Conway School District Conceals Email Alleging Fraud & Misuse Of Funds From FOI Request.
Interim Superintendent Jason Black Is Silent On The Matter.
Jul 14, 2025
For some time, I have been hearing rumors of Conway School District Maintenance staff doing personal work for Administrators while on the District clock using materials purchased by the District.
On June 2nd I obtained an email from Tami Marsh sent on May 19th to then Superintendent Jeff Collum. (Note – Collum resigned on July 1st after agreeing to a contract buyout with the School Board.)
Marsh, who is very active in the Conway community had just recently run for the school board at large seat and was defeated by Leo Cummings.
The email is not only scathing to the Administration…. it also raises questions of fraud and misuse of District funds in the maintenance department.
In mid-June I began inquiring into the matter where I smelled enough smoke to start an investigation.
On June 30th I sent Interim Superintendent Jason Black an email with three FOI requests for records, one of which was for all email communications between the District and Tami Marsh for the 2024-2025 school year.
I sent that with one goal….To see if the District would conceal the scathing email from me….and they did.
On July 7th I received the response to the request from the District Chief Legal Officer Shastady Wagner on behalf of Black.
Wagner supplied me a file containing nine emails….none of which were the one sent to Collum on May 19th.
So why would the District not want that email made public ?
Yes, it paints Collum, Black and Assistant Superintendent Andrew Ashey in a bad light along with raising questions about criminal activity but is there more to it ?
I don’t know….yet.
What I do know is that the District has violated laws under AR Code 25-19-105 in the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act (AFOIA) while also raising the possibility of violating AR Code 5-54-121 Tampering with Public Record….a Class D Felony by the way.
In fact, just recently I reported on a Circuit Court Judge ruling Fort Smith City Administrator Jeff Dingman violated the AFOIA in almost a mirrored way concerning an email being concealed.
As a result of that ruling, Dingman is currently under criminal investigation by the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office of Public Integrity Division for Tampering with Public Record.
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I sent the email to all the School Board members yesterday, as well as Superintendent Black, asking for a statement as to the concealment of the email.
School Board member Linda Hargis is the only one who replied stating – “We talk about transparency all the time. All I ask and want is for our District to be transparent.”
That ask and want is falling on deaf ears.
Here’s tha thing….When a government entity hides records from me then they just went on the top end of my radar list so welcome Jason Black and the Conway School District.
Today I started an in-depth investigation into the District by sending the beginning of a series of FOI requests….and I’m going to be looking at a whole range of issues.
It’s bad enough that over 55% of the students at the District cannot read at grade level….Now we are adding Dishonest, Unethical and possible Criminal acts on some in leadership.
The truly sad part is that none of this is shocking….in fact it has become standard procedure.
#FactsNotFiction
Professional Bully Fighter I investigate and report on issues around the State of Arkansas with an emphasis on Government. I am strong conservative however I bring Truth and Facts regardless of Party affiliation….My hashtag is #FactsNotFiction
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