One of the first jobs Taryn Echols had after college was selling copiers in Texas, and she hated it.
“I only lasted about four months,” Echols said.
After Echols earned her undergrad degree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 2006, she moved to Dallas because she wanted to be a pharmaceutical sales rep. But in order to do something like that, she said, she had to have direct sales experience, so she took the job selling copiers.
“I come from a family of educators, and as an educator’s child, I resisted going into the field,” Echols said. “I knew I was good at it — I taught dance all throughout high school. I was an aide in the little-girls classes and an aide in the older classes and was a mentor throughout the summer.”
After quitting her sales job, she earned her teaching degree through an alternative learning program and got her first education job as a seventh-grade science teacher that next fall.”
Now, after more than 20 years in education, Echols was recently named assistant superintendent for the Hot Springs School District, beginning July 1.
“We are very excited to add Mrs. Echols to our leadership team at HSSD,” Superintendent Stephanie Nehus said. “She brings well-rounded expertise and experience that will be invaluable to us as we continue to grow and change as a district in the heart of Hot Springs.
“Her dedication, integrity and hard work are a wonderful example for our students and staff members. We will begin immediately working with Mrs. Echols in her new position to streamline the K-12 curriculum, focus on best instructional practices and foster continued growth through professional learning communities at all schools.”
Echols is originally from Helena, a small Delta town next to the Mississippi River. She graduated from Central High School in Helena-West Helena in 2002. She has a master’s degree in educational leadership from Harding University in Searcy and a specialist degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
She will earn a doctorate in P-20 educational leadership in December from Harding University.
“Curriculum has always been a strong suit for me and something I aspired to do. I just did not anticipate it being this quickly,” Echols said. “I know some of the process and protocols that we have done and how we need to clean them up a little bit.”
In her role as assistant superintendent, she will deal with curriculum, instructional and professional development and oversee the district’s gifted and talented program.
She has been working for the Hot Springs School District for 14 years, with her most recent tenure as principal of Hot Springs World Class High School since 2017.
“Becoming an administrator was not on my radar,” she said. “When you go back to school for the teaching field, you are limited to being in the classroom. You can go into counseling or administration, and being an administrator spoke to me because I have always been a natural-born leader. … I have built relationships across the district, and we trust each other
“I want to help lead us in the right direction and figure out what we are doing to support our students.”
Kiley Simms worked as an assistant principal under Echols for two years.
“I basically learned how to be a good leader of people — not a manager, but a leader,” Simms said. “Taryn has this amazing ability to inspire others, to motivate them and to predict their needs and questions before they even have to ask.
“She has this amazing way with people. … She has incredible vision. When she is given a task, she breaks it down to manageable bits and helps motivate others and answer questions. She teaches others along the way.”
Simms said that during the 18 months that the two worked together, Echols built a curriculum in a way to make it not feel so overwhelming.
“She is a great encourager,” Simms said. “She was really able to transfer the culture of the building and include everybody in the conversation.
“Our teachers were very excited that she would invite them to the conversation table, and it made them feel valued and trusted.”
Echols said a lot of her leadership ability comes from watching her parents, who have both worked in education for more than 35 years. Her dad, Charles McGhee, who taught for 40 years, was a ninth-grade physical science teacher and later a high school counselor. Echols’ mom, Gwen McGhee, was dean of adult education for a community college in Helena.
“My mom worked with others and served others, and my dad worked as a teacher and was one of the lead teachers in the science department,” Echols said. “He did it in a way that was encouraging and inspiring without telling people what to do.”
She said her parents have always been very supportive and encouraging because “they want me to have a job.”
“At the end of the day, their parenting style is, ‘You are 21 years old, making adult decisions,’” Echols said. “They wanted me to like what I’m doing every day so I could find a career.”
Kimberly Flowers, Echols’ doctoral adviser at Harding, said that as a result of Echols’ extensive curriculum background and passion for student success, “she will provide the Hot Springs School District with strong instructional leadership through a viable curriculum with effective instructional practice and guidance toward implementing research-based strategies.”
“Taryn has the ability to forge strong relationships with school and community stakeholders with her superior communication and collaboration skills,” Flowers said. “With her exuberance, she will work tirelessly with others to support the district in its ongoing journey toward excellence.”
Echols said her biggest goal right now is to streamline and introduce a cohesive curriculum for K-12.
“I want my teachers to know what they are teaching and the purpose of what they are teaching,” Echols said. “We want to change our culture here and get our parents more involved in the learning our children are doing. They see education as not necessarily a value, but something children have to do.
“So we want to change the mindset and culture and inspire our teachers and, hopefully, for everyone to have an amazing learning experience.”
According to an article in the Hot Springs Sentinel Record in June, Echols accepted a position with the Arkansas Department of Education as a state leadership development coach, but Echols ultimately decided to stay with the school district.
“Taryn is a tremendous educator and leader,” said Mike Hernandez, state superintendent for the Arkansas Department of Education. “She has a motor that doesn’t quit, and she strives to get better every day.”
Hernandez first got to know Echols when he became the superintendent for the HSSD in 2015. Echols was the assistant principal at Hot Springs Intermediate School at the time.
“At the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, I was looking for a proven leader who could help coach building principals in struggling schools across the state,” Hernandez said. “I also needed someone who could set high expectations for the state leaders to help Arkansas lead the nation in student-focused education.
“Of course, Taryn came to mind with her experience in all levels of leadership. As hard as I tried to roll out the red carpet to get Taryn to be part of my new team, her loyalties remained with the Hot Springs School District.
“She was retained by the district as the new assistant superintendent, and the district is extremely lucky and better for having her.”
Staff writer Sam Pierce can be reached at (501) 244-4314 or spierce@arkansasonline.com.