State board suspends license of former Fouke superintendent over relationships with students

The Arkansas State Board of Education on Thursday suspended the educator license of former Fouke School District Superintendent James “Jim” Buie for three years after finding he kissed two male students, allowed a student to live in his home and spent more than $1,000 of his own money on gifts for students, including vehicles.

The board’s order, issued July 9 in Professional Licensure Standards Board Case No. 25-222, found Buie violated Standards 1 and 2 of the Code of Ethics for Arkansas Educators. The suspension will be followed by three years of probation, a $500 fine due within 90 days and required ethics coursework.

According to the board’s findings of fact, Buie kissed two different male students while saying “I love you,” allowed a student to live with him at his residence and used personal funds to give gifts to multiple students totaling more than $1,000, plus vehicles. The board also found Buie took and paid for multiple students’ trips to multiple locations, including a cruise on which he stayed in the same cabin as the students, and shared his personal contact information and Life360 location tracking with multiple students.

The order states Buie admits to having personal relationships with students but “does not acknowledge that he violated any ethical standards.” The board found he engaged in physical affection that could be perceived as inappropriate or confusing by the student or others witnessing the behavior, and that he should have known he violated the code of ethics.

Buie and his attorney appeared for an evidentiary hearing before the PLSB Ethics Hearing Subcommittee on April 15. The subcommittee found by a preponderance of the evidence that Buie violated the two standards and recommended the three-year suspension, probation and fine. Buie rejected the recommendation and asked the full State Board to review the case. He and his attorney presented oral arguments to the board Thursday before it upheld the sanction.

Standard 1 of the code requires that an educator maintain a professional relationship with each student, both in and outside the classroom. Standard 2 requires that an educator maintain competence regarding professional practice, including professional and ethical behavior and responsibilities relating to his or her organizational position.

Buie led the roughly 1,100-student Fouke district for nearly a decade. He remained with the district through the end of the 2025-26 school year, completing his contract as the ethics case moved through the state process. Mario Beshears was hired as his replacement and recently began leading the district.

The license action follows separate financial scrutiny of Buie’s spending on students. In August 2025, the Arkansas Legislative Joint Auditing Committee authorized an audit of the Fouke district and its school board over $3,655 in travel reimbursements paid to Buie that auditors said appeared constitutionally suspect and violated district policy. The reimbursements included $2,855 in mileage for about 16 trips to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock to visit a student injured in a vehicle accident and $800 in airfare and travel insurance for a trip Buie took with four students to visit the University of Tennessee Knoxville.

A deputy legislative auditor told the committee at the time that the report would be referred to a prosecuting attorney and the attorney general for review. School board President Brian Stout defended Buie before the committee, saying the actions in the report were the reason the board valued him as superintendent.

No criminal charges against Buie have been announced.

In addition to the suspension and fine, the state board ordered Buie to complete a series of ethics courses and trainings and to submit a written explanation of how he will apply each training to his professional practice. The order specifies that use of artificial intelligence in the written response is not allowed and will result in rejection of the submission. The explanation is due to the PLSB for approval within 30 days before the end of the suspension in order for the suspension to be lifted.

The order will remain permanently in Buie’s professional licensure file. License suspensions are reported to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification Clearinghouse, which member states can check when reviewing out-of-state license applications.

UPDATE, July 10: TXKtoday has received numerous questions from readers about the status of any criminal case involving Buie.

A deputy legislative auditor told the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee last summer that a report on travel reimbursements paid to Buie would be referred to a prosecuting attorney and the Arkansas attorney general for review.

Connie Mitchell, prosecuting attorney for the Eighth Judicial District South, which includes Miller County, declined to comment Friday.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office said Friday it is reviewing TXKtoday’s questions and expects to respond Monday.