The Conway School District could be facing litigation from the ACLU. On Tuesday Conway Superintendent, Jeff Collum told his staff members that he had received a letter of notice from the ACLU.
According to the email, Collum said the legal action could include requests for records or documents about student overnight trips, bathroom use, transgender students or a proposed policy the school board considered that would have banned the use of certain words or concepts in school.
On Tuesday night, a group called Save Our Schools had a meeting to help reshape public opinion of the school district in the wake of some controversies. Julie McDonald with the group told KATV one of their goals is to provide a better environment for all students and teachers.
“We really are all concerned about the environment overall in Conway schools right now," McDonald said.
Nearly 100 people full of parents, teachers, and community members met on Tuesday night at a local church. According to McDonald, they discussed tools on how to prevent bad policies and address the needs of the district. She also said they spoke about upcoming elections and included some information from ACLU about whose civil rights have been violated at public meetings.
“There is a big educational gap, that there’s been learning loss, we are not on par with similarly situated schools the way we want to be we are the city of colleges," McDonald said.
McDonald said the group met in response to the two policies the board voted on last month, which limited bathroom access and overnight trips based on gender. She said some teachers are fearful their jobs could be at risk based on recent district scrutiny.
“We have many teachers who reach out to us and let us know that they are scared or that they have been reprimanded for random things that are not in any policy," she said.
Maureen Skinner has a daughter at Conway High School, but also told KATV she's a therapist. Skinner said not only has her child seen the impact of the new policies at school, but she too has witnessed it firsthand with clients.
“Part of what I’m doing is trying to help some of these people not kill themselves because this is the impact that it’s having," Skinner said. "They’re being further marginalized and further ousted from their communities, school is supposed to be a safe place for all kids."
Skinner said she came to the meeting to be a voice for the voiceless.
“They feel discriminated against, they don’t feel safe at school, obviously it’s impacting performance," she said.
KATV called the district at 4:44 pm on Tuesday to get a statement shortly after the Save Our Schools meeting was over, but the office was closed at 4:30 pm. Five minutes later an email was sent to the district's communication specialist, but she has yet to respond.