By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Of the five applications for the Jacksonville-North Pulaski Superintendent’s job on file at press time Friday, only two met the minimum posted requirement of having been a school district superintendent for at least five years, and one of those is already familiar with the new district, having been hired as a deputy superintendent last March.
Both Dr. Bryan Duffie, superintendent for support services for JNPSD, and Robert Ross, superintendent of the Mansfield School District in Sebastian County, met that requirement. Duffie served as superintendent at Jonesboro Westside Consolidated School District from 2010 until he was hired as assistant superintendent at JNPSD in March. Ross has been a superintendent since 2007 in Sulphur Bluff, Texas, Rowena, Texas, and Mansfield superintendent since 2011.
Both men have doctorates.
The board will convene a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the district administrative office to determine which of the applicants to interview and what questions to ask them and it will set an interview schedule.
Interviews will be conducted Nov. 28, and the next superintendent could be selected as early as the Dec. 5 board meeting.
Superintendent contract extensions occur in January, Wood said, so the board could choose to wait for that result.
The new superintendent will go to work July 1, 2017.
Other applicants included Dr. Michael Booker, principal of the Corrections Corporation of America at Whiteville, Tenn.; Timm MacDonald, former administrator West Adams Preparatory High School in Los Angeles, who moved to Arkansas in July; and Dr. Angela Olsen, former assistant superintendent in the North Little Rock School District, currently office manager, Century 21 Realty in Harrison.
Superintendent Tony Wood announced his retirement Nov. 7, effective June 30, the end of the school year. He recommended the following qualifications for his successor and a timeline.
Qualifications in addition to a minimum of five years superintendent experience were: Doctorate preferred and Arkansas district administrator PK-12 licensure or equivalent.
Special knowledge and skills included: Ability to demonstrate administrative and technical expertise in multiple areas. Requires knowledge of the laws and regulations governing public schools in Arkansas. Requires sufficient language and human relation skills to prepare and deliver formal presentations to diverse audiences and to build productive and effective work teams. Requires sufficient accounting skills to read and interpret financial statements.
