BENTONVILLE -- Superintendent Michael Poore told a gathering of Bentonville School District administrators Tuesday he's excited about the challenge of running the Little Rock district.
"I've heard for two or three years in this state, nobody can go fix that district," Poore said. "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. That's my goal and I think I'm going to get that done."
Jan. 25, 2011: The Bentonville School Board approves a three-year contract with Michael Poore, deputy superintendent of curriculum in Colorado Springs, Colo., School District 11, to become Bentonville’s superintendent. He received an annual salary of $200,000.
July 1, 2011: Poore begins as Bentonville’s superintendent.
Fall 2011: The board considers ways to alleviate overcrowding at Bentonville High School. Poore proposes building a separate facility for ninth-graders, an option that initially earns the board’s support; however, the board soon changes course and opts to try for a second high school.
June 26, 2012: Voters deny the district’s request for a 6.7-mill tax increase that would have raised $128 million for a second high school and other projects. About 58 percent vote against the proposal.
August 2012: The district opens its fourth middle school (Bright Field) and 10th elementary school (Willowbrook).
June 17, 2013: The board agrees to proceed with another attempt to build a second high school, this time proposing a 2.9-mill tax increase.
August 2013: The district opens its third junior high school (Fulbright). Twenty new classrooms at four elementary schools also open.
Sept. 17, 2013: The proposed 2.9-mill tax increase to build a second high school passes. About 70 percent of voters agree to it.
Feb. 17, 2014: Tension among board members flares up when rumors circulate at least some board members do not want to extend Poore’s contract. Board member Rebecca Powers says Poore has been “bullied and abused” by other board members and that the process of evaluating him had become “corrupted.”
Feb. 20, 2014: The board, after appearing deeply divided over the fate of Poore’s contract, meets for hours of private discussion before voting unanimously to create a new three-year contract for him.
June 23, 2014: The board approves a new three-year contract for Poore, one that outlines specific goals for him to achieve in the upcoming year.
June 26, 2014: A proposal led by Poore to convert R.E. Baker Elementary School into a charter school fails to garner sufficient board support. A vote on the matter ends in a 3-3 tie.
Nov. 17, 2014: The board rejects proposed attendance zone changes at the elementary, middle and junior high levels, in part because of public dissatisfaction with Poore’s plan.
June 29, 2015: The board approves a revised set of goals for Poore for the upcoming school year and extends his contract through June 2018.
Aug. 17, 2015: The board rejects proposed changes to the district’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy, ending a debate that had played out over the previous four months.
Dec. 14, 2015: Poore and the elementary school principals convince the board to eliminate the district’s two-calendar system starting next school year, despite some strong opposition.
Feb. 16, 2016: The board adopts new attendance zones for the elementary and middle school levels.
April 18, 2016: Poore informs the board he has accepted the job as superintendent of the Little Rock School District.
Poore choked up several times as he explained to a room full of principals, central office administrators and School Board members his decision to accept state Department of Education Commissioner Johnny Key's offer of the Little Rock superintendent's job.
Key praised Poore on Tuesday as an academic leader with a track record of success in complicated urban districts.
Key told reporters at a news conference in Little Rock that Poore has had a "stellar career," much of it in two Colorado school systems. "He has a background of working with teacher unions, working in the community, working with the minority community, working with the poverty community, and he brought that experience to Arkansas," Key said. "And in the five years that he's been in Bentonville, he has been able to manage a district of tremendous growth."
Poore, 54, said his decision wasn't about any kind of personal financial gain he stands to make. Poore will earn a $225,000 salary in Little Rock, according to Key.
"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's meeting with his staff members came less than 12 hours after the board voted to accept his resignation, effective June 30. Six of the board's seven members also attended the meeting.
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."
Grant Lightle, a board member who has been critical of Poore at times, said Monday he and Poore have had high expectations of each other. Lightle added he was proud of Poore for taking on the Little Rock job.
"Mike's made me a better person. I hope I've helped Mike look at things a little differently," Lightle said.
