Heather Holaway was scheduled to have surgery on December 7, 2017. However, effective December 1, 2017, Haas Hall Academy terminated her health insurance policy. Heather immediately expressed surprise to the school’s representative when she got the notice of termination from AR Benefits. She thought she was still employed by Haas Hall!

Heather Holaway presented Haas Hall’s Diversity & Partnership report at the AR State Board of Ed meeting 12–14–17, even though she wasn’t still employed by Haas Hall.

The school assured her she still had a job. They told her they were still paying her health insurance. Holaway kept doing her job as marketing director. She even volunteered to run the NWA School Choice Festival on January 20, 2018, in conjunction with Haas Hall superintendent Martin Schoppmeyer, as she had done the previous year.

Heather Holaway at the NWA School Choice Festival, 1–20–18

Turns out, though, Haas Hall never really fixed their paperwork. It still says Heather Holaway resigned in July, 2017.

Even if she did change her employment status in July, that doesn’t explain why Haas Hall issued Holaway an IRS form 1099 (instead of a W-2) for the entire 2017 tax year. In protest, Holaway fired off a letter to Schoppmeyer, and sent copies to every member of the Haas Hall school board. (Of course, their public board meeting minutes show no record of their discussing this complaint.)

According to these communications between Heather Holaway and the Rose Law Firm (on behalf of Haas Hall,) Haas Hall insisted Holaway had switched to “independent contractor” status in July, 2017. That’s certainly when the school stopped withholding payroll taxes on Holaway’s wages, anyway — and when they started handwriting her checks at a higher rate.

Where was Holaway’s W-2 for January through July?

And how had the school kept her on state benefits until December 31 if she wasn’t an employee?

Arkansas would never knowingly award state employee benefits to someone who wasn’t a public employee. To me, this reeks of fraud.

Haas Hall dug in its heels and refused to fix their tax filings for Heather Holaway. In order to get her W-2 — even just for the first half of 2017 — Holaway had to:

Play hardball with Mark Henry, of the Rose Law Firm, to “negotiate” a number for the settlement amount. (Spoiler alert: it’s the full amount she asked for, in back wages and reimbursement for things she paid on behalf of the school.) Allow the school to classify her as an “independent contractor” for the second half of 2017, even though she knew she had been collecting state benefits until the end of the year. Threaten to release a bunch of incriminating documents to the Arkansas Public School Resource Center (APSRC) and the Charter Authorizing Panel at the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE.)

I, for one, would like to know what those documents were. Heather Holaway started negotiating for her money back in January, when she wanted Schoppmeyer to sign an actual, paper contract for their ongoing “independent contractor” relationship. When that didn’t work, she sent Haas Hall an invoice. Although Haas Hall dithered and refused for four months, they certainly jumped into action immediately — and met every one of her demands — as soon as she wrote to Tripp Walter at the APSRC:

This situation will undoubtedly cause your team quite a few headaches, as I am certain that once these files are turned over, the Board of Education will want to do immediate investigations of the school’s unethical admissions (lottery) and human resources practices over recent years. I recognize that the purpose of the APSRC is to protect the interests of the school, not the Schoppmeyer family, so I am reaching out to let you know that if I again receive no response, and have to send my files to the Charter Offices this week, I will forward you a copy as well so that your team will be able to mount a proper defense that protects the integrity of Haas Hall Academy going forward. I assure you I understand the significant impact that the proof of fraudulent and frankly illegal activity being committed by the staff of Haas Hall Academy will be a devastating problem for the school in the near future, and I am very sad that it has come to this.

Dang, girl. I hope you finally got the surgery you needed.