The regular Prescott School Board meeting on the evening of April 9, 2026 included discussion of a letter from the Arkansas Legislative Joint Auditing Committee to the district notifying it of an investigation.  The letter, included in a report based on a June 2025 audit by the committee, had been distributed on social media, prompting speculation from commenters.

In the letter, Matt Fink, Deputy Legislative Auditor, tells the district, “We would like to communicate the following item that came to our attention during this audit. The purpose of such comment is to provide constructive feedback and guidance, in an effort to assist management to maintain a satisfactory level of compliance with the state constitution, laws and regulations, and to improve internal control. This matter was discussed previously with District officials during the course of our audit fieldwork and at the exit conference.”

The letter continues: “At the conclusion of this audit, Arkansas Legislative Audit and a law enforcement agency are in the process of investigating certain financial transactions of the district. We will issue a report concerning these transactions at the completion of the investigation.”

Superintendent Larry Smith summarized the letter, which is dated March 6th of this year and is provided on page ten of the report, and described the district’s response. “They are in the process of investigating certain financial transactions of the district,” Smith said, then told the board the district has filed a corrective action statement and summarized the plan’s wording: “We’ll fix whatever they find.” 

About which transactions the letter may be referring to, Smith said, “I don't know at this point, because they've not told me what they're investigating, so I don't really know what all of those things are.”

But the audit report itself, Smith said, found that “there are no misstatements … detected during the audit,” and he told the board the audit did not identify material weaknesses in internal control. Audits, he said, are done regularly of every public school in Arkansas. 

Smith said of the timeline for the outside review that he was given by the Arkansas Legislative Joint Auditing Committee in a phone call, “It could be a month. It could be six months.”  This is in part due to the committee stopping its audit work to be available to the legislature as it meets in fiscal session, Smith said.

During this discussion, school board member Cathie Janes stated the matter mentioned in the letter did not pertain to the time Angie Bryant was Prescott Public Schools superintendent.  Bryant was superintendent from April 14 to September 30 of 2025.  After the meeting Janes clarified that her comments should not be construed as accusations against any past or present school administrators.

At the beginning of the meeting, a resident of the district who is the mother of graduates from Prescott High spoke during public comment, urging unity and care for students and staff during a difficult time. “We are a good community. We are a good school. We are a great school,” she said.  

She told asked those in the room to pray to “protect our children, protect our faculty,” and asked people to "stop with the animosity."  She did not allude specifically to the letter or to an allegation involving a Prescott High staff member.  The allegation involving the staff member was not discussed by the superintendent or the school board members.

School Improvement Officer Mariela Garcia presented the students' winter ATLAS winter test results and compared scores from this past fall with those from this winter. “It is a state required test for students in Arkansas,” Garcia said. She explained the test covers English Language Arts, Math and Science and uses four performance levels to evaluate scores. “For students to demonstrate mastery, they would have to be scoring at least a level three or four,” she said.

Garcia reported on grade‑by‑grade shifts since an ATLAS test taken earlier in the school year. “In third grade, level three in the fall we had six percent of students showing that they were proficient on grade level standards, and that went up to 15,” she said. “In the Algebra group, we had in the fall eight percent of students scoring proficient, and that jumped up to 20 percent,” she said.  “Science was amazing,” Garcia said, noting large gains in scores in the third and fourth levels. 

She also named areas of concern in fifth-, sixth- and ninth-grade English Language Arts and over all grades in biology and geometry and said she would determine for these subjects whether teachers have the state‑approved materials and training they need.

The board next drew cards to set which seats receive six‑year terms and which receive four‑year terms.  Members picked in alphabetical order. 

As a result of the drawing, Jobeth Glass and Emily Jackson will receive six-year terms and Eric Gonzales a four-year term.  Gonzales is currently in a run-off with Denise Walker to see if he can retain his Zone 4 seat.  The run-off will be decided in the November general election. 

Larry Smith reviewed audit pages and year‑end numbers. He commented that the budget variance was about $61,532 to the favorable on a near $9 million budget and said, “We were pretty darn good.” 

The board voted to accept the audit report and to approve the district’s corrective‑action statement, then moved to the next item on the agenda.

The board approved the food‑service contract for 2026–27 after staff said the rebid had been done and the next year would run on the same terms. “It’s pretty much standard as it was no change we are in this,” an administrator in the audience said.  Summer pick‑up dates were set, starting May 29 and running until July 17.  Under the plan each student will receive five breakfasts and five lunches per pick‑up.

The board went into a second executive session (the first one pertained to a student disciplinary issue) on a personnel matter after the completion of its public agenda items.