Ashdown Superintendent Suspended After Audit Findings

ASHDOWN, Ark. — Ashdown School District Superintendent Robert Poole has been suspended following an Arkansas Legislative Audit that found $34,037 in improper or questioned spending during his final years leading the Prescott School District.

Ashdown PR Director Ronda Pounds confirmed the suspension Tuesday but said the district would not comment further because it is a personnel matter. Chris Scarborough will serve as interim superintendent.

The audit covers July 2022 through June 2025 and has been referred to the Eighth North Judicial District prosecutor and the Arkansas attorney general. A special prosecutor has been appointed.

Poole is not named in the report, but auditors identified a Prescott superintendent who was placed on leave in April 2025 and resigned in June. Poole led Prescott from 2010 until becoming Ashdown superintendent July 1, 2025.

Among the audit findings were more than $10,000 in golf-related purchases and fees, $7,160 in clothing and shoes, more than $5,000 in Apple products, and thousands more in umpire equipment, baseball gear and credit card purchases without receipts.

Auditors also questioned an $11,654 golf cart charged to a $12.3 million elementary school construction project, missing district equipment and unaccounted-for grant-funded items.

The report also found that gate receipts from five spring 2025 baseball and softball games were never deposited, while up to $2,610 from a Hall of Fame banquet was unaccounted for.

The former superintendent has repaid $1,229, according to the audit.

Prescott Superintendent Larry Smith said the district will implement all recommendations made by the auditors.