In recent weeks the Sheridan School Board of Directors have been in the spotlight after community members have called meetings by petition to address issues across the district.
What started as a back-and-forth exchange in May over drug problems and violence on campus quickly changed course when Sheridan School Board member Wade Crosswhite brought up homeschool children and their families at the June meeting.
At the July 14 school board meeting Crosswhite appeared to double down on homeschoolers in a fiery exchange that has rocked homeschool parents in the district and across the state.
The Reckoning's exclusive live stream video of the meeting quickly reached 50,000 views and has currently been viewed more than 70,000 times on the the Reckoning's Facebook page alone. (Note the screenshot for verification of these numbers)
Parents across the state are often baffled when attending the seemingly boring school board meetings that more often than not provide very little information.
If you have attended Sheridan School Board meetings, you have no doubt heard a similar phrasing such as "I make a motion to approve the item as presented."
You'll typically hear another board member second the motion, then hear a vote. If you are there to be informed, you are left scratching your head wondering how to understand what they voted on.
Work Sessions
The most overlooked aspect of school board meetings are no doubt work sessions.
In this setting board members and administrators seem to be relaxed and openly discuss things they intend to take action on during board meetings.
Work sessions are open to the public and are where the people's business typically takes place. Parents and stakeholders in communities should be aware that work sessions are subject to Arkansas Open Meeting laws and the Freedom of Information Act.
After the ongoing back and forth controversy over homeschooling, the July 14th work session of the Sheridan School Board is now a critical public record to help stakeholders understand what led up to the explosive exchange during the board meeting.
The Reckoning has provided you with a clipped version of the work session audio file obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that pertains to policy discussions. The most curious exchanges in the audio concern the policy issues surrounding public comment.
According to the work session discussion superintendent Chad Pitts seems to make it clear that the board policy at the time of the meeting did not support board members commenting with stakeholders during public comment.
A review of the Sheridan School Board policies are interesting in light of the work session audio recording.
Sheridan School Board policy 1.13 states:
"The Board's primary responsibility is to develop, working collaboratively with the community, a vision and mission for the District. The Board formulates and adopts policies to achieve that vision and elects a Superintendent to implement its policies."
Board policy 1.14 states:
"Patrons whose written request to be placed on the meeting's agenda has been accepted shall have no more than three (3) minutes to present to the Board unless specifically granted additional time by a motion approved by a majority of the Board. The speaker shall limit his/her comments to the approved topic/issue or forfeit his/her right to address the Board. The members of the Board will listen to the patron's presentation but shall not respond to the presenter during the meeting in which the presentation is made.
The Board may choose to discuss the issue presented at a later meeting but is under no obligation to do so. The Board recognizes the importance of involving members of the public in its meetings. Individuals may sign in to address the board only on current agenda items, but this time may not be used for personal attack toward any individual(s). In the event that such personal attacks occur, the speaker may lose the privilege of addressing the Board.
The Board vests in its president or other presiding officer the authority to terminate the remarks of any individual when he/she does not adhere to the rules established above. The time limit for each person speaking will not exceed three (3) minutes, with a maximum of thirty (30) minutes total for all speakers. The Superintendent shall be responsible for Board members receiving copies of the Agenda with all accompanying pertinent information at least three (3) days prior to the meeting. This policy's advance notice requirements do not apply to special or called board meetings."
The date appearing on the Sheridan School board policy 2024-25 appears as follows:
"Date Adopted: September 12, 2017 Last Revised: June 12, 2023"
Members of the public were told they had three minutes to speak but were constantly interrupted by board members responding to the patrons and sometimes cutting them off during the meeting.
The question has now been raised by Sheridan School District patrons as to what governing body would investigate board members who may violate ethical guidelines set by the Arkansas School Board Association (ASBA) as well as local school board policy.
Some ethics violations constitute a violation of law. While it remains unclear if alleged ethical violations of the ethical guidelines established through the ASBA are a matter to be adjudicated at a local level by the governing body or would those alleged violations be reviewed by the Arkansas Ethics Commission.
The Reckoning reached out to Jessica Prothro, ASBA's communications director, for comment.
In an email response she stated: "Thank you for your inquiry regarding the process for filing a complaint against a school board member. As we discussed, ASBA is not a regulatory or enforcement agency and cannot investigate or take disciplinary action. While we had discussed our May 2024 recorded training on the Code of Ethics and complaint procedures, there may be updates following the 2025 legislative session that are not reflected in the training video. Since our staff attorney, Lucas Harder, is out today, we believe it would be best for him to follow up with you directly next week to provide accurate and up-to-date guidance."
Another topic of interest brought up during the July 14th school board meeting seemed to make strong allegations against former Sheridan Superintendent Jerrod Williams' administration.
Williams entered into a "Separation Agreement, Covenant Not To Sue" on March 17, 2022.
In a shocking moment on July 14 the former superintendent name was brought back into the Sheridan School District by a community activist.
A request to Andy Mayberry, Sheridan School District's communication director, for comment about the allegations made during the meeting fell flat. An email to Superintendent Pitts and Mayberry yielded no response.
Suzi Parker
The allegations included "perverts in the bathroom" and no one allegedly calling the Child Abuse Hotline about abuse.
Did these allegations happen? Did invoking Williams' name violate the mutual termination agreement between him and the school?
More questions than answers continue to bubble in the Sheridan School District.
