Pleasant Grove Independent School District's Board of Trustees will meet in regular session at 5:30 this afternoon to consider additional funds for technology upgrades, plumbing bids, a package bid for earth work, a project bid for the middle school track and the continuation of a food service contract with Chartwell's.
In addition, the board will hold a Level 3 grievance hearing to hear a complaint by Amanda Bowers, the parent of a middle-school student whose email account was used on Feb. 8 to send a photo of the KKK to two black students. Bowers said her daughter logged in for the other students but did not send the email herself. She received three days of out-of-school suspension and an additional seven days of in-school suspension, which was reduced to five days for good behavior.
In the March 8 Level 1 grievance hearing and the March 14 Level 2 grievance hearing, Bowers has alleged that the additional suspension was given because she asked questions about the incident. In her complaint, she alleges the district denied her access to administration, violated her daughter's civil rights and did not follow policies and procedures. She has also contacted the Texas Education Association, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. TEA has referred her complaint to the Division of Governance and Investigations Unit, according to a March 26 letter they sent to Bowers. She says she has also heard back from the Office for Civil Rights, but they have not taken any action.
Following the hearing, the board can uphold the Level Two ruling, direct Superintendent Chad Pirtle to take different action or do nothing and allow the Level Two decision to stand. In both the Level 1 and Level 2 hearings, the district has stood by administrators' actions and discipline of Bowers' daughter, who maintains her innocence in the incident.
The meeting will be held in the Central Services, 8500 N. Kings Highway, Texarkana, Texas.