Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

School named in federal suit

A federal lawsuit has been filed against the Gurdon School District, the Gurdon School Board and several district employees.

The lawsuit was a topic of discussion for the board during its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

In the suit, a parent is alleging that the school district has failed to provide her son with a free and appropriate education, Superintendent Bobby Smithson said. He said the parent could not be identified in the open meeting at the recommendation of the districts attorney, Ed McCorkle of Arkadelphia.

According to a spokesperson for the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, the plaintiff in the lawsuit is listed as Jane Doe. The suit was filed on Sept. 13 in the courts Hot Springs division.

Its going to be an expensive venture for us, Smithson told the board. We dont know of anything weve done wrong. Out people have crossed every t and dotted every i.

The same Jane Doe has also filed a federal civil rights complaint against the school district with the Dallas civil rights office.

Smithson said that an attorney from the civil rights office had scheduled a visit to the school campus for Nov. 7-9. Prior to her visit, the school district provided answers to a lot of questions asked by the civil rights attorney.

When the attorney arrived in Little Rock the day before her scheduled visit, she met with McCorkle. During the meeting, McCorkle told the civil rights attorney about the federal lawsuit filed by Doe against the school district.

Smithson said the civil rights office had not been made aware of the lawsuit prior to this meeting. He said that upon advising her supervisor of the lawsuit, the civil rights attorney returned to Dallas without making a visit to the campus.

Smithson said that during the talks with McCorkle, the civil rights attorney said that Does primary concerns were that her son is two grade levels behind where he should be. The student is in the schools alternative learning environment due to behavior problems, according to information provided by the district. The student is not in special education and is making progress on school work, Smithson said.

No further investigations have been made into the civil rights complaint. The lawsuit is scheduled for court on Aug. 4, 2008.