ROGERS — Superintendent Paul Hines resigned Tuesday night during the Benton County School of the Arts board meeting.

Hines’ resignation is effective July 1. The board appointed Barb Padgett, high school principal, as interim superintendent until the position is filled. The firm McPherson & Jacobson was hired to search for the next superintendent.

“Dr. Hines has added a lot of value to this school,” board member Howard Alsdorf said after the board’s vote.

Alsdorf’s sentiments were seconded by President Wes Abbott and board member Alicia Knotts.

Board members called a closed meeting after working through most of the meeting’s agenda. The hour-long executive session was a review of Hines’ contract, Abbott said. Hines addressed the board and then Padgett was called into the closed session.

“It’s been a privilege to serve the last six years, a tremendous privilege,” Hines said after the meeting concluded. Earlier in the meeting, board members hired Emily Young of Huntington as elementary/middle school principal.

Young, a teacher in Greenwood School District, has a combination of elementary and middle school experience and that was a plus for the search committee, said Patricia Burns, third-grade teacher.

Young was the only candidate presented to parents at the public forum and forwarded to the board.

Parent surveys after a public meeting last week were positive, said Mark Shields, fine arts chairman for the elementary/middle school and selection committee member.

Teachers want teaching experience, and Young had experience in a variety of subjects, he said.

“She was the one that popped out, that we really wanted,” Shields said.

The board created special education director and speech language pathologist positions after Gentry School District dropped the arts school from the Western Benton County Special Education Consortium. Gentry and Decatur were the other two districts in the consortium.

Metro on 05/16/2014