Back on the payroll : Lincoln schools boss gets retirement plus full-time pay

By Brett Bennett

Posted: August 4, 2009 at 6:34 a.m.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Share
• Tweet

LINCOLN — Frank Holman is back in as Lincoln School District superintendent after a one-month retirement he took to take advantage of an expiring retirement law that allowed him to make more money.

The Lincoln School Board voted unanimously to rehire Holman during a special meeting Monday afternoon.

A popular leader among the board members, Holman was rehired with hardly any discussion by the board.

Holman retired on June 30, just before a new law took effect regarding eligibility to collect retirement benefits. The old law allowed retired employees to return to work and continue drawing their retirement pay and their full-time salary provided they didn't return to work for at least 30 days.

If Holman had retired after thenew law took effect in July, he would have had to wait at least six months before returning to work, he said.

The superintendent position pays about $100,000 annually.

Individual retirement benefits are not public record under an exemption to theArkansas Freedom of Information Act, an attorney withthe Arkansas Teacher Retirement System said last year.

Holman said he took advantage of the retirement law, and he said there are factors that diminish the financial impact on the state.

Over time, Holman said that his annual payout from the retirement system won't be as high as it would have been if he had continued working and retired later, he said.

He said he had not yet received his first retirement check but expects that it willarrive soon.

Board President Earl Hunton asked Holman how long he wanted to stay around, and Holman said, "As long as you need me."

Hunton said they were happy with Holman and hoped he could continue working on their long-term ideas to build a new high school and provide laptops to students at a 1-1 ratio.

Other school administrators in the state have taken advantage of the retirement law. Another Washington County example is Elkins Middle School Principal Steve Denzer.

He was hired back by the Elkins School Board in a special meeting Monday evening after being retired for 30 days, Elkins Superintendent Mike Harris said.

Another notable example in the state is Pine Bluff Superintendent Frank Anthony, who returned to the job after a one-month retirement.

James Gregory, Lincoln School District federal programs coordinator, served as interim superintendent for July during Holman's absence.

Holman said he didn't have any formal agreement to come back and nothing was guaranteed. He said he spent part of his month off on a road trip around the country.

This will technically be Holman's third stint working for the district. During the 1980s and 1990s, he worked in Lincoln for 16 years as a coach and administrator before leaving to work as the superintendent of Arkadelphia.

Following Arkadelphia,he became superintendent of Cabot, which has a 7A high school. In 2007, however, he said he was ready to downsize and move back to Lincoln following the departure of Superintendent Jim Lewis.

A Danville native, Holman has 33 years of experience in education.

Before the vote to hire Holman, the board met for nearly an hour in closed session to discuss personnel. Holman was not present during the closed session, and the board approved a variety of other hirings and personnel changes besides reinstating him.

Some of the other changes include promoting former High School Assistant Principal Mary Ann Spears as high school principal, and former High School Principal Steve Asp was reassigned as the elementary school assistant principal.

Gregory said they don't plan to replace the high school assistant principal because of the enrollment numbers, but an assistant is needed at the elementary, which is more crowded. State regulations do not mandate adding an assistant principal until enrollment reaches 500 students.

News, Pages 1, 6 on 08/04/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

This is the opposite of cool.

Posted by: MaxxxDoppler

August 4, 2009 at 4 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

That's awesome!

Posted by: schleuss

August 4, 2009 at 4:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Not cool at all.

Posted by: MaxxxDoppler

August 5, 2009 at 9:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The double dipping that is - comment posting is a wonderful feature.

Posted by: MaxxxDoppler

August 5, 2009 at 9:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )