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Baxter County Circuit Court Judge John Putman ruled against the Mountain Home School District and its Board of Education on Tuesday in the FOIA lawsuit filed by resident Melissa Klinger in May, declaring that the board violated open-meeting laws through text message exchanges.
The ruling follows the school board’s July 2 response to the lawsuit, in which they effectively admitted to the FOIA violations. The board, represented by Friday, Eldredge & Clark, LLP, stated they “do not oppose the declaration requested by Plaintiff” and “do not oppose the relief requested.”
The court declared that the subject text messages constituted “impermissible polling, and an illegal meeting, held without public notice in violation of the open-meeting provisions of FOIA.”
The judgment enjoins the defendants from conducting public business outside of the public view without complying with FOIA notice requirements.
Klinger’s lawsuit alleged that board members conducted business through text messaging, violating Arkansas FOIA laws. The complaint included evidence of text exchanges from February 2023 between former Superintendent Jake Long and board members Lisa House, Daniel Smakal, and Bob Chester regarding a proposed millage increase.
In one exchange detailed in the original complaint, Long texted House asking if she would support a millage increase of “2.5” or “2.75.” House responded with “2.25.” The next day, Long informed House of a 3-3 split among board members on the issue. Similar conversations occurred with Smakal and Chester.
In their response, the school board claimed they had “continually attempted to resolve this case by accepting a consent judgment since June 7, 2024, but Plaintiff has refused.” They also requested that the court deny Klinger’s request for attorney fees.
Klinger brought the suit after Baxter County Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge decided not to bring criminal charges against Long and board members. In a letter included in the lawsuit, Ethredge wrote, “…it is clear the Superintendent Jake Long engaged in a course of conduct that was designed to circumvent and frustrate the explicit intent of the ARFOIA.”
Former School Board member Bob Chester denied wrongdoing in a letter to Klinger following her suit against the board, before resigning from his position. Mountain Home School Board members voted unanimously to appoint former board member Neal Pendergrass to fill Chester’s vacant seat in a special vote last week.
Pendergrass will only remain a member of the board until next April. He will not be seeking re-election and told the board that his filling of the seat would allow the public to choose a fresh board member during next year’s election.
The judgment orders the defendants to reimburse Klinger for the costs incurred in filing the lawsuit. However, it notes that Klinger is not seeking attorney’s fees.
In response to the judgment, Mountain Home Superintendent Allyson Dewey said, “We have spent the better part of two years addressing the concerns regarding the FOIA violations. We’ve built in additional measures in order to be more transparent, and we even sought out formal training about FOIA. We did this all before this lawsuit was even filed. Now our district is moving forward, and I hope that our constituents will see the efforts that have been made by our Board to rebuild trust. I can say without reservation that this Board is working hard for the good of our students, their families, and the community-at-large. I look forward to continuing our focus on providing a high-quality education for every student.”
