The Arkansas State Board of Education voted Thursday afternoon to suspend the teaching license of Danny R. "DJ" Marrs Jr. , Quitman's football coach, and also gave him two years probation.
Khayyam M. Eddings, Marrs' attorney that the Quitman School District paid to represent Marrs, addressed the board on his client's behalf as did Marrs himself.
Last year, parents and students came forth to the state board with allegations of abuse, bullying and other horrific events in the Quitman football locker room such as clothed students dry humping other clothed students, "teabagging" and taking photos of students sitting on toilets.
Read the Reckoning's coverage from last year here:
Suzi Parker
Richard Owens
For more than an hour and half, the state board questioned Marrs, who has coached at Quitman since 2017. Marrs also coached track and served as assistant athletic director.
They asked Marrs about his handling of the allegations and the fact Marrs and Quitman administration allowed student perpetrators to continue to be part of the football team after a juvenile court sentenced them to probation.
Marrs' filed a lawsuit against parents who addressed the state board about the situation in September after administration failed to listen to them.
Suzi Parker
Marrs later dropped the lawsuit. Board member Jeff Wood told Marrs he believed the lawsuit was filed to intimidate other parents from coming forward with any more allegations.
Because of the events in the Quitman School District, the state legislature passed legislation for audio recordings to be mandatory in locker rooms. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed that legislation into law.
Suzi Parker
Wood asked the board to revoke Marrs' license, but the board voted to uphold the suggested punishment by the Professional Licensure Standards Board, which performed a lengthy investigation into the Quitman School District.
Watch Thursday's state board meeting here with the Marrs' portion starting around the two hour mark.
This week, Marrs has been reposting football players' posts on "X" about college offers they have received.
