Northwest Arkansas school districts losing key leaders

Administrators of four of Northwest Arkansas' largest school districts are saying good-bye this month.

Janie Darr is retiring from the Rogers School District. Paul Hewitt this past week ended a long career in education as a school superintendent in Fayetteville.

Michael Poore left the Bentonville superintendency to become the Little Rock School District superintendent. Gary Compton, who preceded Poore in Bentonville, retired from Springdale this past week after spending decades in education.

But Jim Rollins, Springdale's superintendent since 1982, said he still has work to do and has no plans to retire.

"I love this work," Rollins said. "I love serving the kids of Springdale."

Rollins, 69, has seen many superintendents come and go in Northwest Arkansas and across the state.

"I'm going to miss a lot of good friends," Rollins said. "My hope would be that ... all of us could pause just a moment to extend ourselves and say 'Thank you' to those who have given their professional lives to serve our students and our state."

Rogers: Education in her blood

Darr knew from a young age she wanted to be an educator.

Her father died when she was in the fourth grade, so her mother -- a teacher and an elementary school principal -- had an especially profound impact on Darr's life.

"My education was very important to her," Darr said. "From the time I was little I loved school. I'd go home from school and set my dolls up and play like I was teaching."

Darr will retire at the end of this month having served 47 years in education, almost all with the Rogers School District. She has been the district's superintendent for 17 years.

She announced her decision to retire in December.

"I thought, you know, our School District is in excellent shape. We have great leadership. We have a great School Board. Everything is at a place I think I can step down and the new person coming in will have a wonderful road ahead of him or her."

Darr, a southeast Arkansas native, began her career in 1967 as an English teacher at Rogers High School. The entire district consisted of six schools. The district now has 22 schools, including one named after Darr.

Darr was working as a counselor at Elmwood Middle School when Frank Tillery, her principal, was selected as superintendent. Tillery encouraged Darr to join him at the central office, she said.

She initially was an administrative assistant before earning her doctorate in educational administration from the University of Arkansas in 1991. Darr ascended to assistant superintendent and deputy superintendent before being chosen superintendent in 1999.

The grandmother of two hasn't let the stress of running a 15,000-student district get to her.

"Well, I'm a calm person," she said. "Getting upset about it is not going to change what has happened."

She is one of four superintendents Rogers has had since she started with the district. She calls herself blessed to have worked with and for the three who came before her -- Roland Smith, Tillery and Greer Lingle -- as well as those who have served on the School Board.

Darr said she always had good relationships with her counterparts in the neighboring Bentonville district. She and Poore talked frequently, she said.

"I think the chambers of commerce, the mayors, everyone works so closely together. Even though Friday nights we're competitors on the field, I think it's very important Rogers and Bentonville school systems have that good relationship," she said.

Poore agreed.

"She and I have had a wonderful relationship," Poore said of Darr. "We both honor and recognize each other with things going on."

As for her retirement plans, Darr said she has nothing special in mind. She plans to stay in Rogers, where she'll do some volunteer work, indulge her love of reading and spend time with her grandchildren, both of whom will be attending Lingle Middle School this fall.

Springdale: A penchant for adventure

Compton is retiring as an assistant superintendent of support services in Springdale after more than four decades in education. He remembers wanting one more adventure when he resigned in 2000 as superintendent of the Cedarburg, Wis., School District to take the top job in Bentonville.

He saw the Bentonville School District grow from about 6,500 students to 14,000 students in 11 years. He focused attention on the arts, athletics and academics.

"We built a lot of new schools," he said. "It was grow, grow, grow."

He oversaw construction of the Arend Arts Center, built with money given by the late Ferold Arend, the first corporate president and chief operating officer of Wal-Mart. After a private fundraising campaign raised $3.5 million, voters approved a millage increase to raise $9.5 million for a $13 million athletic complex that included a football stadium; baseball, softball, soccer, and track fields; and an indoor training facility.

Compton resigned in 2011 and was diagnosed with cancer that spring. That began a difficult year for a man who liked to be active and was used to good health.

When Ron Bradshaw was nearing retirement as assistant superintendent for support services, Rollins called Compton to see if he was interested in resuming his education career. He hired Compton in 2012 to oversee a staff of 1,000 classified workers who drive buses, prepare meals in school kitchens, repair air-conditioning units and clean buildings.

"For him to call me meant a great deal to me," Compton said.

Compton has three pieces of advice for a long career: Understand the importance of acting quickly; when errors happen, accept the blame, make a correction and move on; and forgive yourself and others for mistakes.

"The whole notion of forgiveness becomes the most critical element of your life," he said. "What that does, it allows you to take a risk and not worry too much about it."

Compton started his career in 1970, teaching for three years in Detroit. He entered school administration in 1976 in Grand Ledge, Mich., as an assistant principal and then principal.

