The Little Rock School District called former Horace Mann Magnet Middle School Principal Keith McGee back to the capital city district from a North Little Rock job to be deputy superintendent.
The School Board also voted Thursday to make Philicia Bell the new principal at Parkview High School, replacing James Castleberry, who is retiring at the end of the school year.
And Stephanie Franklin will become the principal of the district’s s new Ignite Digital Academy for elementary grades, kindergarten through six. Franklin will continue to serve as principal at Terry Elementary School.
The board voted for the employee recommendations from Superintendent Mike Poore after meeting in a closed, executive session for almost two hours.
McGee has been a teacher, assistant principal and principal at various Little Rock campuses. Most recently, he has been an assistant superintendent and interim superintendent in the North Little Rock School District.
The educator with more than 20 years of experience will succeed Jeremy Owoh, who has been deputy superintendent since last July. Owoh has been hired to be superintendent of the Jacksonville/ North Pulaski School District effective July 1.
McGee’s salary is yet to be determined but will fall within a range of $95,916-$170,000, based on years of experience and level of education.
Bell has been an assistant principal at Parkview since 2019. She is a certified kindergarten through 12th grade instructional leader who began her career at Parkview in 2013 as a teacher. Before arriving at the Little Rock district, she worked in the Pulaski County Special School District as a teacher and parent facilitator. Bell will earn a base salary of $85,930, with additional student census and educational stipends.
Franklin has over two decades of teaching and leadership experience, including teaching science at Mann Middle School and serving as an instructional technology specialist before her work as Terry principal..
She will begin working immediately to support pupil learners who have already registered for the district’s new digital option. She will earn a salary of $103,648, plus student census and educational stipends.
Current Little Rock West High School of Innovation Principal Karen Heatherly will also serve in a dual capacity, continuing in her role at the School of Innovation while leading the Ignite Digital Academy for grades seven through 12.
Late Thursday, the School Board approved a resolution that commits the district to a $48,000 starting salary for teachers and raises for all other employees by July 1, 2024 — conditioned on available funding. The resolution also envisions a $2,000 payment to all employees for this school year, again if funding is available.
The district is also making plans to provide all employees with a pandemic payment of as much as $2,000 but is waiting to finalize with the state Division of Elementary and Secondary Education that federal covid-19 relief money can be used for the payments.
Poore said that he has a high degree of confidence that the payment plan will be backed by the state. He said he anticipates asking the School Board to approve a pandemic payment for employees in May to be distributed before June 30.
Also Thursday night, the School Board voted 5-3 with one member absent to ask the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education for a waiver to make any certified teacher eligible to teach the 1½- credit Freshman Seminar with Professional Communications course.
The course is a component of the Ford Next Generation model of high school organization. The model — in varying degrees of implementation throughout Pulaski County area high schools — is made up of career academies in which students learn core academics while also preparing for careers that are in demand in their communities.
Oral communications — a semester course — would be embedded into Freshman Seminar, which will also focus on personal and career exploration and topics such as conflict management, how to do job interviews, building a resume and using social media responsibly.
The waiver would allow a teacher who is not state-licensed to teach oral communications to lead the course without being cited for violating state requirements.
A survey of district parents and educators generated numerous responses in support of the course components but concerns about permitting any teacher to teach the course.
Thursday’s meeting was not open to the public but broadcast on YouTube and on Comcast Channel 4 and U-verse Channel 99.