forget — Jocelyn Craig, one of the members of the Community Advisory Board, said that in her opinion, it shouldn’t just be a three-day suspension. It should be termination. And the lawyer for the district had to say, “Uh, you can’t do that. You can’t increase it to termination.”

But Johnny Key and (Superintendent) Mike Poore both said, “We think you should reconsider. We think you should fire her.” Right? “We think you should be terminated,” where it had originally been a three-day suspension. And I think this sort of–

I think it’s a pretty clear pattern of retaliation against teachers and staff members who are trying to blow the whistle on violations of state and federal law.

LH (46:41): It absolutely is. And I wouldn’t believe that others would disagree with what you just expressed.

Elizabeth, we’ve got just about another five to six/seven minutes or so on the program with you this morning, and I hope people have enjoyed listening to you.

Again, we have had this conversation with Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay. She is a blogger extraordinaire. And she has been following the Gore vs. (Baker) Kurrus case, and she’s done an extraordinary job in terms of keeping the general public — those of you who are readers, and I hope and encourage all of you to read her blogs, and we’ll be giving that to you again before we lose out the program and let her do it.

But I want to bring also to your attention, Elizabeth, that you’ve come under the spotlight for being a white blogger who is concentrating and focusing on black administrators. And there clearly has to be some inherent biases and, and elements of racism within the coverage of what you’ve been doing over the course of this time following Gore vs. Baker (Kurrus). How do you respond to that in terms of some people making those allegations?

ELB (48:12): Yeah, that’s true. I’m not black. I live in Northwest Arkansas, which is a very different cultural type of community than Little Rock. And I’m paying attention to Little Rock from sort of an outsider perspective. And so I do get asked a lot, “Why? Like why are you coming after black administrators?” And I try to be very clear that I’m not targeting the middle management. I think that the problems come from the very, very top with Johnny Key and Governor Asa Hutchinson and their billionaire supporters.

The Walton family, the Rockefeller family — I think these, the big-money people who are contributing to political campaigns on both sides of the aisle, I think those are the people who are creating this pressure cooker of an environment within the Little Rock School District.

Because if the Little Rock School District — if it’s perceived as failing, then that will be all the excuse that the politicians need to basically close it down and sell it off. Right? And so I’m not trying to attack anybody under the level of the governor and the billionaires, but I think it would be —

It wouldn’t serve anybody — and especially not the kids — to pretend like there’s nothing we can do to stop maltreatment of children in schools. And so my focus is on protecting and educating the children, first of all, and secondly on holding the people who are really responsible for these political decisions, and for the negligence that allows these gears of the Little Rock School District to grind against each other, not to be able to resolve these problems with any sort of good faith.

I think those are the people I’m trying to hold accountable, most of all.

LH (50:29): Well, I think you’ve done a very good job in that respect. And it’s not about you trying to underscore, you know, any kind of particular attacks against African-Americans who happen to hold positions of importance in the school district, as much as it is about you being able to expose the kind of wrongdoings that have been occurring in the district and have been made to be shown to have a recurring process, and habits of not listening to people like Ryan Gore to make changes in the system and say, “Hey, there needs to be some focus and attention on these issues that are happening right now.”

And [whistleblowers] end up being a victim of circumstances as a result of your honesty and courage and stepping forward to make that kind of proclamation which needs to be done.

And as far as the, the color side of it, you know, there has been a historic schism between how black educators and white educators, and black administrators and white administrators, throughout the history of the Little Rock School District have been treated. And that, too, will continue to bear a few fruit, I believe, in the coming days, weeks, months and years ahead — until we finally are in a position to be able to just eliminate and bury and put a cross on top of this hated scourge called racism and this state in and of itself.

So, young lady, you continue to stand firm and do the things that you have been. And I want to thank you so much for taking time out to be on the program today, to talk about this very important case. We’re going to give you the next couple of minutes to close out your thoughts in regard to this, and let people know how they can follow you on your blog and provide that information.

LH (53:14): Okay. Well we have really enjoyed having you with us on the program this morning, and we hope that you in turn will choose to come back, visit with us on any other areas of interest as it relates to education or any other particular subject matter that you are investigating and following, right here, because you’re gonna always be welcomed. The door will always be open to you, young lady. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure. All right, we appreciate you being with us.

Okay. That’s our guest, Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay, blogger extraordinaire, on the program with us this morning. We hope that you enjoyed hearing from her, with regard to this very, very important case. It’s happening right now. Gore vs. Baker (Kurrus) that has been changed from being heard in the month of June to September. The only determining factor as to whether or not that will occur will be the status of COVID-19, not only here in the state of Arkansas, but around the country and around the world. So we’ll keep you all posted on it.

And let me say that, in terms of fairness to Mr. Williams and Mr. Davis, or any others who we may have mentioned on this morning: We will be more than happy to extend the platform to you to come on the program and provide us with your side of the story of this particular case if you choose to do so. We can easily be reached at the radio station. You can call and actually speak with our program director, Mr. John Cain. In turn, he’ll be more than happy to put you in contact with me, and we in turn would be more than happy to provide you with a date and that would be agreeable to you to come on and offer up any defensive rebuttal you may want to express in regard to what was mentioned on this program this morning.