He watched students succeed in school despite living in shacks and makeshift housing as a middle school principal in the 1980s in Beauford County, S.C., School District. The district covered 1,000 square miles and included many wealthy families drawn by the golf courses, tennis courts and beaches of Hilton Head Island and many rural children who lived in poverty.

He became an assistant superintendent in 1987 in Kalamazoo, Mich.

Compton said he hopes to continue seeking adventure in retirement, visiting some out-of-the-way places and his daughter in New York and his son in Denver. Compton's wife Karen is retiring from Bentonville School District as director of testing and data management.

Bentonville: A 'momentous' win

Few things stand out more than the effort to build a second high school during Poore's five years as Bentonville's superintendent.

West High School in Centerton will open to about 1,200 students in August, but such a project was far from reality when Poore arrived in 2011. He had been a deputy superintendent in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Bentonville High School opened the 2011-12 school year with more than 3,500 students, close to capacity. Many in the community were clamoring for another high school.

The School Board debated two options -- a second high school or a ninth-grade center -- before finally settling on a second school. An attempt to pass a millage failed badly in June 2012.

The board returned to voters 15 months later with a leaner proposal, which passed with about 71 percent of voters' support.

"That was momentous," Poore said, reflecting on his tenure earlier this month. "It had been such a hard issue to work through with the community to get to a place where there was a consensus. We didn't just win; it was decisive."

A grand opening for West High School is scheduled for July 29. Poore said he expects to be there.

"I'll be as excited as anybody," he said.

Poore, 54, met his wife in Bentonville. Marianne Poore was as a counselor at Old High Middle School. Marilyn Gilchrist, Old High's principal at the time, played matchmaker, he said.

"Marilyn said, 'You know, there's this really neat lady on my staff you need to meet, and I just think you guys would hit it off,'" Poore said.

The couple dated for a year and a half before marrying in 2014. Marianne Poore quit her job with the district.

Michael Poore worked long hours during his time in Bentonville. He typically got into the office before 6 a.m. and often got home late in the evening, he said. He felt it was important to get to events such as a kindergarten graduation or an orchestra concert.

"I think when people see you're investing in what their kids are doing, it's easier for them to trust and give back to the district," he said.

Asked what advice he would give to Bentonville's next superintendent, Poore said one of the first things he learned about Bentonville is how high expectations are.

Poore's time in Bentonville wasn't always smooth. He faced adversity in early 2014, when rumors circulated the board wasn't planning to renew his contract. Many from the community turned out at a board meeting to support him.

"You know, that felt good that everybody came back to say, 'You're doing what we want to have done,'" Poore said.

Another challenge was working with a School Board that had significant turnover. He worked with 16 board members during his five years in Bentonville.

The board, however, gave Poore high marks upon his departure to Little Rock. He received an overall rating of 4.15 on a five-point scale on his annual performance evaluation this year. That was half a point better than he did on his 2015 evaluation.

Fayetteville: 'An interesting odyssey'

Hewitt, 71, knew his time with the School District would be short, but he took on issues as if he were going to lead the district for 10 years, he said during his final School Board meeting as superintendent. His last day was Tuesday.

"It's been an interesting odyssey for me," Hewitt said at the May meeting. "I'm very pleased with what I'm leaving behind."

The connection the district has with the community sets it apart, Hewitt said. He found active parent-teacher groups, support for teachers from the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation and former graduates who have become community leaders.

"There is an attachment to this school system you don't find everywhere," Hewitt said.

He started his career as a science and physical education teacher at Belvedere Junior High School, an east Los Angeles school where he spent seven years. He said he remembers having a constant awareness of students who were involved with a handful of rival gangs.

A move into school administration took him to northern California, where he worked for several school districts, including the 2,400 student-River Bank School District, where he got his first experience as a superintendent. Hewitt considers one of his highest achievements to be eight educators who worked under him have become superintendents.

Hewitt's retirement after two years with Fayetteville marks his fourth career change since he retired for the first time in 2004 after 35 years as a teacher, school administrator and superintendent in California. Retirement led to work as a private consultant for school districts. He left consulting to join the faculty at University of Arkansas, where he spent six years.

"The fun of the job is being able to work with so many diverse human beings," Hewitt said. "It's all about the relationships and the friendships you make a long the way."

In retirement, Hewitt looks forward to sitting among fans, watching the Bulldogs defend state titles in football and volleyball, he said.

For every decision Hewitt made in Fayetteville, he focused on what would put the district in the best position over the next five to 10 years, he said. Some tough decisions came with closing a $5 million budget deficit, Hewitt said. He recently withdrew a plan to shuffle elementary and middle school assistant principals.

A desire for the district to focus on the educational program led to the Framing Our Future project to develop a comprehensive five-year plan for the district, he said.

Hewitt said he thinks school leaders going forward will need to look at services for a growing number of children who live in poverty and career education programs. The district's new online charter school, Fayetteville Virtual Academy, has to be an incubator for changing how the district delivers instruction, he said.

"If we're not changing, we're not meeting the needs of our kids," he said.

NW News on 06/19/2016