School board accused of systemic non-responsiveness to parents' concerns

Jean Skelton’s third monthly address in a row to the Hot Springs County School Board on March 16 saw their differences of opinion devolve into angry outbursts on both sides, after she’d asserted the board had failed to live up to its stated collective commitments to maintain respect, transparency and honest communication.

“What I witnessed at the last school board meeting was one board member attacking another board member because of a differing opinion,” Jean Skelton said. “There was no respect or dialogue in that exchange, no striving to work with one another to gain an understanding of what the concern was. It was just an attack.”

Jean Skelton then accused the school district administration of telling board members not to speak with parents who contact them.

“That is not listening to the concerns of the parents,” Jean Skelton said. “It does not promote open and honest communication.”

Jean Skelton also insisted she had yet to see a listing of the transactions “moved from one category to another, over half a million dollars of federal tax funds on the July financial statement,” since she’d requested it more than two months ago, which she criticized as “not transparent, nor respectful or fiscally responsible.”

Jean Skelton then recounted what she said a teacher had told her more than a year ago, about how they’d allegedly spoken to the administration about a concern, then found their workload doubled, while their original concerns remained unresolved.

Hot Springs County School Board Chair Sherman Skelton addressed Jean Skelton’s timeline of correspondence with the school district, as she agreed that she’d emailed Feb. 10 asking for those transactions, to which the district responded Feb. 14 with 76 pages, supplying the entire fiscal year of 2022, along with an invitation to look at those transactions that she has not yet followed up on.

“We have also contacted our auditor,” said Sherman Skelton, who told Jean the auditor would meet with her over Zoom, either March 27 or 28 at 6 p.m., depending on her preference.

“That meeting will be broadcast for the entire public,” Sherman Skelton said. “That’s transparency.”

Sherman Skelton then turned to a meeting that Jean referenced in her remarks during the previous school board meeting, because while Jean pointed out that had been a private meeting, Sherman explained that school board members had attended because it was discussing “tactics to pressure school board members to fire superintendents and principals.”

When Jean Skelton countered that this claim was “untrue,” Sherman said, “I have the email right here,” adding, “If you want to talk about transparency, our meetings are held in public.”

“You are also elected to represent the people,” Jean Skelton said. “That’s why you have public meetings.”

“If I’m going to be pressured into doing something, I at least want a seat at the table,” Sherman Skelton said. “I can’t do anything about it if I don’t hear your concerns.”

When board trustee Clay Van Antwerp followed up on Jean Skelton’s allegation that community members were told by board member that they could not talk to the public, Jean said that Van Antwerp’s name “was specifically used,” supposedly saying the superintendent had told him he was not allowed to discuss certain matters.

“Before God and the camera right there, Dustin Hunt has never done that,” Van Antwerp said. “Who said I told them that?”

“So many people,” Jean Skelton said. “Students—”

“Students?” Van Antwerp exclaimed. “You’re cracked out of your mind.”

When a member of the public called for Van Antwerp to “respond respectfully,” Sherman Skelton reminded the audience, “There’s no comments from the public,” and asked if an officer could escort the public commenter out of the meeting, “because we’re not going to tolerate that.”

Board Treasurer Joe Martinez spoke up to concede that “there are certain things we are not allowed to discuss” with members of the public, “about specific situations that may be part of an ongoing investigation, because this board may eventually become a hearing board, (and) we can’t be biased by the influence of one side of a story.”

That being said, even Martinez emphasized, “That doesn’t mean we will not talk to parents at all,” which Jean Skelton again disputed.

“There are parents physically sitting behind me (to whom) this has happened,” Jean Skelton said. “As I have said with the audit, these are real numbers, just like these are real people.”

Board Vice-Chair Nichole Weyer suggested parents might be misinterpreting what she freely admitted board members do tell them, which is, “Have you gone through the chain of command? Have you talked to the teacher? Have you talked to the coach? Have you talked to the principal, or the superintendent? Because as a board, we are not individuals. We are a group of seven that work together, so for us, it is very important that we all receive all of the information available.”

Weyer elaborated, “I can’t solve a (problem) between a parent and a teacher, but the principal, the teacher and the parent can.”

While Jean Skelton agreed, “That is the best tactic,” she again attributed “a breakdown in communication” to what she claimed was an administrative policy of non-responsiveness.

Weyer suggested that those instances were the result of parents not going through the chain of command, because “I have never had a conflict that was not resolved” by following that chain, and if there were a situation where it failed to solve the conflict, “I’d be the first one to say, let’s get an executive session and discuss this.”

Board Clerk Will Farrell and Sherman Skelton echoed Weyer’s advice, experience and pledge to accompany parents to the administration, if the chain were to fail, even though neither of them have ever encountered such a situation.

“That is our standard practice,” Sherman Skelton said. “We always encourage the closest point of contact, then working your way up the chain, but we’ve always said, if that problem persists, we will walk into that office with you.”

When Sherman Skelton spoke about how unresolved conflicts or shortfalls in serving students’ needs leads to sleepless nights for school board members, Jean Skelton reiterated her earlier acknowledgment that the board members do care, but board trustee Jennifer Axtell seized upon Jean’s criticisms to argue that she was “talking out of both sides of your mouth.”

Sherman Skelton likewise told Jean, “You have never called me to have some of these discussions personally,” and because the meeting was being broadcast on YouTube, he released his phone number, 307-899-3887, for concerned members of the public to call.

“In four years, I’ve probably had only a handful of phone calls from parents,” Sherman Skelton said.

Van Antwerp apologized to Jean “for my outburst,” which he attributed to being “passionate about this job.”