A complaint launched by a former Pine Bluff High School assistant principal — who has already named the Pine Bluff School District in a federal lawsuit — was ruled non-grievable toward the end of Monday’s regular meeting of the PBSD board.
Dexter K. Lee was informed by Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree in a March 26 letter that his contract would expire June 30, but he was welcome to apply for any open positions with the PBSD for the next school year, according to copies of documents Lee provided to The Commercial. According to a July 24, 2023 letter, Barbaree placed Lee on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into posts on social media. Some of the posts, Barbaree stated, discussed “very sensitive student issues and personnel issues regarding the leadership” in Lee’s building.
The administrative leave concluded March 8 of this year, when Barbaree issued Lee a reprimand.
Lee then filed a Level 2 grievance form, arguing he exercised First Amendment-protected speech rights on his personal social media accounts outside of school hours and contracted days.
A lawsuit styled Lee v. Pine Bluff School District et al. has been filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2025.
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Barbaree is named in the suit, and Lee has said each of the board members will be added to it.
Lee claimed in the original filing from May 25, 2023, the PBSD committed discriminatory and favoritism practices regarding jobs in the district. Lee stated in March 2019 he was removed as a human capital officer, his pay was cut and he had since applied for assistant superintendent, a role he was not offered.
Previous superintendents Monica McMurray, Jeremy Owoh and Barbara Warren, and former state Education Commissioner Johnny Key have been dropped from the lawsuit.
“Primarily the superintendent was the person who was implicated in the wrongdoing,” Lee said. “Now, we know the board members are complicit. Therefore, the defendants, of course, have expanded.”
Barbaree and Board President Sederick Charles Rice declined comment other than to say the matter was ruled non-grievable. Lee’s lawyers, Lucien Gillham and Luther Sutter of Little Rock, were not available at their office Friday afternoon.
Lee argued that an investigator confirmed in September there was no evidence he had ever revealed any protected, sensitive information to coworkers, staff or students; or ever posted such information on social media. Asked what would resolve the grievance in the document, Lee said that would include, but not be limited to: “The Board placing me in an employment situation conducive to me being allowed to safely fulfill my contractual obligations; ensuring that neither (high school Principal) Ronnieus Thompson nor Jennifer Barbaree have supervisory authority over me, nor their questions, comments, concerns, etc. considered concerning my retention and/or promotion; and all reprimands and/or documentation attributed to them that presents me in a negative or unprofessional light immediately removed from my personnel file; and opportunities to fulfill my commitments to the scholars, educators and families of Pine Bluff High School, opportunities to communicate to them that I in no way abandoned them.”
According to a response to Lee’s grievance, Barbaree stated Lee’s assignment for this school year is assistant principal at the Focus Academy, an alternative learning center housed inside the former Belair Middle School on Commerce Road and supported by the districts of the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative including the PBSD. Lee’s direct supervisor, Barbaree stated, is PBSD Assistant Superintendent Phillip Carlock.
Lee said in the grievance the investigator submitted findings to Barbaree and district attorney Cody Kees on Oct. 25, 2023, at which point he believes he should have been allowed to return to his role at PBHS. “But they were still paying someone at Pine Bluff High School to do my job,” he remarked.
His next interaction with Barbaree concerning the administrative leave, he said, was at a Feb. 12 meeting where he claims he was notified “there was no circumstance whereby I would be allowed to maintain my employment with the Pine Bluff School District, although no evidence of violations of district policy, state or federal law, the Code of Ethics, LEADS evaluations indicating ineffective performance, etc. were provided as substantiation for said decision on the part of the superintendent.”