3 Arkadelphia teachers suspended, parents want answers

ARKADELPHIA, AR - Concerned parents packed Tuesday's Arkadelphia school board meeting as they waited for answers that just won't come.

"We can't talk about it in a public meeting yet because we don't have that hearing date as of yet," said school board president Jeff Root.

That hearing date Root mentioned during Tuesday's meeting is in reference to the three Perritt Primary School teachers put on suspension in March followed by the abrupt retirement of the school's principal.

The district has yet to acknowledge exactly what happened at the school.

However, Fox16 has learned the Department of Human Services opened an investigation in March about at least one incident that happened in one of the school's bathrooms involving students of the primary school.

"How can we prevent this from happening again? And that's what we're hearing over and over and over," said Superintendent Donnie Whitten during Tuesday's meeting. No answer was provided.

"We feel the information has not been disseminated properly and promptly on this matter and there are a lot of rumors and misinformation circulating around at this time," said district parent Cheryl Covington.

"I would like to see accountability here from top to bottom," said parent Damon Hart. "It's all speculation but when will I know?"

Parents like Hart attended the meeting looking for answers.

"When you send you kids to school you expect a certain amount of accountability also," he added.

"We've got to move forward together if we want to make sure these things don't happen again," said Whitton, asking parents to bring unity to the district while the investigation continues into what exactly happened at the primary school.

Board members say they are currently compiling DHS reports and the investigation should be closed soon. As for the three suspended teachers, they have until the end of the month to go before the board to explain why they should be allowed to keep their jobs.