The North Little Rock School Board has decided to take more time to find a superintendent.
Meanwhile, the board said it planned to appoint an interim leader.
The new superintendent will replace Kelly Rodgers, 61, who has said he will retire at the end of the current school year, June 30. He has one year left on his current contract.
The board interviewed six people for the job of superintendent of the 8,500-student North Little Rock School District. Sandi Campbell, the board’s president, said the board isn't ruling out the six.
The six people interviewed last week are:
• Bobby Acklin, 62, of North Little Rock, an assistant superintendent for the North Little Rock district from 1989 to 2013. He used to be superintendent of two other school districts, the Dollarway School District in Jefferson County and the Warren School District. Since August 2017, he has been a part-time adviser/trainer for novice teachers in central Arkansas charter schools for the Arkansas Public School Resource Center.
• Laura Bednar, 52, of Little Rock, the head of school for Baptist Preparatory School since 2016. She is formerly deputy superintendent in the Pulaski County Special School District; former assistant commissioner of learning services in the Arkansas Department of Education; and former superintendent of the Stuttgart School District.
• Marvin Burton, 53, of Little Rock, the deputy superintendent/associate superintendent of high schools in the Little Rock School District, where he has previously served as a biology teacher, curriculum coordinator, assistant principal, middle school principal and high school principal.
• Micheal Stone, 40, executive director of student and equity services for the North Little Rock district since 2013, and previously director of federal programs, elementary school principal and assistant principal as well as a teacher in the district.
• Charity Smith, 63, a former assistant commissioner for school accountability for the Arkansas Department of Education, is a principal education associate for Fetterman & Associates, a California school-improvement consulting firm. She worked in various positions in the Arkansas Education Department from 1994 to 2011. Before that, she was a principal in the Little Rock School District.
• Jeff Stubblefield, 58, superintendent of the Charleston School District in Northwest Arkansas, where he has worked since 1984 as teacher, coach, and high school principal.
The district said it had 15 applications from across the country.
Read Tuesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.