Little Rock School District board denies ESOL partner Felicia Dodson’s grievance

The Little Rock School District Board of Directors on April 28, 2025, voted to deny a level-3 personnel grievance filed by Dr. Felicia Dodson, the district’s ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) secondary partner.

The grievance, presented at a public hearing, challenged district assignments that Dodson said effectively required her to teach students and perform record-keeping tasks she contends were outside her job’s essential functions. The board president moved and the board seconded a motion to deny the grievance; the transcript records a voice vote of “aye” and the chair announced the motion carried.

Why it matters: The case centered on how the district assigns ESOL duties when schools lack a dedicated English-language development (ELD) teacher. Dodson said she was reassigned to work directly with students and to complete detailed biweekly check-ins and spreadsheets that limited her ability to perform partner-level instructional coaching. The district argued those tasks were legitimate program needs and consistent with the ESOL secondary partner job description.

At the hearing, the district’s attorney, Kai M. Eddings, framed the administration’s position as background and compliance-based. “Back on September 24, [a] formal workplace complaint… was resolved,” Eddings said, and he described the November 19, 2024, letter that reassigned Dodson as an administrative action and the subsequent January 24, 2025, letter that reinstated her to the…