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Board votes unanimously to uphold two disciplinary recommendations; student identities redacted
Summary
The Forrest City School District board unanimously approved two disciplinary recommendations addressing student discipline; the board conducted closed‑session review and made public motions without naming students to preserve privacy.
The Forrest City School District Board of Education voted unanimously on two separate disciplinary recommendations that the superintendent and counsel presented in closed session. Attorneys and the superintendent advised the board to avoid entering identifying details into the public record to protect student privacy.
Before the votes, board‑counsel warned members: “I would recommend that you have no discussion about this unless you just, for some reason, absolutely feel that you have to. And that if whoever does make the motion, say, the student and not use this student's name because of the privacy rights that are involved here.” That admonition referenced federal student‑privacy rules.
For the first matter the superintendent recommended expulsion for the remainder of the 2025 school year; a board member moved to accept the recommendation, another seconded it, and a roll call recorded unanimous yes votes from Sadie Blackwell, Larry DeVazier, Roy Hamilton, Tarzan Lee, Annie Norman, Sandra Taylor and Yvette Whitby. The motion carried.
A second separate student discipline matter followed the same process. The superintendent recommended a suspension/expulsion period (the superintendent cited “40 school days” in the record) for the remainder of the 2025 school year; the board again voted unanimously to accept the recommendation. The board explicitly avoided naming either student in public minutes and recordings to preserve FERPA protections.
Both items were handled in a portion of the meeting that included an attorney explanation of privacy and record concerns; the board recorded roll‑call votes and approved the recommendations without public exposition of facts in order to preserve students’ confidentiality.
