“Kendall Burton was a great kid,” said Williams, who’s built close relationships with all of his players, but especially this affable teen. “I would let him date my daughter, you know, that type of kid. I always tell everybody he was the coach’s son.”
Shaketa Simmons, Burton’s mother, said Kendall felt the same way: “He loved Coach Williams. He would always say, ‘Coach Williams got our back. He would do anything for us.’”
Williams, who understands the grinding poverty that can lead some students astray, has always encouraged his players not to squander the opportunity they’ve earned through sports. But he had struggled in recent weeks to relate that message: Burton was a clean-cut kid who stayed out of trouble and still, his future was taken from him.
Burton’s death devastated the coach and now he found himself summoning the young man, who he picked up every morning before practice, to help keep his teammates on track amid their sorrow.
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“I tell them, ‘You have to carry on, fight hard to be that person you are because your friend is looking at you,’” Williams said. “‘He’s clapping from heaven.’”
Boys to men
A former Pine Bluff football player himself, Willliams, now 40, helped lead some of the most storied teams in the country, including the one belonging to Duncanville High School just outside Dallas: They won back-to-back state championships in the last two years and were ranked 10th in the nation.
But no matter where he worked, he kept an eye on his football roots. He knew Pine Bluff players had talent, but somehow that wasn’t translating into college offers. Williams eventually discovered why: Some didn’t have the grades and none got the exposure they deserved.
Upon taking the coaching job in 2022, Williams immediately installed an academic-focused program: Players would practice in the morning and sit for study hall and tutoring in the afternoon. They would also participate in a character-building program — another of the coach’s initiatives — where they might learn to tie a tie or talk to a judge to better understand the criminal justice system.
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“From Day One, I knew I needed to do something to try to change their grades,” Williams said.
Coach Williams is a godsend and he has a heart for children. Not just sports. I said children. And under his tutelage, they become men.
– Pine Bluff High Principal Ronnieus Thompson
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For the sophomores, juniors and seniors, he built each player’s social media profile on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and alerted the recruiters he’s worked with through the years.
“Once I started sending those things out, it started drawing attention to a lot of the great athletes we have,” he said.
Jonathan Goins Jr., points to supporters during a celebration of his signing a national letter of intent to play football at the college level. (Jo Napolitano/The 74)
Among them: Jonathan Goins Jr., 17, and Landon Holcomb, 18, who both committed to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff at the Feb. 7 signing. Chandler Laurent, 18, and who has earned a 4.1 GPA, will play for Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas. Makyrin Goodwin, also 18, is headed to Henderson State University in Arkadelphia. All received full or partial athletic or academic scholarships.
Goodwin, who plays both right and left tackle — really anything on the offensive line, is looking forward to the next chapter of his life and thanked his coach for the progress he’s made until now.
“He is the best coach I ever had,” Goodwin said of Williams. “He makes sure we do good in school and everything. He’ll just call and check on you sometimes.”
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Williams himself was an excellent running back — potential NFL material — but didn’t end up making it that far, in part, he said, because his high school coaches, whom he adored, weren’t focused on recruiting. So, he said, he did not have a shot at a big-time college. Instead, he attended Paul Quinn College in Dallas on a partial football scholarship.
And that’s why, when he became a coach himself, he prioritized recruiting, getting his players on the right schools’ radar and making sure they had the grades to be NCAA eligible, which for Division I schools means a GPA of 2.3 or higher in their core classes and 2.2 or better for Division II.
Principal Ronnieus Thompson appreciates Williams’s hard-earned connections and partnerships with colleges and universities. Four of his senior players have been given scholarship offers at DI colleges this school year, including Goins and Holcomb.
Two others penned national letters of intent in December — both to the highly regarded University of Missouri, part of the powerhouse Southeastern Conference and ranked 8th in the country this year. Headed to Mizzou are Courtney Crutchfield, a four-star athlete who was the No. 1 high school football player in the state and number 11th in the nation under Williams’s leadership, and three-star athlete, Austyn Dendy, 17, who is ranked fourth in Arkansas.
