School board members voted to hire Jacob Hayward as the principal of Siloam Springs Middle School on Thursday.
Hayward is currently the assistant principal at Har-Ber High School in Springdale. He will be replacing Teresa Morgan who announced last month her plans to resign at the end of the school year to take a job in the Pryor, Okla., school district.
There were more than 25 applicants for the position and several highly qualified candidates were interviewed by the search committee, according to Jody Wiggins, assistant superintendent. The committee was comprised of Wiggins; Charlotte Earwood, director of school improvement; Anne Martfeld, high school principal; Jason Carter, child nutrition services director; Tim Hornbuckle, intermediate school principal; and Samantha Gutierrez, assistant director of special education.
The interview committee first interviewed middle school staff to determine what they should look for in the next middle school principal and then interviewed multiple candidates to find the right fit, Wiggins said.
"He fit what we were looking for," Wiggins said. "He's got experience with response to intervention and professional learning communities, those were two of the things we were looking for, and I think he can come in and create a collaborative culture within our building and connect with kids and lead us in the right direction."
Hayward earned a bachelor's degree in biology/pre-medicine from Hendrix College, a master's in educational leadership from the University of Arkansas, an educational specialist degree and doctorate in science education from the U of A, according to his resume. He also has a master of church ministries from Southern Methodist University.
He has served in the Springdale School District and the Northwest Arkansas Educational Service Cooperative for the last 14 years, according to a letter of recommendation from the hiring committee. He has taught science, history and English as a second language, served as a science instructional specialist at the co-op and as assistant principal at Southwest Junior High School before becoming assistant principal at Har-Ber High School four years ago.
In other business, the school board accepted the resignation of Southside Elementary School principal Tamara Lane. Lane was diagnosed with a brain tumor last fall and continued to work as much as possible while undergoing treatments, according to an Oct. 31 report in the Herald-Leader. In January, school board members appointed Amy Hufford as interim principal and Josh Killian as interim assistant principal.
Lane cited health reasons for her resignation.
"I have thoroughly enjoyed my tenure in the Siloam Springs School District and have been honored to have had the very best administration to work for," Lane wrote. "The support and the cooperativeness from everyone made my job very rewarding. I will miss everyone and wish only the very best for the person who will be stepping into this position.
"Thank you for all your support during this most difficult time."
On Thursday, school board members voted to make Hufford the permanent principal and Killian the assistant principal.
"Amy has been in a very difficult situation all year long and as far as I'm concerned she has done a marvelous job," said Superintendent Ken Ramey. "It's not been an easy situation but she's guided the ship and worked really hard to communicate with her staff."
Other resignations accepted during the meeting were:
• Steve Matchell, high school science teacher
• Monica Jackson, first grade teacher
• Kimmy Deines, sixth grade teacher
• Lesa Eaves, high school counselor
• Twila Lowry, third grade teacher
• Jordan Mitchell, second grade teacher
• Kathy Murray, middle school math teacher
• Lynn Paskiewicz, Southside Elementary School library media specialist
• Ken Bolinger, eighth grade U.S. history teacher, bowling coach and bus driver
• Emily Ann McClain, Southside Elementary School speech language pathologist
Other hires made during the meeting were:
• A list of 250 classified employees whose contracts were renewed for the upcoming year.
School board members also voted to terminate food service employee Amanda Parrish.
General News on 05/12/2019