LITTLE ROCK — The Berryville School Board decided not to extend Superintendent Randy Byrd’s contract this week.
Byrd is employed under a two-year contract, set to expire on June 30, 2014, School Board President Vonda Bailey said. In a 3-4 decision, the board voted against extending the contract through 2015.
“I voted to extend his contract,” Bailey said.
Bailey said she did not know the reasons the four board members voted against adding another year on to Byrd’s two-year contract.
The School Board will consider the superintendent’s contract next year, and the board could decide at that time to add another year to Byrd’s contract, Bailey said.
The four board members did not give him a reason for their decisions against extending his contract, Byrd said. Byrd earns a salary of $121,500 in the district of roughly 1,970 students.
“I expected it,” he said. “I had a board change, and it wasn’t positive.”
Byrd said his evaluation “was just fine.” The district was one of 35 districts acrossthe state to be classified as “achieving” for academic performance under the Arkansas Department of Education’s new accountability system. All other districts in the state are classified as “needing improvement.”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with performance,” he said.
Byrd said he still has 1 1/2years on his contract.
Berryville’s entire School Board was up for election this fall because of a realignment that occurred after the 2010 Census, Bailey said. The election resulted in three board members staying on the board: Bailey, Lydia King and Jeff Miles. One member, Joe Ward, returned to the board after a year-long absence.
Board members Todd Howard, Kristi Howerton and Sherri Plumlee are new to the board, Bailey said.
King and Howerton voted to extend Byrd’s contract, along with Bailey. Howard, Miles, Plumlee and Ward voted against extending the contract.
Plumlee said the board votes on teachers’ contractson an annual basis.
“I don’t think we should look at the superintendent any differently,” she said.
Plumlee, in her first term on the board, is a registered nurse and an administrator for a local health unit. She evaluates contracts, such as for the cleaning crew, when they are due.
“It wasn’t anything in particular about his job performance,” Plumlee said of her decision. “I just felt like an extension wasn’t in the best interest of our school.”
School boards do not have to give a reason when they decide against renewing a superintendent’s contract, said Richard Abernathy, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 14 on 02/01/2013