Hunt On For Administrators

— School Superintendent Jim Rollins said this week he hopes to fill two openings in his administration by the end of February.

Hartzell Jones, the district’s assistant superintendent for personnel, and Don Love, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning for grades eight through 12, both announced earlier this month their intention to retire at the end of June.

Jones and Love are two of seven district-level administrators who report to the superintendent. They have spent a combined 87 years in education.

Rollins said he has talked with some people interested in the jobs. The jobs will be advertised with the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.

“My hope is that within the next week or so we can begin interviewing the candidates, certainly those who are within the district or the region,” Rollins said.

The district will expand its search outside the region if it doesn’t find candidates who are the right fit for the available jobs.

“My absolute commitment is to bring in the best person we can,” Rollins said. “We simply must get the right person.”

The salary range for Jones’ job is $114,493-$126,979. The range for Love’s job is $113,088-$125,574.

Jones, a Mena native, is the School District’s longest-tenured employee; all but three of his 47 years in education have been in Springdale. He started with Springdale in 1969 as a teacher and coach. He was principal at Southwest Junior High School before moving into the deputy superintendent’s position in 1983.

He cited his health as the reason for his decision to retire.

“I’m not excited about it,” Jones said about retirement. “I’m not retiring to go to something else.”

The personnel director’s job covers a wide range of responsibilities, including recruiting and hiring teachers, handling complaints and personnel grievances and evaluating the school principals.

The ideal person for his job will have some background in school-related law and good intuition for which job applicants are the best fits for the various staff positions, Jones said.

Love worked in Pine Bluff and El Dorado before becoming principal at Springdale High School in 1993. He became assistant superintendent in 2003. He said earlier this month he doesn’t plan to seek another job.

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