Albert Larson, president of the Eureka Springs School Board, hopes to name a new superintendent by the time outgoing Superintendent Curtis Turner leaves next month to run a financially troubled district in Howard County.
“We’re disappointed to seem him go,” Larson said. “He’s hard to replace.”
The Eureka Springs School District hired Turner in January 2012 after Wayne Carr retired from the district.
Education Commissioner Education Tom Kimbrell selected Turner as superintendent of the Mineral Springs School District. The department took control of the district almost two weeks ago.
During the search for Carr’s replacement, the school board spent time discussing the type of lead-wanted for the school district, and that will inform the search for Turner’s replacement, Larson said. The school board is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. today to review applications.
Larson said he hopes to hire a leader with experience in school finance and curriculum.
“They have to be somebody who gets along with people,” he said.
Turner, who has almost 30 years of experience running school districts, earned an annual salary of $98,000 in Eureka Springs. He will be paid an annual salary of $90,000 in Mineral Springs.
Turner is replacing acting Mineral Springs Superintendent Bill Blackwood, who came out of retirement temporarily to lead the district.
The move puts Turner closer to his hometown of Murfreesboro, he said.
“It’s going to a bit of a transition,” Turner said.
He has prior experience as superintendent of the South Pike County School District, the former Delight School District, the Clinton School District and the Centerpoint School District. He also spent time working in the fiscal distress unit of the Arkansas Department of Education.
Turner led the former Murfreesboro School District in improving its finances during a three-year stint as superintendent. He retired in July 2011 from what became the South Pike County School District, but left his retirement in January 2012 to take the helm of the Eureka Springs School District.
“I’ve enjoyed it here,” he said. “It was kind of a godsend for me. I just wasn’t ready to retire.”
Turner arrived in Eureka Springs after the start of construction for the new Eureka Springs High School and oversaw the project through completion. Students started the second semester of this school year in the new building.
“You see it from the ground level up to the finished product,” Turner said. “There’s a real sense of pride.”
Turner’s resignation from Eureka Springs is effective June 30, though he plans to take some time off, he said. He begins his duties with Mineral Springs on July 1.
The Arkansas Department of Education took control of the Mineral Springs School District in Howard County on May 16. State officials concluded that the 482-student district that serves the Mineral Springs and Saratoga communities faced the possibility of having insufficient cash flow to finish the school year.
Kimbrell has said the action was necessary to keep Mineral Springs schools operating and serving students. The district’s financial troubles include over-staffing and the use of multiple campuses in a small district with declining student enrollment.
The district became the fourth district of 239 districts statewide to fall under state control. The others are the Pulaski County Special, Helena-West Helena and Dollarway school districts.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 05/29/2013