LITTLE ROCK — The North Little Rock School District’s plan to hire a new superintendent for the coming 2012-13 school year was in doubt Tuesday, the day after applications were due for the position now held by Ken Kirspel.
Dorothy Williams, president of the North Little Rock School Board, said Tuesday evening that a board consultant assisting in the search for a chief executive had expressed reservations to her about whether enough of the applicants have the characteristics the board previously identified as desirable in the candidates.
“We’re trying to do the best for the district, and we told the [search firm] what we wanted — our expectations,” Williams said. “The persons they have may be highly qualified, but as far as meeting our expectations — the recommendations that we made to the company — that would be the difference.”
Seventeen people applied, including former Little Rock School District Superintendent Linda Watson, a North Little Rock resident; Mary Guinn, a former Little Rock School District administrator and principal; and Bobby Acklin, a longtime North Little Rock School District assistant superintendent; and Beverly M. Ruthven, a former deputy superintendent in the Pulaski County Special School District.
Williams said Tuesday that she was “not taking anything from anybody who applied,” but that the board has to meet its expectations and be responsive to community members who also specified qualities they wanted in the new leader.
The board has a special meeting set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday on the superintendent search. Initially, the purpose of the meeting was to receive from the consultants their recommendations on three to five applicants to interview.
Williams said there are indications that the board may use the Thursday meeting, instead, to temporarily suspend the superintendent search and pick it up again in the fall.
“That is a board decision and not mine,” Williams said. “We like to do things as a team. We went into this as a team.”
McPherson & Jacobson Executive Recruiters, based in Omaha, Neb., is the company assisting the 9,000-student district in the search. The firm’s local representatives working with the North Little Rock district are Kieth Williams, who is superintendent of the Bald Knob School District, and retired educators Bobby Lester and Diana Julian.
The School Board voted in mid-March to seek a superintendent to succeed Kirspel, whose contract does not actually expire until June 30, 2013, which is when he has said he wants to retire.
Board members said they wanted to try to put a new superintendent in place right away, if possible, so the new leader would be on hand for the start of the district’s five-year, $266 million school building and renovation program rather than starting the job a year from now in the midst of the planning and construction.
Kirspel would remain a district employee, assisting the new superintendent and the board with the construction planning.
Board members and their consultants knew early on that starting a superintendent search in late spring for a start date in July could be difficult. Kieth Williams told the board in April that its timeline was the shortest with which he has ever dealt.
The applicants are:
Acklin, North Little Rock School District, assistant superintendent for desegregation.
M. Diane Cox, a director of school improvement in St. Louis, Mo.
Rhonda K. Dickey, North Little Rock School District director of secondary education.
Matthew J. Donaghy, superintendent of the Hazen School District.
Mary Ann Gemmill, a former administrator in Collier County, Fla.
Luis B. Gonzalez, superintendent in Central Dauphin, Penn.
Guinn, head of school, Esperanza Charter School in Metairie, La.,
James L. Henderson, chief of staff in Normandy Mo.
J. Daniel Jordan, interim superintendent in the Benton School District.
Andrea Mason Kelly, superintendent of the Gravette School District.
Quentin L. Messer, Jr., former consultant for the Boston Consulting Group in Illinois. Bradley Gene Reed, director of student services in the Bentonville School District.
Theresa R. Rouse, associate superintendent in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Ruthven of North Little Rock, consultant for the JBHM Group and former deputy superintendent in the Pulaski County Special School District.
Dawn Tirado Simpson of Maumelle, director of vocational education, Arkansas Career Training Institute.
Rena Taylor, curriculum specialist for the North Little Rock School District.
Watson of North Little Rock, consultant and former Little Rock School District superintendent
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 05/23/2012