Records Show Staff Illegally Employed For Years By Forrest City School District.

In January of this year, I brought you the story of several Coaches at the Forrest City School who were not licensed by the State to perform their duties.

Link to article –

No Records Of License Or Waiver For Nine Forrest City Teachers / Coaches

I wanted to do a deeper dive into the issue however I got busy with the State Legislative Session, so it wasn’t until early May that I was able to get on it.

I wrapped up my investigation on Tuesday and the records I gathered from the Forrest City School District, (FCSD), and the Arkansas Department of Education, (ADE), show a complete disregard by Superintendent Tiffany Hardrick (pictured) for State laws pertaining to employment of staff, particularly Coaches.

My investigation focused on 10 Coaches and through the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, (AFOIA), I gathered employment contract records for the 10.

Brandon Wilkins – Employed 7 years as a Teacher / Head Junior High Track Coach / Assistant High School Football Coach.

Marcus Britt – Employed 6 years as a Teacher / Head High School Boys Basketball Coach.

Caronica Williams – Employed 5 years as a Teacher / Head High School Girls Basketball Coach.

Reginald Swinton – Employed 1 year as a Teacher / Head High School Football Coach.

Noah Thomas – Employed 1 year as a Teacher / Head High School Boys Baseball Coach / Assistant Junior High Football Coach.

JuJuan Whitby – Employed 1 year as a Teacher / Head Junior High Boys Track Coach / Assistant Junior High Boys Basketball Coach.

Kobe Wilson – Employed 1 year as a Teacher / Head 7^th Grade Boys Basketball Coach.

Courtney Crippen – Employed 1 year as Head Junior High Girls Basketball Coach.

Keith Futrell – Employed 1 year as a Teacher / Head Junior High Boys Basketball Coach.

TaKayla Allen – Employed 1 years as a Reach Assistant / Head 7^th Grade Girls Basketball Coach.

Contract Example Williams –

According to the ADE, of the ten, nine have never held a State License or Waiver allowing them to be employed by a State Public School District to perform the duties for which they are contracted.

Futrell did hold a License for PE & Health, however, that expired on December 31^st, 2024 and has not been renewed.

Following provided by the ADE on May 12^th –

License Example Wiliams –

State Law under Title 6 Education, 6-17-401 Teacher’s license requirement, states –(a) Except as permitted under § 6-17-309 and § 6-17-2601 et seq., no teacher shall be employed in any public school of the state who is not licensed to teach in the State of Arkansas by a license issued by the State Board of Education.

(b) Any person who shall teach in a public school in this state shall only be entitled to receive any compensation from the school funds for such services if the person has:

(1) A valid license issued by the state board; or

(2) Other documentation from the Office of Professional Licensure of the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education authorizing employment as a teacher under the conditions set forth by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education in the documentation.

6-17-309 pertains to Licensure Waiver and 6-17-2601 pertains to awarding a Lifetime Teaching License.

The fact is, as it pertains to the 10 Coaches listed, the FCSD has violated the law 7 years with Wilkins, 6 years with Britt, 5 years with Williams, 1 year with Swinton, Whitby, Thomas, Wilson, Crippen, Allen and 6 months with Futrell.

So just who is responsible for these twenty-five counts of law violation ?

Superintendents can’t hire any employees of their Districts. Under State law only the School Board has the authority to hire personnel.

AR Code 6-17-301 Employment of licensed personnel states –

(a), (1) A school district board of directors may employ superintendents, deputy superintendents, assistant superintendents, and high school principals, as well as department heads, coaches, teachers, and other licensed personnel by written contract for a period of time not more than three (3) years.

While School Boards can only hire staff, they rely on their Superintendent, whose duty is to recommend to them qualified candidates for open positions and renewal of contracts.

At the FCSD, a Recommendation for Employment form is to be submitted to the Board for each new hire candidate, yet the District has no record of them for the ten Coaches.

The preponderance of evidence clearly shows the responsibility for the 25 counts of law violation rest with Superintendent Hardrick.

The question now…. is this a case of complete incompetence on her part or were these intentional acts ?

Did she recommend the hires knowing it would violate the law ?….I mean how the Hell could she not ?

After the original article came out in January, you would think Hardick and the ten Coaches would contact the ADE in attempts to rectify the issues, right ?

An AFOIA request to the ADE for communications with Hardick and the ten Coaches since January only produced one on the subject.

That was an email from Futrell to Stephanie Hall at the ADE on March 18^th inquiring as to what steps he needed to take to renew his License.

Hardrick and the other nine have had no communications with the ADE on what they needed to do as individuals to rectify issues.

Based off the facts, does the FCSD Board have cause to terminate Hardrick ?….100% they do.

Will they though ?….Highly doubtful.

They had proof of Hardrick violating State law in the past and just sat on their hands.

Can she be charged criminally ?

The laws under Chapter 17 in Title 6 Education, (applicable here), has no penalty for violation which kicks in AR Code 6-10-102 which states –

“Any officer or employee of the State Board of Education or school district board of directors who shall willfully fail or refuse to comply with any provisions of the School Law for which no punishment is otherwise provided by law shall be deemed guilty of a violation and shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500).”

Good luck finding a Prosecutor who will charge someone with that.

I have been saying for years, the Legislature makes laws that apply to government but no penalties if they are broken….Ya think that’s by design ?

Until that changes, people like Hardrick literally have a License to violate the law.

This whole thing has me wondering just how many others are employed illegally by the FCSD ?

#FactsNotFiction

Jimmie Cavin

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