BENTONVILLE -- The School District's search for West High School's first principal has come down to two internal candidates.
Jonathon Guthrie and Jack Loyd are the two finalists for the job, according to Michael Poore, district superintendent.
Guthrie has been Lincoln Junior High School's principal since 2010. He previously served as an assistant principal at Washington Junior High School and at a middle school in Mauldin, S.C., for a combined 10 years. Guthrie began his career as a math teacher in South Carolina in 1994, according to his resume.
Loyd has been an assistant principal at Bentonville High School since 2005. Before that he was an assistant principal at Washington Junior High for five years. Loyd also was interim principal for the spring semester last year at Fulbright Junior High. He began his career as a machine tool technology teacher in Fort Smith in 1988, according to his resume.
Poore called the two finalists "exceptional" in his weekly written report to the School Board on Friday. He said he plans to bring both men in for interviews after this week's spring break.
"This is a tight call as both leaders are great men, quality school leaders and had real vision for where we need to head," Poore wrote.
Thirty people from eight states applied for the principal's job. Guthrie and Loyd were two of the three internal candidates who applied. Nine people were selected for interviews earlier this month with two committees.
The principal will begin work July 1. West High School, under construction on Gamble Road in Centerton, is scheduled to open in August 2016 with a capacity of 2,250 students.
NW News on 03/24/2015