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The Morning News
Bentonville School Board members have three ways to deal with a recent Freedom of Information Act violation, attorney George Spence said.

Spence, who represents the board, provided an information session to the board Monday night to review the FOIA's open-meeting law because he had received numerous calls for it from board members and school administrators and The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas.

Representatives of three local newspapers also addressed the school board.

The Benton County Prosecutor's Office said last week that the board violated the FOIA when it did not vote in public on a matter involving Francie Bryant-Thompson, coordinator of the district's gifted-and-talented students' program.

Jim Parsons of Bella Vista complained to the prosecutor that the board violated the FOIA because it did not vote in public on a fact-finding letter written to resolve a grievance hearing.

Felicia Boles of the prosecuting attorney's office wrote that a public vote by the school board was necessary because the document was written during a Sept. 13 executive session.

Bryant-Thompson had filed two grievances against Superintendent Lewis Holloway, alleging that a child was improperly placed in the gifted and talented program.

The only directive in the board's fact-finding letter was to compensate Bryant-Thompson for sick leave she took after filing her grievance.

According to the remainder of the fact-finding letter, all individuals named in the grievance acted properly.

During Monday's session, Spence recommended that Gail Trolinger and Joe Peters, former board members who held seats at the time of the FOIA violation, submit statements of their votes made in executive session.

Also, he recommended that the vote of four other board members present at the executive session be made public. Two board members were not involved in the grievance hearing and executive session.

Finally, Spence suggested that the current board, which includes two new members, affirm the votes taken in private.

Boles stated that the violation would not be prosecuted, because the board followed Spence's advice at the time, but she noted that the action could be challenged in court if a public vote is not taken now.

Holloway said that whether to take action on the matter should come as a recommendation from the board.