Terri Bryant

Educator takes active role in school district, community

Terri Bryant believes she developed her leadership skills as a child. Whether it was singing or reciting Scripture in front of the congregation at church, or playing school with her siblings and young friends gathered in the basement of her childhood home, Bryant has never been afraid to take a leadership role.
Terri Bryant believes she developed her leadership skills as a child. Whether it was singing or reciting Scripture in front of the congregation at church, or playing school with her siblings and young friends gathered in the basement of her childhood home, Bryant has never been afraid to take a leadership role.

Terri Bryant believes she developed her leadership skills as a child. Whether it was singing or reciting Scripture in front of the congregation at church, or playing school with her siblings and young friends gathered in the basement of her childhood home, Bryant has never been afraid to take a leadership role.

“I always wanted to be a teacher,” she said recently during a visit in her office at Malvern High School. “I felt called to become a teacher. We used to play school when I was a kid — I was always the teacher.”

Bryant has 39 years of service in the field of education, with 27 of those years in administration. She is in her third year as director of school improvement/school dropout prevention for the Malvern School District. She served as principal of Wilson Intermediate School for 12 years, during which time she completed the Arkansas State Department of Education Master Principal Program.

“I bleed orange and black,” Bryant said with a smile, acknowledging all things in her office representing the Malvern Leopards. “It’s one way I exhibit passion, pride and excellence. Our mascot is the leopard, and our motto is, ‘Where passion, pride and excellence are expected.’”

The Malvern/Hot Spring County Chamber of Commerce honored Bryant with the Kristi Parker Norris Leadership Award during its chamber banquet in January. Bryant is a member of the chamber and was recently elected to serve as a board member.

“I was very humbled by this award,” Bryant said. “It’s very inspiring to know that I’ve received an award for being a good leader. It makes me want to do more. I love my job.

“I think you’re born with leadership skills. I started singing in church when I was 9 years old. My mom and dad had me in church when I was 2 weeks old. I learned early on to stand up in front of church and recite Scripture.”

Nikki Cranford Launius, executive director of the chamber, said, “Terri exemplifies the legacy of community leadership that was Kristi Parker Norris’ legacy.”

Bryant was born in Hot Springs, the daughter of Bernice Livers (pronounced Live-ers) and the late Ira Livers. Bryant has a brother, Robert Livers of Benton, and a sister, Lisa Livers Couch of South Carolina.

Terri has been married to Larry Bryant for 13 years. They attended the same high school.

“I was the cheerleader, and he was the jock,” Terri Bryant said with a smile. They reconnected at their 30th-year high school reunion.

Bryant graduated from Lake Hamilton High School in 1972. She attended Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Education degree in 1976 and a Master of Science in Education degree in 1979.

“I love helping kids,” Bryant said. “Every day, my goal is to help a child.

“My supervisor (Malvern School District Superintendent Brian Golden) is a visionary. He wanted me in this position. I was not wanting to do it, but he knew I would use my skills and work as a Christian. … We prayed about it. I took the position … to improve the schools, to reduce dropout and to improve the graduation rate.

“We are now at or above the state average for graduation rates and are slowly dropping our dropout rate.”

Bryant said that when she was principal of the intermediate school, she knew all of the students by name.

“That has helped me in this new job,” she said. “I know most of the students. I now promote Malvern schools. We have a great team. We have great schools. We have great kids.”

Bryant also serves as coordinator of school health and wellness for each school campus — Malvern Elementary School, Wilson Intermediate School, Malvern Middle School and Malvern High School. All four campuses received a national award in 2014 from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation — sponsored by the Clinton Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association — for improved health and wellness, nutrition, physical education and physical activity, and the district’s efforts to reduce childhood obesity and diabetes.

Bryant attended the national award conference in Washington, D.C., along with three district principals. Malvern schools received four of the five awards for Arkansas.

Bryant is a diligent grant writer for the Malvern School District.

“We have received grants for approximately $641,000 for the school district this past year,” she said. One of those grants was to build a school-based health center, which is scheduled to open in October.

“I am so excited about this health center,” Bryant said. “Kids will be able to receive health care right here. Attendance will improve.”

The school district has also received a Safe Schools Health Initiative Grant, which addresses such topics as improving the environment, maintaining a safe school, bullying, sexual health, teen pregnancy and obesity.

“All problems we have here,” Bryant said.

“I can relate to some of these problems,” Bryant said. “I was bullied as a child. I was always overweight; I am a stress eater. I was called tubby, chubby, lard butt, two-axe handles. But finally by the ninth grade, I lost weight, so much that they tried to enroll me as a new student.”

Bryant is also involved in several other community activities. She is the public relations director for the Hot Spring County Homeless Coalition and is a member of the Hot Spring County Healthy Coalition.

She was a member of the Hot Spring County Leadership Forum training class in 2014 and currently serves on the Leadership Forum’s steering committee.

“I don’t plan to retire anytime soon,” Bryant said with a laugh. “As long as I can see I am making a difference, I will be right here.”

Bryant said she has 13 titles with the Malvern School District. She also works with the Student of the Month program and participates in numerous college and career fairs to help recruit new teachers.

She volunteers every day after school as a safety guard.

“I’m the crossing guard. I wear the orange vest and stop traffic so children can cross at Main and Mill streets,” she said.

“I have lots of power,” she said, laughing again before adding, “I take it seriously. I have almost been hit three times myself. I walk in front of the kids.

“My goal is to build a skywalk across the road. I’ll find a grant. I also want to build a skate park in Malvern. We need to take care of our kids.”

When she is not working, Bryant enjoys reading and cooking.

“I love to cook,” she said. “I love to have people over for dinner. They call me Betty Crocker at school. I bring goodies for the teachers and administrators. I like to do for others.”

Although retirement does not seem to be in her immediate future, Bryant does have a bucket list.

“I want to go to Australia, Holland, Austria, the Holy Land, Switzerland — I’m a big Sound of Music girl,” she said.

She also wants to see the Dachau concentration camp in Germany.

“My knowledge of history is limited. I was in my 30s before I knew about the Holocaust. I’ve visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., twice. It’s hard to believe humans can be so cruel. We need to take care of people,” she said.

“The Lord is my strength,” said Bryant, a member of First Baptist Church in Malvern. “He is my salvation. I use my quiet time every morning to pray. You’ve got to be prayed up. I ask the Lord, ‘How can you use me today?’”

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