Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series.
The decision to step down as Watson Chapel School District superintendent was not easy, Jerry Guess told school board members during Monday’s regular meeting inside the high school library.
He stopped short of calling it a retirement after 43 years in education, saying he’s not sure what’s next for him.
“I really started carrying groceries out of a little country grocery store when I was 10, so I’ve worked 60 years of my life,” said Guess, 70, who grew up just outside the Ouachita County town of Chidester, with a population of less than 300. “There’s a mixed bag [of emotions], but I know the district needs somebody that’s not only able to do this millage campaign, but somebody needs to then work with an architect and contractor that can design and build this building.”
The building Guess referred to is a proposed high school to replace a junior high campus that was established in 1945. If it’s built, then junior high students will move into the present high school.
“Even if I worked another year or two years, they need somebody in this for the longer haul,” Guess said.
But some who learned of his decision, which takes effect June 30, have been taken by surprise that a man described as a big supporter of faculty members will not helm the district after this school year.
Count a district curriculum supervisor and a building principal in that camp.
“He laid that one on me in total surprise,” said Kristy Sanders, K-12 curriculum coordinator. “I knew eventually it would come because he was only serving as our interim, and we knew that eventually it would come … but absolutely no idea it was coming then.”
A biology teacher by background, Sanders progressed in her career in recent years, going from junior high and high school assistant principal to high school principal to secondary school curriculum coordinator to her wider-ranging position.
In the three years Guess has been superintendent, he’s been right there to mentor Sanders and other district personnel, she said.
“He doesn’t have to be assigned as your mentor to mentor you,” she said. “He goes around to all the principals. He’s not one to just sit behind his desk. Usually when we have these Zooms on Wednesdays, he’ll pull a chair far enough to be socially distant and he’ll watch 15, 20 minutes, then go down to the principal’s office and the next principal’s office. He makes his rounds. That’s all the time. He’s right there. You don’t feel like you can’t talk to him. You can call him anytime of day, text him.”
Sanders, a lifelong district resident and educator, said she will apply for the position once it’s posted.
“If I don’t get that, I’ll apply for assistant superintendent,” she said. “We don’t need to start over. We need someone who knows what’s going on.”
At the sound of Guess’ name, Edgewood Elementary School Principal Annette Neely sighed over the idea that a likable figure in the district and well-known name in Arkansas education was leaving.
“He is the most supportive superintendent I’ve ever worked under,” she said. “All I have to do is pick up my cellphone, call him or text him, and if he can’t answer, his little car pulls up right quick and he comes right quick, he gets out, we come in here and we talk and everything is taken care of.”
Guess’ education career began in southeast Arkansas, in the town of Grady in 1978. He worked that school year as a high school English teacher and then moved to the former Fairview School District in Camden, closer to his childhood home.
He was a middle school principal at Fairview in 1990 when a desegregation order led to the merger with the Camden School District into what is now known as the Camden Fairview School District. Eight years later, he became Camden Fairview’s superintendent and remained in that position for 13 years.
The Arkansas Department of Education appointed Guess as superintendent of the Pulaski County Special School District in 2011, and he helped the district out of fiscal distress. Upon his arrival three years ago, that experience helped him establish a plan for turning around a Watson Chapel entity that had suffered fiscal and academic woes.
Despite the different sizes of the districts — Pulaski County’s enrollment of about 16,000 in 2011 was nearly eight times the size of Watson Chapel’s present enrollment — management principles are the same, Guess said.
“The basis of your funding is your enrollment, and you have to operate your district efficiently with the amount of money generated by the enrollment you have,” he said. “If you’re gaining enrollment, it’s a happy day. You’re getting more money. You know your budget worked last year. You add a few more people to accommodate the growth. That’s easy to do.”
But Guess had to take the harder route to improve Watson Chapel’s financial footing. He had to eliminate approximately 70 certified and classified positions.
He also helped the district better its academic standing, a task that was harder than getting district finances in order, Watson Chapel School Board President Kevin Moore said after Monday’s meeting.
“We’ve got some good people working on that,” Moore said. “We’ve got some good administrators in buildings. We’ve got district administrators that are doing a good job. That is far harder of the challenges. We’ve got some people making progress.”
Neely, whose school serves kindergartners and first graders, said Guess helped her attain “manipulatives” such as magnetic letters, counters and math lessons for students to use when the covid-19 pandemic began to affect the district last spring.
While Guess’ dream for Watson Chapel is a new high school that serves as a community centerpiece, Neely also hopes the person who succeeds him will remember where the education process begins.
“For the Edgewood campus and me, the most important thing for the next superintendent is to realize it all begins in this building,” Neely said. “This is the foundation for their education. This building doesn’t need to be shoved to the side — ‘Oh, this is the baby campus’ — no. This is the foundation, and if we don’t get a solid foundation in kindergarten and first grade, it’s like building a house. This is the foundation, and without a solid one, eventually it will crumble, and you won’t have a successfully completed house or successfully completed education.”
“He is the most supportive superintendent I’ve ever worked under. All I have to do is pick up my cellphone, call him or text him, and if he can’t answer, his little car pulls up right quick and he comes right quick, he gets out, we come in here and we talk and everything is taken care of.”
— Annette Neely, Edgewood Elementary School principal