LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Superintendent Mike Poore sent letters to six Little Rock School District employees requiring them to be suspended for "their involvement" in the one-day Little Rock School District strike last November.
According to the letters, three employees at Bale Elementary were suspended for using a school communication system to contact parents/guardians "for the purpose and intent of encouraging not to send students to school on November 14, 2019."
One of the Bale employee's letters also encouraged others to do the same, and was recommended a suspension of five days, while the other two were only suspended for three.
Similarly, an employee at Fulbright Elementary was also suspended for three days for communicating with parents using a school contact system and "directly interfered with the education" of students.
The letter sent to an employee at Gibbs Magnet Elementary stated the suspension was three days for utilizing her position to "access and disseminate confidential information" from a school information system without approval to do so.
The one-day strike took place on November 14, 2019, where over 10,000 elementary, middle and high school students were absent.
- 12,605 elementary students enrolled – 6,542 were in attendance
- 4,829 middle school students enrolled – 2,132 were in attendance
- 5,903 high school students enrolled – 1,475 were in attendance
Governor Asa Hutchinson tweeted that he was "proud and appreciative of all the teachers and staff in the LRSD who were in the classroom today teaching and serving the students."
The employees were given five business days after the letter was received to request a hearing. The district spokesperson had no comment on whether any employee suspended had requested a hearing.