Growing up as the son of a small-town preacher, Mark Taylor said he’s used to moving. And as the oldest of five kids, he’s used to being in charge.
Both of those qualities should help the Hector High School principal and football coach when he transitions July 1 into the superintendent’s position.
“I’ve never met a stranger,” Taylor said. “I’ve always been comfortable in leadership roles, just because I assumed that at a fairly young age. A lot of those things combined prepared me for school leadership.”
The Hector School Board voted unanimously in April to hire Taylor for the position, said Brad Graves, school board president.
“I don’t know if he got promoted or demoted,” Graves said, joking.
Taylor, 45, who is in his first year as principal, came to the Hector School District four years ago as football coach and dean of students.
“I inherited a football program that was pretty down and out, and over those four years, we have been able to win 39 games — 39 and 9,” Taylor said. “That kind of turnaround, I think it caught a lot of people’s attention, so in my dean-of-students role, I was able to have a good rapport with kids and help the principal in the day-to-day dealing with students.”
Taylor was hired as high school principal after the position was vacated by Jordan Price, who took a principal’s position in Ozark.
“We’ve been able to accomplish some things,” Taylor said. “We’ve had a really good school year. Attendance is up; kids’ behavioral problems are down.”
Taylor is moving into the spot held by Superintendent Walt Davis, who accepted the top position in the Perryville School District. Taylor’s salary will be $85,000. He said applications are being accepted for high school principal, and interviews will begin soon.
Graves said Taylor was chosen for the superintendent’s job for several reasons.
“He’s just a great guy, great work ethic — the kind of guy you always look for,” Graves said. “He’s very honest. He’s going to tell you the truth, whether you want to hear it or not. He’s going to be straight about it, and he’s going to be polite. He’s a local guy, so he’s good with the community. We have a lot of faith in him.”
Davis gave Taylor his stamp of approval.
“I think Mark’s a hardworker, and he is energetic and enthusiastic,” Davis said. “Mark has been very successful as a high school football coach, and he’s done a super job as principal this past year. I have no doubt that Mr. Taylor will do a super job as superintendent of Hector.”
Davis helped lead the district out of fiscal distress, but enrollment has dropped from about 620 to 580 in the five years he has been there.
Taylor said enrollment is on the upswing — it was 612 a couple of weeks ago.
He said Davis has been a mentor to him, and he learned a lot watching Davis pull the district out of fiscal distress.
“Being able to go through that was a valuable experience for me,” Taylor said. The state Department of Education in November removed Hector from the fiscal-distress list.
“We feel like a lot of that is behind us,” Taylor said. “What we have to offer here is small class sizes, where teachers can really invest in our students. We have a 9.9-to-1 student-teacher ratio, so we have to take that and use it to our advantage.”
Although many educational programs are available to increase test scores, Taylor said “the No. 1 thing you can do is invest in a kid with your time and effort, and they will give you that back.”
Taylor is the product of small schools. He grew up in a musical family — two of his three brothers played instruments, as well as his sister — and he played tuba in the school band at Lamar High School. He was an athlete, too, and played baseball, basketball and football. He ticked off the schools he attended growing up when his family moved around as his father took church positions: Lamar for kindergarten, Mulberry, Union Christian Academy in Fort Smith, Atkins, then back to Lamar.
“I always told people being a preacher’s son prepared me for coaching, because when people got tired of you, they just got rid of you,” he said with a laugh.
Let there be no doubt — Taylor has nothing but respect for his parents.
“If they have an enemy in this world, I don’t know who it is. They are really two of the finest people you’d ever want to meet. The effect of people they’ve touched in this world will never be known until they get to heaven. The jerk in me comes from me; my servant’s heart comes from them,”
he said.
Taylor didn’t choose to follow in his father’s footsteps, though; Taylor knew from early on that he wanted to be a coach.
A graduate of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, his first job was at Arkansas Tech as an assistant football coach and compliance coordinator. He also has a master’s degree in educational leadership from Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
Taylor left his job at Arkansas Tech to take similar positions at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, and in 2003, he returned to Arkansas Tech for 18 months as assistant football coach and compliance officer.
“I went in and resigned when I found out my wife was expecting our first child. It’s really hard; [university coaches] work a lot of days. I wasn’t willing to sacrifice that for my family,” he said. “Being a father is the most important thing to me. I’ve always told every job I’m interviewing for, my family comes first, and no job will come before that.”
He and his wife, Brooke, a third-grade teacher at Hector Elementary School, have three children — ages 10, 7 and 4.
In the work world, coaching has been Taylor’s favorite role to date.
“Coaching is definitely a lot of fun — to watch kids have success and to watch them excel. There are so many lessons we teach in athletics.”
Taylor coached football and taught in the Danville School District, then spent six years coaching and teaching in the Dover School District before coming to Hector.
“Hector’s been a special place for us; we’ve been able to establish roots here,” he said. Taylor plays bass guitar in a church praise band, and he said he loves woodworking and working in his yard.
Making the move from coaching to principal to superintendent has happened quickly.
“I’ve had such a short time in administration. I think there are some similarities (with coaching), but I think there are some differences. In coaching, you’re worried about your immediate team. In administration, you have to worry about the whole picture.”
He said a strength in coaching is something he’ll have to guard against as superintendent.
“In coaching, you have to make a lot of split decisions; I’m really used to making quick decisions. I think in administration, you have to slow down, get all the facts. That’s something I’ll have to watch,” he said.
The only person who wasn’t exactly excited about Taylor’s promotion was his son, Jackson.
“He just did not understand why I wouldn’t want to coach anymore. We’ve had some long talks. He just thinks it was so cool that Dad was the head coach,” Taylor said.
His son should know two things: His dad is comfortable making moves, and he’s still going to be in charge.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.