By Suzi Parker
Jerrod Williams, the incoming Cleveland County School District’s superintendent, doesn’t arrive in Rison without controversy following him.
As superintendent for the Sheridan School District, Williams was suspended with pay on Dec. 13, 2021. On Feb. 7, 2022, a special called meeting was held after Williams’ supporters gathered enough signatures to require the meeting. The board listened to Williams’ supporters but adjourned with no action taken.
On Feb. 14, 2022, the Sheridan School Board voted unanimously to terminate his employment.
The reasons for Williams’ termination at Sheridan were never officially announced by the Sheridan School District or Williams.
However, as reported last year, several situations within the Sheridan School District occurred that upset parents. Those situations include attempting to expel students who were accused by another student of taking drugs on an athletics trip despite having no proof anything actually happened on the trip. Those students’ parents appealed the expulsions and had them successfully overturned by the Sheridan School Board just last year.
Another situation involved faculty reporting to Williams that a teacher was allegedly sending students inappropriate sexually based text messages, and/or making inappropriate sexual comments to students at school without any serious action being taken against them.
In 2020 Sheridan teacher David Brent Miller was arrested on charges of Computer Child Pornography and Pandering or Possessing Visual or Print Medium Depicting Sexually Explicit Conduct Involving a Child.
As Deltaplex reported then, numerous sources, including teachers, said they reported Miller multiple times for inappropriate actions with students with no action taken against him.
Miller was sentenced last year to ten years of probation and 60 days in jail following a plea deal.
Prior to arriving at the Sheridan School District, Williams was superintendent for the Bauxite School District, where he oversaw a Conversion District Public Charter School for the district.
Additionally, in 2012 when Williams was Bauxite’s superintendent, the parent of a 13-year-old girl alleged she had been raped Bauxite Middle School. The girl’s parent told Fox 16 that the student was still on campus and her daughter was afraid to attend school. Williams at the time said that the schools were safe.
“We monitor student activities, student movement, traffic flow, with as many resources as we possible [stet] have,” said Williams.
Williams is in negotiations this week with the Cleveland County school board about a one-year contract, according to a source.
