The Pulaski County Special School District school board on Thursday approved the hiring of Superintendent Charles McNulty's wife, Yaa Appiah-McNulty, as principal of the district's Robinson Middle School.
Appiah-McNulty has been principal of Henderson Middle School in the Little Rock School District this past 2018-19 school year, having previously served as a principal in Iowa and Illinois.
McNulty and School Board President Linda Remele said in interviews before the vote that the district does not have a policy, nor does the state have a law, that prohibits the district employment of a superintendent's wife.
McNulty, however, said that the whole process of recruiting, interviewing and selecting a person for the Robinson job -- created with the reassignment of Robinson Middle's Principal Lance LaVar -- was done by Deputy Superintendent Alecia Smith.
The new hire is coming at a time when McNulty's role as district leader is focused not on staffing but on strategic planning, designing career academy programs and guiding the district toward achieving unitary status in a long-running federal school desegregation lawsuit.
"Although I love to be in buildings, I'm not really going to be able to do what I needed to do in the initial stage," McNulty said. "We have a different team now. We've really built up our team."
Smith, who supervises and evaluates all principals, said that a diverse team of educators in the district conducted the interviews of nine applicants.
"She has done school turnaround work in other states and her [student] data stood out above everybody else's," Smith said about Appiah-McNulty. "She has really done great work for kids."
Asked if there would be any unease about supervising the superintendent's spouse, Smith said no.
"What I have learned about Dr. McNulty is that he is fair," Smith said. "And it's about kids. I really believe that if there is a care or concern, that he will hear me out. If I have any concerns, it would be based on facts. I would say, 'This is the information I have ... this is the decision I've made based on the evidence."
Appiah-McNulty's salary was not immediately available but Smith said the amount will be based on where Appiah-McNulty's experience and education place her on the administrative salary schedule.
While principal at Henderson, Appiah-McNulty sued an Internet blogger, Elizabeth Lyon-Ballay of Benton County, for making claims about the operation of the Little Rock campus that "renders [Appiah-McNulty] a criminal and causes harm to her professional reputation and ability to earn."
The lawsuit is pending in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
Appiah-McNulty has a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Clarke College in Dubuque, Iowa, and a master's degree in educational leadership from National Louis University, Lisle, Ill.
She was principal for two years in Iowa City and two years in Freeport, Ill., where she also worked for another two years as a leader of an alternative education program.
Metro on 06/21/2019