FORT SMITH -- The Fort Smith School Board has approved a contract with its new school district superintendent.
The incoming superintendent, Terry Morawski, will earn a base salary of $215,000 annually, said Zena Featherston Marshall, executive director of communication and community partnerships for the Fort Smith School District. The contract, which the board approved on Nov. 30, will run from Dec. 31 through June 30, 2023.
The Fort Smith School District announced Nov. 10 that Doug Brubaker, 50, superintendent since January 2017, had been named the lone finalist for superintendent of the Texarkana, Texas, Independent School District. Brubaker is scheduled to begin his new job in Texas on Jan. 4.The Fort Smith School Board on Nov. 10 approved promoting Morawski, 45, who has been deputy superintendent at the Fort Smith district since July 2018, to the top job. In a statement last month, Fort Smith School Board President Bill Hanesworth said the decision to have Morawski succeed Brubaker "provides continuity for all the programs that are underway."
"It gives me a great deal of comfort to know that Terry is deeply entrenched here in the community and looks forward to the next phase of continuing development in our school district," Hanesworth said.
Morawski has had a variety of roles, including deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent, chief operations officer and director, in the more than 20 years he has worked in public education, according to the Fort Smith School District. He has also been part of the leadership team for the Strategic Planning process, Citizens Millage Committee, Citizens Capital Improvement Program Advisory Committee and other initiatives in Fort Smith.
Last month, Morawski said in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he plans to continue working and getting feedback on Vision 2023, the school district's five-year strategic plan that the school board approved in December 2017. He also wants to "finish strong" on the millage projects the district has underway.
The projects are being funded by a millage increase that Fort Smith and Barling residents approved in May 2018. This millage increase, which moved the school district property tax rate by 5.558 mills from 36.5 to 42.058, will generate about $120 million, and was the first of its kind in Fort Smith since 1987. Morawski also said he wants to continue working with leadership to manage the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
Morawski graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and a minor in business. He earned a Master of Arts degree in strategic communication and leadership from Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., in 2009 and a Doctor of Education in educational leadership from Dallas Baptist University in 2018.
He began his career in the Mansfield Independent School District in Texas, working as a director and assistant superintendent there and his role evolving into different areas of leadership during his tenure. His was deputy superintendent of the Comal Independent School District based in New Braunfels, Texas, before becoming the director of strategic planning for the San Antonio Independent School District.
From there, Morawski joined the Fort Smith School District as its chief operations officer in the summer of 2017. Morawski said in the interview last month that he was inspired to start working in Fort Smith because "it's a great community."
"I did my research before I came, and earlier in my career, in Mansfield actually, I had worked with Dr. Brubaker," Morawski said. "He was a principal, and I was a director at the time, but I knew his character and I knew his vision, and so when I'd heard that he had become superintendent, I thought that I might want to look at if there was an opportunity here."