BENTONVILLE — Michael Poore choked up several times Tuesday morning as he explained to staff members his decision to leave his job as the Bentonville School District's superintendent for the same job in Little Rock.
Poore addressed a room full of principals, central office administrators and school board members less than 12 hours after the board had voted to accept his resignation, effective June 30.
Poore told them his decision to move on to Little Rock wasn't about any kind of personal financial gain he stands to make.
"It had to be about, is it the right thing in terms of what I think best utilizes my skills," Poore said. "It's all about a challenge, and it was a challenge I think does fit me."
Poore, who became Bentonville's superintendent in July 2011, added he's heard for years that nobody can fix the Little Rock School District.
"Now you all know it's not going to be me who fixes Little Rock School District, but I'm going to make everybody help fix Little Rock School District," Poore said. "That's my goal and I think I'm going to get that done."
The meeting was attended by six of the seven board members. Travis Riggs, board president, assured administrators Poore's departure had nothing to do with the board asking him to leave.
"We wanted you to know we're 100 percent behind Mike," Riggs said. "None of us wanted him to go."
Poore said he first was contacted about the Little Rock job when Johnny Key, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, asked Poore to have dinner with him about two weeks ago.
Poore called Riggs on Sunday asked to have a meeting.
"We spent an hour and a half or so talking through it," Riggs said. "We talked a little more about it on Monday."