What Johnny “Doesn’t Know”

Some lawsuits take forever. In the case of Gore v. Kurrus, et al. (60CV-15-5089,) the Little Rock School District (LRSD) is planning to go to trial in June to defend its actions from five years ago, when Ryan Chase Gore was a teacher at Henderson Middle School.

In May 2015, Mr. Gore reported suspected child maltreatment by Special Education teacher Isaac Davis, who later resigned in lieu of termination.

Neither Isaac Davis nor any representative of LRSD has denied these allegations about Davis’ behavior. However, no law enforcement agency has brought charges against Davis, either. The only adult who has suffered because of Isaac Davis’ behavior is Ryan Gore, the teacher who amplified the voices of children when they said Isaac Davis was hurting them.

Gore’s lawsuit alleges that LRSD’s negligent response to reports of Davis’ wrongdoing made a bad situation worse for the children in Davis’ care. Gore says LRSD protected Isaac Davis’ bad behavior by ignoring statements from teachers and parents, by undermining Gore’s credibility, and by forcing Gore out of his job under false pretenses. 

Essentially, Gore v. Kurrus, et al. is a wrongful termination lawsuit that has taken five years to even get a trial scheduled, while the vulnerable children who were victims of the original abuse continue getting steamrolled by adults determined to incarcerate them instead of educating them.

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Last month, Plaintiff Ryan Chase Gore sent a Request for Disclosures and a list of Interrogatories to all Defendants, including Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key. In addition to being Commissioner, Johnny Key is also the one-man “school board” for LRSD, since the district is under state control.

Yes, Johnny. This is your problem.

Early in the Gore v. Kurrus, et al. lawsuit, Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) General Counsel Lori Freno tried to wriggle Johnny Key out of his responsibility for LRSD. She filed a Motion to Dismiss on November 6, 2015 — and again on October 30, 3016 — claiming that Johnny Key heads the ADE, but is not legally the school board for LRSD. Fortunately, Judge Mackie Pierce denied Freno’s motion on August 14, 2017, acknowledging that Johnny Key really is responsible for the LRSD while the district is under state control.

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Gore v. Kurrus, et al. alleges that Gore’s job as a “Behavioral Education Interventionist” at Henderson Middle School was part of a “non-existent” pilot program designed to draw federal funding and grant money into LRSD — without actually serving the students whose special needs qualified the district to receive this money in the first place.

In preparation for the trial at which these allegations will be discussed, it makes sense that Gore is asking Key to account for all grants and federal funding received and spent by LRSD during Key’s time as acting school board. According to Arkansas law, school boards are supposed to oversee and monitor school district finances, including:

1. Revenues;
2. Expenditures;
3. Investments;
4. Debts;
5. Obligations;
6. Inventory; and
7. Real property.

Why — when his duty of financial oversight is literally written into state law — is Johnny Key quick to insist that he “lacks knowledge of LRSD’s grants” and also “lacks knowledge of LRSD’s federal funding?”

Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) Attorney Jennifer Dedman filed Johnny Key’s official-capacity “Response to Plaintiff’s Request for Disclosures, Interrogatories, Admissions, and Request for Production of Documents” yesterday. In this court document, Johnny Key claims to be fundamentally ignorant about LRSD’s use of grant money and federal funding, even though he is the entire school board for LRSD.

When LRSD applies for federal grant money, the grant applications are completed by LRSD Grants Director Linda Young and Chief Financial Officer Kelsey Bailey, who are both currently vulnerable to criminal felony charges for their undisclosed conflicts of interest with Tendaji Community Development Corporation at St. Mark Baptist Church. Both Young and Bailey are supervised directly by Superintendent Mike Poore, who works under the acting School Board, Johnny Key.

LRSD submits their grant applications to the Arkansas Department of Education, which has been led by Johnny Key since Asa Hutchinson appointed him Commissioner in 2015.

Johnny Key cannot plausibly plead ignorance regarding financial disbursements from one entity under his control to another entity under his control. Nevertheless, he seems determined to try.

If I had to guess, I’d bet Johnny Key has decided it’s better to look ignorant (and possibly negligent, under state law) than to admit he knows what’s really happening to federal money under his authority. I’ve already written what I believe to be true about the Hutchinson administration’s desperation for federal money: They want to suck as much federal tax revenue into Arkansas as possible, so that Asa Hutchinson can take a victory lap for cutting state taxes without cutting state programs to match.

Or maybe Johnny Key is still hoping to get himself dismissed as a defendant, despite the judge’s 2017 denial of his Motion to Dismiss. Maybe Key thinks if he talks about “the LRSD defendants” like he isn’t one of them, we’ll all forget that he’s actually their boss.