ROGERS — The superintendent of Benton County School of the Arts was re-hired Tuesday after a search committee failed to find his replacement.
Paul Hines, superintendent at the charter school, resigned his position in February, but this week accepted the board’s request he stay.
At A Glance
Who Applied
• Ben Lewis of Fort Smith, former superintendent
• Lance LeVar of Moab, Utah, high school associate principal
• Susan Long of Fayetteville, former data administrator and administrative assistant at the school
• Krissena Marshell of Fayetteville, assistant principal
• Rick McCullough of Miami, Okla., teacher
• Barb Padgett of Rogers, high school principal, Benton County School of the Arts
• Julia Rice of Springdale, elementary/middle school principal, Benton County School of the Arts
• Matthew Tauriainen of Bella Vista, quality inspector
• Kathryn Williams of Rogers, teacher
Source: Benton County School of the Arts
Hines was offered a contract for the 2013-14 school year. All contracts at the charter school are for one year, said Wes Abbott, board president.
In two votes Tuesday, the board disbanded its search committee and rescinded Hines’ resignation, Abbott said.
Nine people applied for the position of superintendent/executive director. Because of its charter school status, Benton County School of the Arts could hire either someone certified as a superintendent or an executive director to lead the nonprofit organization. A job description asked applicants have experience in nonprofit leadership, budgets, facility management, human relations, records keeping, communication skills and a bachelor’s degree or higher.
The search committee was to have forwarded a list of interviewees to the board from the list of applicants, said Howard Alsdorf, board member and chairman of the search committee. Confidentiality guidelines on how applicants were advancing through the process were breached, he said.
Guidelines governing the search committee called for the group to be disbanded if it violated its own rules, Abbott said.
“When that happened we disbanded the committee,” Abbot said.
A new superintendent would have taken office July 1.
“At this stage in the search process, for us to have to start back over again, would have taken too long,” Alsdorf said.
Hines offered his resignation after a two-hour, closed-door board meeting evaluating his performance. During an April meeting he asked to rescind his resignation, but board members, already involved in the search process, voted no. The board offered him the position Tuesday and he accepted. On Wednesday, Hines declined to comment on why he had resigned.
Both Abbott and Alsdorf said there is no plan to begin another search for a different superintendent. Applicants will be notified by letter that the position has been filled, Abbott said.
The charter school is looking forward to a good school year, Abbott said.
No changes are planned, Hines said.
“It’s always been business as usual,” Hines said.