Bringing the total headed to college to eight, cornerback Perrea Little signed with DIII Centenary College of Louisiana just this week and wide receiver Marquez Brentley Jr. accepted an academic scholarship to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
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Pine Bluff High Principal Ronnieus Thompson
“Coach Williams is a godsend and he has a heart for children,” Thompson said. “Not just sports. I said children. And under his tutelage, they become men.”
‘The person I am today’
The coach describes himself as strict. He doesn’t mind adding some bass to his voice to deliver a point on the field and players who arrive late to 6 a.m. practice will find themselves pushing a 45-pound plate 100 yards before moving on to exhaustive drills.
In his softer moments, he talks to them about family trouble, girl problems and how they sometimes can’t wash their clothes at home because the power has been cut off. In that case, Williams invites them to use the school’s washer and dryer.
“I’ve been poor,” he tells them. “I know how it feels to wake up and there’s roaches in your food or maggots in your rice: You haven’t been through anything that I haven’t been through. But success comes from being a powerful young man and being able to fight through adversity.”
Sometimes, when Williams was a young boy, his own family would lose electricity and the three kids and their parents would all sleep together in the same room to keep warm. And it wasn’t uncommon for him to look out the window, he said, to see his parents picking up cans on the side of the road to afford a 49-cent pack of hot dogs.
“If we were going to play baseball, my mom would go out and search every thrift store to try to find us a glove,” he said. “It may have been old but, you know, we made the best out of it. It helped make me into the person I am today.”
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Emmanuel Hudson, 16, and a defensive tackle, said the coach always comes through for him. He’s given the teen food when he’s hungry and, most recently, a dress shirt for a formal school event: Many come from a small collection Williams keeps in his office in case such a need arises.
“He’s just been so good in my life,” Hudson said. “Like a stepfather, for real.”
It’s the type of support that’s helped him through the loss of his friend, Kendall Burton, who was shot dead Jan. 12 at an intersection close to his grandmother’s house.
The investigation into Burton’s death remains open and Pine Bluff police did not respond to a request last week for an update. Earlier, department spokesman David DeFoor told The 74 police had a suspect in mind but not enough evidence to make an arrest. The department was asking for the public’s help, offering up to a $10,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction.
Simmons credits the entire team for being such a positive part of her son’s life, which was marked by a grave struggle long before he was gunned down: A growth on Burton’s neck when he was 8 was diagnosed as Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
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“Those are his brothers,” Simmons said of his fellow players.
Shaketa Simmons holds a pillow emblazoned with images of her son, Kendall, who was killed Jan. 12. (Jo Napolitano/The 74)
Sitting in her son’s bedroom, which she’s turned into a memorial, his pictures and jerseys hung up on the walls, Simmons said it’s the family’s deep sense of faith that she leans on now that her son is gone. As a child battling cancer, Burton would tell his mother not to worry, that, “God got me.”
“When I think about my boy … I just want to cry, I just want to let loose,” she said. “But most of the time I can’t because the spirit comes to me and says, ‘No, I got Kendall.’ When I hear that, I’m like, ‘OK, OK, I hear you.’”
The new model students
Williams’s father, Micheal Sr., a minister of music, drove a school bus for Pine Bluff for 20 years and had numerous jobs after that. He eventually became a preacher who also sang and played piano at a local church and nearby prison. At one point, he owned a used car lot in Pine Bluff, but his generosity undermined his efforts: A customer with a particularly heart-wrenching story might walk away with a free vehicle, his son said.
His father never saw Williams play when he was younger because he was always working. Now, he never misses a game: He broadcasts them on Facebook. Williams’s mother, Pamela, who became a nurse, remains her son’s biggest fan. Hers is often the loudest voice cheering from the stands. And her son’s spare supply of dress shirts and the like often comes from her, the result of Pamela Williams regularly bargain hunting for those in need.
“She taught me the gift of giving,” Williams said. “They both did.”
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It was that sense of wanting to give back and improve the lives and prospects of young people that drew him home. It’s a notion shared by many: Williams arrived in a city already working hard to bring about positive change.
