BENTONVILLE -- The School Board completed its first performance evaluation of Superintendent Debbie Jones and extended her contract by one year Monday.
Jones received an overall rating of 3.7 on a scale of 5.0 on her evaluation covering June 1 to Feb. 1, according to a letter signed by board members.
Communications director hired
The Bentonville School Board on Monday hired Leslee Wright to be the School District’s next communications director. Wright most recently worked for Walmart as a senior manager on the company’s media relations team; she previously worked for J.B. Hunt and spent 12 years as a television news anchor and reporter, according to a district news release. Wright, who was chosen from a pool of 21 candidates, will begin her new job later this month. She will replace Paul Stolt, who is leaving after nearly three years on the job to pursue other opportunities.
Source: Staff report
"This score indicates that you have met our expectations, while receiving specific scores of outstanding and exceeding our expectations," the letter stated.
Jones was hired as the district's deputy superintendent in January 2016. The board chose her in July to replace Michael Poore following his acceptance of the Little Rock School District's superintendent job.
The board approved by a 7-0 vote to extend her contract by a year, making it effective through June 2020.
Jones, who previously worked as an assistant commissioner at the Arkansas Department of Education and as assistant superintendent of the Bryant School District, said her current job is the toughest she's ever had.
"While it's the most challenging, it's certainly the most rewarding," Jones said. "I know I have the strongest leadership team behind me, and so I'm thankful for that. I'm thrilled to know I'm going to be working for Bentonville School District as superintendent until 2020. And beyond, hopefully."
The district is large and the families have high standards. That's what administrators want, "But also, it's a challenge to live up to those standards," she said.
In its letter to Jones, the board commended her for her communication skills, her understanding of school finances, her leadership skills, and her ability "to build a culture of accountability and performance at all levels and in all areas."
Under "performance opportunities," the first item listed was passage of the 1.9-mill tax increase request this spring to pay for several new buildings.
Other items included continuing to develop her administrative team, reducing performance gaps in academic achievement, improving the communication platform for residents, and focusing on equality at the building level "so that our community does not perceive that one location is less desirable than another," according to the letter.
In other business Monday, the board approved participating in the Lead Higher Initiative, which officials said will help guide the district's effort to increase the diversity and numbers of students taking the high schools' most rigorous courses.
Lead Higher, started by the nonprofit organization Equal Opportunity Schools, is based on research showing academic intensity in high school drives college completion more than any other factor.
Bentonville, with the program's guidance, will work to put more minorities and economically disadvantaged students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes with assistance from Lead Higher officials.
The cost of one year of participation is $54,000, but groups associated with Lead Higher would provide half of that amount, according to Matt Saferite, the district's director of secondary instruction.
The board also agreed to use the Yellow Folder management system for digital storage of its special education files.
All special education files and 504 files -- plans detailing how the needs of specific students with learning disabilities will be met -- are kept in a room at the district's Student Services Center.
Rows of shelving for the files go from floor to ceiling and the capacity for file folders in that room has been reached, said Janet Schwanhausser, finance director. A student's file must be kept for five years after that student graduates.
Converting the files to a digital system will result in lower costs, greater convenience when accessing the files, and increased security, Schwanhausser said.
There will be a one-time setup fee of $20,485 that includes conversion and destruction of paper files and training. The annual cost of maintaining special education records will be about $10,000 and the annual cost of maintaining 504 records will be about $3,000, according to Schwanhausser.
NW News on 03/14/2017