BENTONVILLE — A high school administrator will serve as Fulbright Junior High's principal for the rest of the school year, Superintendent Michael Poore announced today.

Jack Loyd, an assistant principal at Bentonville High School, will fill the position left by Kathy Murry, who died Saturday. The district will begin searching for a permanent replacement within the next few months.

"Jack has worked with Kathy, has Junior High experience, and has exemplified the caring approach Kathy always had to students, staff, and parents," Poore wrote in an email to district administrators Friday.

Poore said he met with the Fulbright staff this morning.

"As you can imagine this is a group that is still in some shock and still grieving," he wrote.

Murry was 59. She had worked for the Bentonville School District for 27 years.