HOT SPRINGS -- Mike Hernandez, the deputy commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, was named the next superintendent of the Hot Springs School District on Wednesday.
Hot Springs School Board President Bob Freeman and board members Karen Reese, Debbie Ugbade and Steve White voted unanimously to hire Hernandez for a term of three years beginning July 1.
Superintendent Joyce Craft announced in February her plans to retire this year.
Hernandez; his wife, Susan, a nurse practitioner; and his oldest daughter, Sophie, were introduced to school officials and others in attendance Wednesday. They also have two younger daughters, Olivia and Josie.
Hernandez discussed the ways he and the Hot Springs district could be innovative, bold, supportive and "dream big."
"I want us to be the best," he said. "I want us to always be at the top of everybody's mind when it comes to education in Garland County."
Hernandez is a Fountain Lake graduate, and his wife graduated from Hot Springs. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
He earned a master's degree in educational leadership from Harding University in Searcy and recently defended his doctoral dissertation. Hernandez will walk in the graduation ceremony May 9 at Harding.
Hernandez began his teaching career in the Hot Springs and Fountain Lake districts. He served as the principal and athletic director at Western Yell County for one year before serving as superintendent at Danville for two years.
He said he continued to look for opportunities that could take him back to Hot Springs. The family has lived in Hot Springs since Hernandez was hired by the state Education Department two years ago.
Hernandez, 36, is paid an annual salary of $153,463 as deputy commissioner. He is one of two deputy commissioners at the Education Department, but both he and Tony Wood are leaving those posts.
Wood, who served as commissioner from July last year until this past March. returned to his former role as deputy after Gov. Asa Hutchinson nominated and the Arkansas Board of Education approved former state Sen. Johnny Key for the top job.
Wood recently accepted the job of superintendent of the new Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District.
The vacancy in the Education Department's deputy position, by law, will have to be filled by someone who has at least a master's degree and 10 years of teaching experience -- including five years of administrative experience.
Act 525 of the 2015 legislative session removed provisions from existing law that required the agency's commissioner to meet those qualifications. Instead, the new law sponsored by state Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, requires that either the commissioner or the deputy education commissioner meet those requirements.
Key, who has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, does not meet the requirements, making it necessary for the deputy commissioner to do so.
Information for this article was contributed by Cynthia Howell of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
State Desk on 05/01/2015