Ark. school chief to face hearing

The Little Rock School Board voted Wednesday to have an independent examiner decide whether its superintendent violated his contract _ a racially charged vote that comes weeks after its school integration efforts were freed of nearly 50 years of federal monitoring.

The 4-3 vote split along racial lines with white members supporting embattled Superintendent Roy Brooks, who is black.

Board members, who met behind closed doors for nearly 90 minutes, did not disclose the specific allegations against Brooks and left without taking questions from reporters.

However, members who spoke before the vote acknowledged that the debate reflected a racial division in the district.

"This situation has degraded into things I hoped I never had to deal with on this board, such as racial intolerance and race hatred," said board member Robert M. Daugherty, who is black. "The ignorance of it all is just overwhelming."

No timetable was provided for a hearing by the independent examiner.

Board President Katherine Mitchell, who is black, has said Brooks has been disrespectful to the board by working on prospective state legislation without board approval. Mitchell also said Brooks told teachers to quit their union and has avoided meeting with parents of black students.

Board member H. Baker Kurrus said he didn't see a formal list of the allegations _ which he described as "without substantiation" _ until Wednesday's meeting. Kurrus, who is white, said the district's actions may have exposed it to a lawsuit.

"We could have easily gotten the assistance of everyone from the governor on down to work this out," he said.

In a letter to board members, Brooks asked that they consider a temporary ban on administrative personnel changes, conduct a "listening tour" within the district and establish a 14-member advisory council.

"I extend these proposals as an olive branch," wrote Brooks, who was hired in 2004. He asked the board to work with him to "begin a constructive process of healing so that our district may begin the essential work of learning how to operate in an environment that allows fair and equitable decisions without federal court approval."

Brooks also left the meeting without taking questions from reporters.

The makeup of the 27,000-student district _ and its leadership _ has changed considerably since the 1957 school integration crisis that caused federal intervention. For the first time, blacks hold a majority on the board governing the district, which is 70 percent black.

In 1957, President Eisenhower dispatched the 101st Airborne Division to enforce a U.S. Supreme Court order striking down segregation after then-Gov. Orval Faubus tried to prevent black students from entering the school.

In February, U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. found the district could be released from court supervision, as it was substantially complying with a 1998 desegregation plan. The ruling is being appealed by a lawyer representing a group of black students.