On August 10th, the Pocahontas County Board of Education’s (BOE) special meeting was held to conduct a personnel hearing on the superintendent’s recommendation to suspend Joanna Burt Kinderman for 30 days without pay as a disciplinary action. Burt-Kinderman was represented by local attorney Michael Doss, while Superintendent Dr. Leatha Williams and the school district were represented by Attorney Trey Marrone of the law firm, Bowels Rice, LLP. The hearing was open to the public at Burt-Kinderman’s request, and about 25 members of the public attended it. This, according to Attorney Marrone, violated state policy and a directive by the superintendent. Investigator Kingery testified, summarizing witness statements, in which some people said Burt-Kinderman did use her respected position and expertise to pressure that the transcript changes be made.