District gets 30 applications for principal job

Administrator will begin work at new West High School July 1

BENTONVILLE — Thirty people applied for the West High School principal’s position by the application deadline Friday.

Half the candidates work in Arkansas. Others list their current or most recent jobs as being in seven other states.

The candidates

The following is a list of people who applied for the principal’s job at West High School. The information comes from resumes submitted to the School District.

Debbie S. Atwell, director of professional development, Rogers Phil Bressler, high school principal, Paola, Kan. Amanda Britt, high school principal, Cotter

Samantha R.G. Brush, community college English as a second language director/instructor, Ottumwa, Iowa

Jim Buie, high school assistant principal, White Hall

Brett Bunch, high school principal, Quitman

Donna J. Clark, high school assistant principal, Hallsville, Texas

Guy Cooper, former alternative school principal, Caddo Parish, La.

Sherry L. Copeland, assistant superintendent, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

John Crowder, high school principal, West Fork

Andy Curry, Arkansas Department of Youth Services campus administrator, Alexander

Sharon D. Deloach, high school principal, Temple, Texas

Samantha J. Doss, middle school teacher, Rogers

Trixie Enix, high school teacher, Pea Ridge

Jonathon G. Guthrie, junior high school principal, Bentonville

Eric K. Hipp, high school assistant principal, Bentonville

James F. Krohn, high school teacher, Clarksville

James D. Lawyer, teacher/part-time administrative assistant, Rogers

Jack Loyd, high school assistant principal, Bentonville

Jadie Matthew, high school principal, Post, Texas

David L. Morford, high school principal, Olathe, Kan.

Margaret Robinson, high school principal, Atkins

Tony Sappington, high school associate principal, Broken Arrow, Okla.

Sylvia B. Shomshor, owner/director of private school, Rolla, Mo.

Craig A. Smith, Boys and Girls Club chief executive officer, Poteau, Okla.

Edwin E. Strickland, Responsive Education Solutions superintendent of Arkansas schools, Little Rock

Sammi Swennes, secondary school principal, Simla, Colo.

Paula Webber, high school assistant principal, Houston, Texas

David B. Wilson, high school associate principal, Jefferson City, Mo. Charlotte M. Wood, math teacher, Tahlequah, Okla.

Source: Bentonville School District

Sixteen candidates are high school principals or assistant principals, according to resumes submitted to the School District. Seven indicated they have doctorates. At least a few others are working toward a doctorate, according to their resumes.

District officials intend to choose West High’s principal by April.

The School Board’s approval will be necessary. The new principal will begin work July 1, about a year before the school is scheduled to open.

The selection process begins this week. A small group of administrators and teachers will review the applications and determine which candidates should be interviewed, said Judy Marquess, executive director of instruction for grades seven through 12.

Two groups will conduct the initial round of interviews starting the second week of March. One group will consist of about 12 students, teachers, administrators and classified staff members. The other group will be smaller and consist of community representatives, Marquess said.

Marquess said she didn’t have a target number of candidates to interview in the first round.

“It just kind of depends on the applicant pool,” she said.

The interviewing groups will convene and pick two to four candidates to advance to the second round of interviews, which will be with Marquess and Superintendent Michael Poore.

Marquess said she would like the principal to be a “visionary,” a great communicator, and someone who is able to build relationships with students, parents and teachers with ease.

The right principal also must be a good fit in the community, she said.

“There’s a lot of responsibility in choosing someone to lead a school and we want to do the best job possible,” Marquess said.

Eight applicants work in Northwest Arkansas schools.

Three work for Bentonville: high school assistant principals Eric Hipp and Jack Loyd and Lincoln Junior High School principal Jonathon Guthrie.

The last time Bentonville hired a new high school principal was in 2013, when Chad Scott was promoted to the job from assistant principal. Seventeen people applied.

Craig Smith, one of the finalists for the Bentonville High principal’s job in 2013, also has applied for the West High position. Smith, formerly an assistant principal at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville, now oversees the Boys & Girls Club of Le-Flore County in Poteau, Okla.

Poore said Friday he had not had time to thoroughly review the applications, but was glad to know they were about double what the district received two years ago for the Bentonville High opening.

“The pool looks like it’s a pretty deep pool. I’m pleased about that,” Poore said.

West High School is being built on Gamble Road in Centerton. Some walls have been erected and roofing beam structures are being placed over the gymnasium. The project is on schedule, according to a report submitted to the School Board this month by Paul Wallace, facilities director.

West High School will have an ideal capacity of 2,250 students.

A principal has much to do in the year leading up to the opening of a new high school, said Karen Steen, principal of Heritage High School in Rogers.

Steen started as Heritage High’s principal in July 2007, 13 months before the school opened. Before that she had been a Bentonville High assistant principal for one year.

There’s no right way to open a high school, she said. She admitted to making mistakes along the way.

“You make a decision you think is right for the kids, and you forget how it affects the staff. You make a decision you think is right for the staff, and you forget about the kids,” Steen said.

Equity between the high schools in a district is important, “But equity doesn’t mean equal,” she said.

Springdale also has experience opening a second high school. Har-Ber High School opened in 2005 under current principal Danny Brackett. Brackett was out of town last week and unavailable for comment.

Heritage High School opened with grades nine through 11, allowing the entire class of 2009 to graduate from Rogers High. Bentonville likely will follow that example.

Bentonville recently surveyed the class of 2017 — which will be the senior class the year West High opens

— to determine how many of those students were interested in switching to West High for their senior year. According to survey results, 348 out of 385 sophomores (90.4 percent) said they preferred to stay at Bentonville High School.

District officials have said they need at least 300 members of the class of 2017 to commit to transferring to West High in order for that school to open with a senior class. The board likely will make a final decision on the matter next month.

Dave Perozek can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADaveP.

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