RESOLUTION OF THE WYNNE BOARD OF EDUCATION
WHEREAS the Wynne Board of Education (hereinafter, “the Board”) has faithfully
served all school-age children residing within the Wynne Arkansas School District for
many years; and
WHEREAS the Board has demonstrated a strong commitment to meeting the
educational needs of exceptional students by developing innovative and effective
programs, procedures, and strategies for serving exceptional students; and
WHEREAS the Board as well as members of its administrative staff, instructional staff,
and support staff remain firmly committed to meeting both the spirit and the letter of their
legal obligations to students with disabilities; and
WHEREAS the body of laws and regulations which have been developed for the
salutary purpose of recognizing and protecting the rights of disabled students have been
interpreted and applied to extend the protection of the law to various forms of criminal
conduct, antisocial behavior, and other forms of misconduct that are fundamentally
antithetical to and incompatible with a public school educational experience and the
public school environment; and
WHEREAS said laws, regulations, and interpretations thereof have created a climate
in which students, teachers, and other school employees have been subjected to
physical attack, threats of attack, deviant behavior, verbal abuse, classroom disruption,
and willful defiance at the hands of students ostensibly manifesting behavioral
disabilities; and
WHEREAS the state of the law has rendered educators and administrators virtually
powerless to respond effectively to such misconduct by all but exempting such
outrageous behavior from otherwise applicable student disciplinary codes and
standards, and by exposing boards of education and their employees to threats of civil
liability entailing exorbitant demands for monetary damages, “compensatory” services,
and attorneys fees; and
WHEREAS the effect of the law as it has been interpreted and applied has been to
disserve the very students it was intented to assist;
(a) by punishing and demoralizing the teachers, principals, and school
employees who have dedicated their professional careers to meeting the
needs of such students;
(b) by forcing the diversion and disproportionate allocation of scarce human
and financial resources from students with bona fide disabilities to the
provision of additional supervision, “treatment,” and other services for
incorrigibly dangerous, disruptive, and defiant students;
(c) by encouraging disrespect for and violation of rules, authority, behavioral
norms, and basic societal expectations;
(d) by trivializing traditional notions of individual responsibility and
accountability for misconduct;
(e) by discounting the virtues of discipline and self-control;
(f) by ascribing virtually all antisocial behavior to one or more of an everexpanding roster of behavioral disorders, syndromes, or other
purportedly disabling conditions;
(g) by fostering public resentment toward the genuinely disabled by creating
a behavioral double standard for those who would explain, justify, and
excuse intolerable conduct in the name of a behavioral disability;
and
WHEREAS the conditions and circumstances described above threaten to undermine
the ability of boards of education to meet their educational obligations to all students,
including students with disabilities, and may ultimately impair their ability to provide a full
measure of educational opportunity to any student; and
WHEREAS a reversal in the trend of the law and its adverse effect on public education
is not likely in the absence of decisive and unambiguous legislative action;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Wynne Board of Education as follows:
1. That the Board petition the United States Congress through the member of
the United States Senate from the State of Arkansas, through members of the House of
Representatives serving the Wynne District, and by other appropriate means to forthwith
sponsor and aggressively pursue enactment of legislation which will recognize and
restore the right and authority of public school officials throughout the country to apply
to all students any and every lawful disciplinary measure and prerogative that would
otherwise be available to them, notwithstanding the existence or alleged existence of any
asserted behavioral condition, disorder, or disability on the part of an offending student;
2. That copies of this resolution and any petition developed as a
result thereof be circulated to the Arkansas School Board Association, the National
School Board Association, the Arkansas State Board of Education, the Arkansas
Association of School Administrators, the state of Arkansas, local news media, and other
organizations and individuals with an interest in public education, together with an
invitation to said boards, agencies, organizations, and individuals to adopt same and to
join with this Board in its efforts to achieve the objectives set forth herein.
BE IT FURTHER AND FINALLY RESOLVED that the Wynne Board of Education
expressly reaffirms and rededicates itself to meeting the educational needs of students
with disabilities and to providing the best possible education to all students it serves.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED this _______ day of ______________, 19_____.
WYNNE BOARD OF EDUCATION
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Randal Caldwell, President
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Carol Brown, Vice President
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Gene Boeckmann, Secretary
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John Smith, Member
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Kenneth Witcher, Member
Attest
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Darrell Smith, Superintendent