Poore said he first was contacted about the Little Rock job when Key asked Poore to have dinner with him about two weeks ago. Poore informed Riggs on Sunday he was taking the Little Rock job. The two spoke for about an hour and a half on Sunday, Riggs said.
"Tough blow," Riggs said. "I think we just got the train on the right track. We've gone over all these hurdles, and now I feel like we just dropped off a cliff."
Riggs then softened his tone, adding, "I'm also a guy whose glass is half-full. We'll find somebody, we'll get this thing going in the right direction again."
The board already had been scheduled to meet Thursday for a work session. The conversation about replacing Poore will begin then.
"There are a lot of possibilities on which path we can take," Riggs said. "That's what we'll do Thursday night, is try to set the path."
Riggs said he likes the idea of appointing an interim superintendent, possibly for a year.
"That's one of my thoughts, but seven people make that decision, not me," he said.
Poore started as Bentonville's superintendent in July 2011. He replaced Gary Compton, who is retiring this summer as an assistant superintendent with the Springdale School District. Poore is earning $209,500 this year.
District enrollment grew from 14,108 students during Poore's first year to 16,060 last fall, a 14 percent increase in four years. In that time the district has built three schools; it is in different stages of building three more, including a second high school. The Little Rock School District has about 24,000 students.
Mayor Bob McCaslin said he and Poore have been in the habit of meeting once a month to discuss issues common to the district and the city since Poore came to Bentonville. McCaslin said he talked to Poore early Tuesday.
"The city and School District have a very good working relationship," McCaslin said. "So we will hope when Mr. Poore's replacement is chosen that we have a relationship at least that good going forward. I gave (Poore) my best wishes. From all we have read, he is facing a rather large challenge head on."
Ashley Williams, Jones principal, was one of the first people Poore hired when he arrived. She said it's difficult to see him leave.
"I believe he's done an excellent job in terms of leading us and keeping kids at the forefront of everything we do," Williams said.
The contract of Baker Kurrus, the state-appointed superintendent of the Little Rock School District, will not be extended beyond June 30. Kurrus accompanied Key to Tuesday's news conference in Little Rock. "He is not being fired," Key said of Kurrus, who has headed the Little Rock district since May.
He said Kurrus "did nothing wrong and did everything right" in setting the stage for the district's next leader.
He said Kurrus "has worked night and day on the issues that needed to be tackled. I cannot brag enough about the work that Baker Kurrus has done since last May when he took on this role."
"It is the end of the contract. It is time to shift from the work he has done to the work that a true, strong academic leader can do," Key said.
During a news conference Tuesday, Poore said he talked to Kurrus last weekend and asked him to stay on with the Little Rock district in some capacity.
"I'm excited to work with Baker Kurrus. Baker Kurrus has done an outstanding job," Poore said.
Kurrus said he and his staff will work with Poore, with whom he spoke on Sunday, to get him up to speed on district operations, including what Kurrus said were difficult and dynamic financial issues, as well as changes in the organization of the district employees.
Poore said he's interested in focusing not on what's wrong in Little Rock, but what the aspirations are among residents there.
"That's how you create a strategic plan," Poore said. "That's how we did it in Bentonville. And in my belief, that's the best way to create a plan to move forward in Little Rock."
Key said he is asking Poore to increase academic performance throughout the state's largest district of about 24,000 students.
The Little Rock district was taken over by the state Board of Education, its elected school board dismissed and its superintendent placed under state direction on Jan. 28, 2015, because six of the district's 48 schools were labeled by the state as academically distressed.
Key said he became familiar with Poore and his work when Key was in the state Legislature. He said it was his decision to make Poore the new superintendent, but he talked with Gov. Asa Hutchinson about it.
Poore's imminent departure means three of Northwest Arkansas' four biggest school districts will see a change in superintendent this summer.
The Rogers School Board just hired Marlin Berry, a superintendent from Olathe, Kan., to replace Janie Darr, who is retiring. The Fayetteville School Board hired Matthew Wendt, a superintendent in Oswego, Ill., for its top position in January.
NW News on 04/20/2016