Little Rock School District board upholds two-day unpaid suspension for custodian after timesheet dispute

The Little Rock School District board on April 30, 2026 voted to accept the superintendent’s recommendation that custodian Tony Ashley receive a two-day unpaid suspension for repeated failures to complete and accurately record timesheets.

At a grievance hearing conducted by hearing officer Cody Keyes, Ashley, a Metro Career Technical Center custodial employee, argued he had not been shown a physical demonstration of the district timesheet and that changing procedures and perceived alterations to his entries led him to delay signing forms. “The rules kept changing as the year went on,” Ashley said, adding that supervisors told him his entries were wrong but did not always explain how to correct them.

District witnesses told a different story. Metropolitan Career Technical Center Principal Marvin Burton testified he repeatedly coached Ashley on how to complete the district custodial time sheet, documented a written warning on Aug. 26, 2025, and sent an Oct. 23 email memorializing the expectations. Burton said Ashley was directed to complete a February timesheet by Feb. 12 so approved vacation on Feb. 13 would be recorded; the submitted sheet lacked dates, totals and the vacation notation, Burton said. “He failed to complete and sign in his time sheet without being asked by me to do so,” Burton testified.

Head custodian James Robinson, who led a Jan. 22 custodial meeting about time-sheet procedures, said he monitors arrivals and had recorded several late arrivals by Ashley, telling the board that entries purporting earlier start times would not be truthful. Robinson testified he reviews custodians’ sheets daily and added that longstanding coaching had not produced consistent improvement.

Burton described the bookkeeper’s role in processing sheets: if an employee did not complete required fields, the payroll clerk would calculate hours based on scheduled time and note “time sheet not completed” so pay would not be withheld. Burton also said HR advised administrators to record hours the employee actually worked rather than subtract pay when forms were incomplete. He noted the district is moving toward an electronic time clock that had not yet been installed at the Metro site.

In closing, district counsel told the board the problem with Ashley persisted after prior discipline and training and recommended a two-day unpaid suspension as an appropriate, progressive-discipline step. After the board retired to executive session and returned (no action in session), a motion to accept the superintendent’s recommendation passed.

The board’s action implements the recommended two-day suspension without pay; during the hearing the district emphasized the suspension had not yet been administered and remains the outcome of this grievance process.