School board members voted to renew the contract of Assistant Superintendent Jody Wiggins through the 2019-2020 school year during Thursday's meeting.
In a recommendation letter, Superintendent Ken Ramey wrote that Wiggins' professional growth makes him a logical choice for the district.
"Mr. Wiggins is very knowledgeable in policies, procedures, laws and technology implementation," Ramey wrote. "He handles parental complaints with dignity and supports our building administrators with employee issues related to school board policies and administrative procedures."
Wiggins is responsible for Federal Funding as well as day-to-day operations of the district, including food service, maintenance, nursing, transportation, technology, music, athletics, safety plans and school resource officers, the letter states. He also has a strong financial background and handles many budgets, the letter states.
"We appreciate (you) Jody and the job you do," said School Board President Brian Lamb. "Thank you for all your leadership and all you do for us. For this district, you make us better. It's all about kids and everybody is focused on that. I appreciate it, I really do."
Last month, Ramey announced plans to retire at the end of the school year on June 30. On Thursday, Ramey said that Wiggins is one of 15 people who applied for the superintendent position by the Feb. 11 deadline. Most of the other applicants are from Arkansas, but at least two are from Oklahoma, one is from Missouri and one is from Virginia, Ramey said.
In previous years, Wiggins' contract has been renewed for two years at a time, but this time the contract was only renewed for a period of one year. Ramey explained that will give the school board more flexibility once a new superintendent is chosen, whether it is Wiggins or another candidate.
According to the timeline adopted by the school board during a workshop last month, the school district advertised for the position on the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators and Arkansas School Board Association websites and accepted applications for a period of three weeks. The tentative timeline allows Ramey a period of at least three weeks to conduct reference checks on the candidates before a special school board meeting in early March, where school board members will decide which candidates they would like to interview.
School board members will conduct interviews and be responsible for choosing a candidate. If all goes as planned, they hope to introduce the new superintendent at the regular school board meeting on April 11, they decided last month.
General News on 02/17/2019