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The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas

A Bentonville parent has filed a complaint against the school board, claiming the district violated the state Freedom of Information Act by not supplying copies of e-mail correspondence that she requested.

Mindy Beers, who is active in a parents’ group, filed the complaint. The group spearheaded recent efforts that led to the dismissal of Bentonville superintendent Lewis Holloway.

Holloway’s contract with the Bentonville School District was terminated by a 5-3 vote of the board members during their Feb. 29 meeting.

Beers alleges she filed a request with district officials requesting a review of e-mail messages provided to the Benton County Daily Record and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Beers’ request followed the Daily Record’s article detailing communication between district administrators.

Beers said the district denied the request, stating that the records were not available because the computer system purges every 14 days. Beers contends that the records should be retrievable from the computer system after the 14-day period.

Interim Prosecuting Attorney Robin Green confirmed Monday that her office received Beers’ complaint and is reviewing the complaint.

“I can confirm that we have received the complaint,” Green said, “and we are looking into it.”

Green said the matter was turned over to deputy prosecutor Amy Driver for consideration.

“I would probably call it ‘fact-finding’ at this point,” Green said. “I have asked Amy to look into it and determine if a full investigation is warranted.”

She declined to release details of the complaint, however, pending a decision on the status of the investigation.

“I can’t really comment on the details until we decide whether or not a full investigation is required,” Green said.