It opened an enviable $12 million aquatic center in 2019 and has plans to revitalize long-neglected parts of the community, including historic buildings. But perhaps the most life-changing moment for Pine Bluff students will come when the district breaks ground on a new, state-of-the-art high school, replacing a decades-old facility with roofing so decrepit that it rains inside classrooms and hallways.
“The right work is being done,” said Thompson, the principal. “Have we made it all the way there? Of course not. But we are taking those steps in the right direction.”
Thompson credits the coach for being a critical part of this effort, adding that his reach extends well beyond the field: When students struggle in other areas of their life, he’ll call upon their teachers and counselors for help.
“We don’t have trouble with the athletes anymore,” Thompson said. “They used to be some of the biggest knuckleheads. Now, they’re model students and that’s the way it should be. I’m glad that he’s here.”
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Chandler Laurent, 18, who boasts a 4.1 GPA, signed with Hendrix College. (Jo Napolitano/The 74)
Micah Holmstrom, a 10th- and 12th-grade English teacher, said Williams’s mandatory study hall has allowed him to chase down students who were missing assignments or who needed extra help.
“I knew exactly where they were,” Holmstrom said, adding Williams’s emphasis on academics made his work even easier. “Those guys are so comfortable with him and it’s in a place that’s a familiar environment: They’re more willing to sit and hack through some of the difficult stuff than in class.”
Frank Lyles, a math teacher, uses the time to teach kids about complex topics they didn’t understand in class, including parabolas, a U-shape curve whose contours students can find in their own game: Every ball they throw follows a similar arc, illustrating his lesson.
Parents, too, credit Williams for helping their children stay focused. Nicole Dendy, whose son, Austyn, will pursue veterinary studies at Mizzou, said football is her son’s drive.
“Football motivates him,” she said. “So, whatever it takes to get him on the field, that’s what he’s going to do.”
Hudson, the defensive tackle, helped prepare the gymnasium for the college signing day in Februrary. He was overjoyed to see older players recognized for their athletic and academic success.
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“Coach Will and the other coaching staff have been hard on us to put the work in,” he said. “He said, from Day One, whatever we want, we’ve got to earn. So, I feel like we earned it and that’s why we got it.”
Students and staff inflate the Fighting Zebra mascot ahead of a college signing ceremony at Pine Bluff High School. (Jo Napolitano/The 74)
This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox.
Arkansas students’ end-of-year test scores improved across grade levels and subject areas, state officials said Thurday, but most students still aren’t meeting performance targets.
Results from the Arkansas Teaching and Learning Assessment System exam, known as ATLAS, showed students’ overall proficiency rose from 36.9% in 2025 to 42.2% in 2026, according to an executive summary of the scores.
The number of students performing at the lowest level across all subjects declined from 27.3% in 2025 to 23.1% in 2026, according to the report.
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This is only the third year that Arkansas has used the ATLAS test, limiting direct comparisons to years before 2024. State Education Secretary Jacob Oliva has said the state shifted to ATLAS from its previous end-of-year test, the ACT Aspire, to better align measurement of student performance with Arkansas’ academic standards.
“The 2026 ATLAS exam scores confirm what we’re hearing from educators across the Natural State: Arkansas LEARNS is working and students across Arkansas are doing better because of it,” Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a news release.
Sanders’ signature legislative package on education, the LEARNS Act, mandated the state move to a new student test and adopt a new grading system for schools and districts. The state offers grants for districts to administer high-impact tutoring, and students who struggle to read can also qualify for supplemental literacy tutoring.
Under LEARNS, third grade students who don’t read at grade level will be held back, though school districts also may give students good-cause exemptions from the requirement. Early numbers suggest that large numbers of third graders in some districts will be promoted to fourth grade even though they fell short of the literacy standards.
LEARNS also includes the Educational Freedom Account program, which significantly expanded state taxpayer funding of student tuition and other costs related to private schools and homeschooling. Over 44,000 students received an Educational Freedom Account in the 2025-26 school year, the first year participation was open to all K-12 students.
