The director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts apologized this week to parents for the inclusion of a partisan event in the "ASMSA Today" email digest distributed by the school.
In an email to parents, a copy of which was obtained Friday by the newspaper, ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice said a few parents had expressed concerns over the inclusion of a campaign event, "Hot Springs Dorm Storm," hosted Friday at Kollective Coffee+Tea by the Facebook group Hayden Shamel for Arkansas, in the digest. Shamel is the Democratic candidate challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-District 4.
The digest item said "The Democratic Party of Arkansas is hosting a campaign event aimed at getting students engaged in the election next week in Hot Springs. The event will take place at Kollective this Friday at 5 p.m. This is the perfect opportunity to meet candidates running for office and volunteer if you're interested."
Alderdice said in the email to parents that "notice of a partisan political event was forwarded to students on behalf of a student club on Monday as part of the daily student activities email."
Alderdice told The Sentinel-Record on Friday it was his understanding the information about the event came from the ASMSA Young Democrats student organization.
"Shortly after its distribution, I informed the employee that the message was likely a violation of board policy regarding the use of state resources for partisan political activity," Alderdice said in the email to parents. "Unfortunately, the Registrar was not informed that it should be omitted from the next digest email for parents to prevent further error."
Alderdice said Friday the school's process for making students aware of events involves the club president sending information to the residence life coordinator for distribution, since students are not allowed to send out information directly or access listservs, the electronic mailing lists. The event, he said, was likely mistaken for a club meeting and included in the digest.
"What is perhaps not apparent to the parents is that at the end of the event on the digest it lists the name of the student who sent the initial information, so they may have thought this was sent out by an employee," he said.
Under state law, it is a misdemeanor for any public servant to devote any time or labor during usual office hours toward the campaign of any other candidate for office or for the nomination to any office.
It is also unlawful "to use any office or room furnished at public expense to distribute any letters, circulars, or other campaign materials unless such office or room is regularly used by members of the public for such purposes without regard to political affiliation."
It is also unlawful to use any item of personal property "provided with public funds" for campaign purposes.
Alderdice noted, as a similarity, that the Bryant High School Band withdrew this week from performing at a rally supporting U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-District 2.
"I think these things arise either in the lead up to an election or in high political activity," he said. "For students, I can understand that students aren't obligated to the same board policies as public employees. It's typically in the height of the legislative season that we have to remind our employees of the board policies."
Alderdice said that does not dismiss the fact it was a partisan message sent out on a public server.
In his email, Alderdice expressed to parents that ASMSA wants "our students, colleagues and families to be participants in elections and other forms of civic engagement; however, we must balance that desire with our obligations as a public institution."
Local on 09/22/2018