LITTLE ROCK — Local superintendents are heading back to school at Arkansas Tech University's Arkansas Center for Executive Leadership Superintendent Academy, which holds monthly meetings to provide educational leaders with new views on old problems.
Boyce Watkins, superintendent of the Atkins School District, joined the academy for professional development.
In October, the class took a field trip to New York City.
"We studied at Columbia University for two days, and we visited a Harlem elementary that had been reformed. It had been closed due to a variety of things, including violence, and the principal there came forth with a plan to reopen it," Watkins said.
"The trip broadened my perspective of education on how it is so similar across the United States, but we all have our specific set of problems," Watkins said.
Approaching and implementing change are the areas Watkins said he's looking at improving.
"I want to organize myself and the community to provide for our students an education that is not just comparable, but exceeds the requirements. There is no time in education to sit rest on your laurels," Watkins said.
Jimmy Cunningham, superintendent of the Danville School District, said he enjoyed talking witheducators from other states, as well as from other parts of Arkansas.
"It doesn't matter the geographic location or the poverty level in the district, schools everywhere face the same problems, and it is up to everyone in the district to work together to find solutions," Cunningham said.
Mike Mertens has been superintendent at Greenbrier for 10 years. He said he enjoys the collaboration provided through the superintendent academy.
"Sometimes it's just good to get together with your cohorts and brainstorm to come up with new and different ways of to deal with the problems we face every day," Mertens said.
"This is the day of accountability for achievement and accountability for managingmoney, so those are some of the things we talk about. When you get a group of superintendents together, those are the two things they are going to talk about," Mertens said.
Steve Singleton, executive director of the academy, said the inaugural class is a diverse and exciting group.
"They represent all parts of the state, from Blytheville to Nashville, Cotter to Junction City and all parts between. We have male and female, black and white and representatives from small, medium and large school districts. There are superintendents ranging in experience from two years to 32 years on the job," Singleton said.
Applicants to the academy must meet five criteria: be employed and currently serving as a superintendent of schools; have at least two years' experience as a school superintendent; be seen as a leader by his or her colleagues; have demonstrated that he is a student of his profession, and have the support of that particularschool board.
Mary Gunter, director of ATU's Center for Leadership and Learning, serves as the liaison between ATU and the academy.
"For Arkansas Tech University and the Center for Leadership and Learning, this is an excellent opportunity to continue to enhance our offerings to provide leadership development to the education community. Continued professional development is critical to meeting the educational needs of Arkansas," Gunter said.
The idea for the academy is based on the success of a similar program at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. After completing the program at Lamar, several Arkansas superintendents began exploring avenues to develop a similar program at ATU. The school received a $240,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to create and develop the academy program.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 73, 77 on 10/25/2007