Little Rock attorney and businessman Baker Kurrus will now lead the state-controlled Little Rock School District, the Arkansas Board of Education announced at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Kurrus, 60, previously served on the Little Rock School Board from 1998 to 2010 and has been serving as the volunteer chairman of the districts financial advisory group.
The board met earlier Tuesday and voted to waive state laws in order to allow Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key to promote Kurrus to the position from his current volunteer role.
Key said he has hired Kurrus and the new leader will start tomorrow.
"It become apparent to me to place someone in leadership here in this district that can move us here together as a community in the right direction," Key said. "I've been asked many times about a national search, but we need someone who can bring Arkansas solutions and Little Rock solutions to an Arkansas district."
The new leader of the state's largest school district said his main focus will be team-building and morale.
Key said Kurrus' annual salary will total $150,000, even though the businessman originally offered to serve in the role with no pay.
The attorney replaces former Superintendent Dexter Suggs, who resigned April 20 after it was alleged that he plagiarized parts of his doctoral thesis. Key appointed the district's deputy superintendent, Marvin Burton, to Suggs position in the interim while the state searched for a new person to permanently fill that role.
The state Board of Education voted to take over the district Jan. 28 because of six of the district's 48 schools are categorized as being in academic distress, as well as concern to prepare for the loss of $37 million in desegregation aid. Suggs was appointed as the district's interim leader and Key served as his supervisor when he became commissioner in March.
See Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.