Beebe principal will take NLR job
Scott Jennings is leaving the Beebe High School principal's job to take the same role at the 2,400-student North Little Rock High School.
The North Little Rock School Board approved the appointment earlier this month.
Jennings, 47, has been an educator for 24 years. Before working in Beebe, he was a principal at Cabot Junior High and was once a science and history teacher as well as a football and track coach.
North Little Rock district leaders cited Jennings' instructional leadership skills and his strengths in integrating community resources into a school setting.
Superintendent Kelly Rodgers said Tuesday that district staff were working with Jennings to verify his experience and education credentials for setting his annual salary.
Jennings will replace Randy Rutherford as the leader of what is a virtually all-new campus and one that is among the largest in the state. Little Rock School District leaders announced earlier this year that Rutherford had accepted the job of principal of Parkview High School, effective July 1.
LR district names school principals
The Little Rock School District has recommended and Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key has approved several administrative hires and job reassignments for the 2017-18 school year.
The changes include:
• Mark Roberts to be principal at Hall High at a base salary of $112,414, replacing Larry Schleicher who will become coordinator of adult education at a salary of $92,844. Roberts, who has a doctorate in educational administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, was principal in 2013-15 of Aurora Central High School in Aurora, Colo., and earlier held high school principal positions in Fairfield, Woodland and Carmichael, Calif., and middle school leadership jobs in Fair Oaks and Lodi, Calif., and in Virginia Beach, Va. In a career that started in 1983, Roberts has also been a technology education teacher in Virginia Beach, Poquoson and Williamsburg, Va.
• Patricia Ellis-Brunston to be principal at McClellan High School, replacing Gabriel Jackson. Ellis-Brunston, who will earn an annual base salary of $96,820, was an instructional facilitator and then an interim assistant principal at the school this past year. She is a former assistant principal in Malvern and former math teacher in Hot Springs.
• Stephanie Franklin to be principal at Terry Elementary at a salary of $93,072. A former middle school science teacher and technology specialist, Franklin most recently was assistant principal at Fulbright Elementary.
• Sandra Register, now principal at Terry Elementary, to be principal at Jefferson Elementary at an annual salary of $93,072, replacing Roberta Mannon, who has retired.
• Clifton Woodley, who has been principal at Wilson Elementary, to be principal at Carver Magnet Elementary at an annual base salary of $93,072, replacing Romona Sawyer who has been put in charge of the district's gifted-education program.
• Lori Brown, who has been principal at Franklin Elementary, to become a school improvement specialist at a base salary of $93,072.
Additionally, district leaders have notified Key that Wayne Adams, district director of maintenance and operations, is leaving the district where he has been employed for 34 years.
Graduate to study Arabic with grant
Karina Bao, a 2017 graduate of Little Rock Central High School, will study Arabic in Morocco this summer as a result of a National Security Language Initiative for Youth scholarship awarded by the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Bao is one of about 600 students selected nationally to study foreign languages abroad.
The program is part of a multiagency U.S. government initiative established in 2006 to improve the ability of Americans to communicate in particular languages as a way to advance international relations as well as increase the nation's economic global competitiveness.
"We are living in a critical time, so we must strive to understand each other in a more meaningful and personal way," Bao said in a prepared statement. "Through cuisine, conversations, and new adventures, I'm excited to spend time with my host family and study the beautiful language of Arabic through this amazing opportunity with NSLI-Y."
Metro on 06/23/2017