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Participants in the school choice program are not required to take the ATLAS but still must take a national, norm-referenced test each year.
In the 2024-25 school year, Arkansas students showed slight increases in subject mastery overall, with the most notable increases in math and science.
The results come roughly a month after the release of the 2026 Education Scorecard, a cross-state analysis that says schools across the nation — including Arkansas — are in the midst of a “learning recession” that began in 2013. Math and reading performance declined over the past decade in most places, according to that report. Though the longer-term trend is downward nationally, the Education Scorecard says student performance has partly rebounded from the damage done by COVID-19.
As of 2024, Arkansas’ math and reading scores continued to lag national averages on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a test often called the Nation’s Report Card.
Students who take ATLAS are classified into one of four performance levels, with level four being the highest. Level three indicates mastery of grade-level content, according to the report released Thursday. It describes each level as follows:
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Level 4: Students demonstrate an advanced understanding of the knowledge and skills required of the grade-level standards. These students are on track for career and college, and demonstrate readiness for advanced and accelerated content at the next grade/course.
Level 3: Students demonstrate a proficient understanding of knowledge and skills and show mastery of grade-level standards. These students are on track for career and college, and demonstrate readiness for content at the next grade/course.
Level 2: Students demonstrate a basic understanding of knowledge and skills required of the grade-level standards and personalized support and intervention may be needed to access content taught in the next grade/course.
Level 1: Students demonstrate limited understanding of knowledge and skills required of the grade-level standards and will require significant support/scaffolding and intervention to access content taught at the next grade/course.
Check back for updates.
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With support from the ADG Community Journalism Project, LEARNS reporter Josh Snyder covers the impact of the law on the K-12 education system across the state, and its effect on teachers, students, parents and communities. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette maintains full editorial control over this article and all other coverage. View all LEARNS Act coverage at arkansasonline.com/learns
Josh Snyder
jsnyder@adgnewsroom.com
Josh Snyder reports on how the state LEARNS Act has changed public education, including on the local level. His position is funded by the ADG Community Journalism Project. A Phoenix native and graduate of the Clinton School of Public Service, Josh has worked for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2018.
LITTLE ROCK, AR (KATV) — A North Little Rock pathology lab and several of its current and former owners are paying $30 million to settle federal allegations that the company used unlawful kickbacks and ordered testing that wasn’t medically necessary.
Advanced Pathology Solutions PLLC, formerly known as Advanced Pathology Solutions LLC, and its management services organization, APS MSO LLC — together referred to as APS — agreed to the settlement with the United States. The agreement also includes current and former owners Kevin Hannah, Donell Burkett and Daniel Hunter Pledger.
“Healthcare referrals must be based on the best decision for patients, not the influence of kickbacks,” said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This settlement demonstrates the Department’s commitment to hold accountable both corporations and individuals who profit from improper kickback arrangements and who burden federal healthcare programs with claims for medically unnecessary services.”
The settlement resolves allegations laid out in a federal complaint filed April 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. The United States alleged that from 2015 through July 2022, APS and its owners violated the False Claims Act by providing unlawful kickbacks to gastroenterology practices to induce referrals of pathology testing to APS, resulting in false claims to federal health care programs.
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According to the complaint, APS and its owners developed a business model that involved setting up and managing limited-purpose laboratories — known as “lean labs” — inside gastroenterology practices nationwide. Those practices could bill for preparing and staining biopsy specimen slides, while the slides were then shipped to APS’s lab in North Little Rock for pathologist interpretation and review. Federal officials alleged that in exchange for various benefits furnished by APS, the gastroenterology practices agreed to exclusively refer their patients to APS, creating improper financial relationships that amounted to kickbacks.
“Fraud against the taxpayer is rampant and insidious and when discovered must be held accountable. Engineering kickbacks to result in unnecessary medical testing which is then paid for by the United States taxpayer is unacceptable and once discovered as with APS, will result in lengthy investigation and review, and ultimately a significant settlement amount as demonstrated by this settlement,” said U.S. Attorney Jonathan D. Ross for the Eastern District of Arkansas. “Our office will continue to work with Main Justice to detect and deter any similar schemes and then hold the wrongdoers accountable under the law.”
The United States also alleged APS and its owners submitted — and caused the submission of — claims to federal health care programs for unnecessary testing. Specifically, the government said APS directed lean lab personnel to automatically order certain special tests, called “special stains,” before a pathologist reviewed a routine test, a hematoxylin and eosin stain, to determine whether additional testing was needed. The complaint alleged the protocol led to special stains that were not medically reasonable and necessary and were ineligible for Medicare coverage or reimbursement. In many cases, the government said APS also ordered additional “confirmatory” immunohistochemical testing that was not medically necessary.
“Kickbacks and medically unnecessary testing don’t just violate the law — they endanger patients and drain critical federal health care funds,” said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “Schemes like this erode trust in the health care system and divert resources away from those who truly need care. HHSOIG will move swiftly and aggressively with our law enforcement partners to uncover these abuses and hold every responsible party accountable.”
In addition to the allegations in the April 8 complaint, the settlement also resolves claims that from Nov. 1, 2018, to Nov. 30, 2020, APS and CEO Kevin Hannah knowingly and willfully provided unlawful kickbacks to Richard Sorgnard through volume-based commission payments to induce referrals for epidermal nerve fiber density testing. The United States contends APS paid Sorgnard 4% of all payments APS collected for ENFD testing he referred, and that the arrangement violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and resulted in false claims under the False Claims Act. Sorgnard previously entered into a settlement with the government to resolve related claims.
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“Any entity that participates in health care and reaps illicit profits by taking advantage of and violating the trust given by Medicare and Medicaid programs must be held accountable,” said U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti for the Western District of Pennsylvania. “This settlement is notice that such illegal conduct simply will not be tolerated.”
As part of the resolution, APS entered into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. The agreement requires APS to implement auditing and accountability provisions, including a compliance program, training and education requirements, and a review of physician referral relationships.
The complaint followed three lawsuits originally filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private parties to sue on behalf of the United States and potentially receive a portion of the recovery. The consolidated cases are United States ex rel. Watkins v. Advanced Pathology Solutions, No. 4:20-cv-1110 (E.D. Ark.); United States ex rel. Aucoin v. Advanced Pathology Solutions, No. 4:21-cv-277 (E.D. Ark.); and United States ex rel. Paulsen v. Advanced Pathology Solutions, LLC, No. 3:22-cv-00652-JPG (E.D. Ark.).
The settlement comes after a $4.75 million settlement reached earlier this year with Atlanta Gastroenterology Associates, a former APS client.
The Justice Department’s Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas are handling the matter, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The matter was handled by Fraud Section attorneys Evan Ballan, Jeff McSorley and Kelley Hauser, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie Goss Dempsey for the Eastern District of Arkansas, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Skirtich for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
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Officials also pointed to broader federal efforts to combat health care fraud, noting that tips about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement can be reported to HHS at 800-HHS-TIPS (800-447-8477).
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – New updates from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture are now giving Arkansas residents an option to take preventative action against New World Screwworm.
Though no detections have been reported in Arkansas, livestock and animal owners can now submit suspected reports of New World Screwworm using the department’s online reporting form.
Users will be able to upload photos and location information. After submission, staff will follow up with instructions for next steps. Suspect cases may also be reported through a veterinarian or by calling the Arkansas Department of Agriculture.
Department officials recommend isolating affected animals and avoid moving any animals off the premises if New World Screwworm is suspected.
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The department also updated animal entry requirements in Arkansas, requiring all warm-blooded animals entering the state from an infested state to be accompanied by an Interstate Certificate of Veterinary Inspection dated within seven days of entry.
Officials said the certificate must include the statement: “All animals in shipment were inspected and found free of evidence of NWS infestation.”
The department encourages animal owners to watch for wounds that fail to heal, foul-smelling discharge, tissue damage or visible maggots in or around a wound.
Livestock animals are also encouraged to get a valid Premises Identification Number (PIN). It is required for interstate and intrastate animal movement from a New World Screwworm Infested Zone.
