Little Rock educator Keith McGee appointed to top job at state-controlled Helena-West Helena School District

District overseen 3rd time

HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Keith McGee, a longtime Pulaski County area educator, became the state-appointed superintendent of the Helena-West Helena School District on Monday .

The appointment was announced Thursday by Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key.

McGee, 49, was executive director of secondary education in the Little Rock School District. He was the district's deputy superintendent prior to a reorganization and, before that, he was interim superintendent of the North Little Rock School District.

His appointment to the state-controlled 1,100-student Helena-West Helena district comes one week after the Arkansas Board of Education categorized the Helena-West Helena system in east Arkansas as needing Level 5 support from the state -- the most intensive level of state intervention in the state's school district accountability system.

This is the third time the Helena-West Helena district has been placed under state direction. The district most recently operated under state authority in 2011 through 2016 because of fiscal distress.

The state Education Board earlier this month stopped short of dissolving the Helena-West Helena's elected School Board but did remove from the local board its authority to oversee personnel decisions for the school system.

State officials concluded that the Level 5 classification was necessary because of the lack of licensed teachers and management issues in the school system that has twice before been under state control.

Inadequate equipment in special education classrooms and failure to assign students to the courses they need to graduate were among the problems identified by Key and Stacy Smith. Smith is both, the director of the Office of Coordinated Support and Service as well as deputy commissioner for the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education..

"Dr. McGee has an extensive background in education, which includes serving as a teacher and an administrator," Key said in the announcement of McGee's appointment.

"I believe he is an excellent fit for the district, as we work together with the community and local board to address some important concerns and ensure that every student graduates high school ready for college, career, and community engagement," Key said.

McGee said in an email response to questions that he was motivated by the needs of students in Helena-West Helena School District to take on the position.

"It is extremely important that the scholars ... are exposed to grade-level content" taught by highly qualified teachers "who will maximize student potential and achievement," he said.

Providing that content and skilled instruction will be his focus going into the upcoming school year, he said.

"We face some great challenges of staffing and budgeting, but we will work collectively and collaboratively on these challenges to overcome them," he said.

McGee replaces Joyce Anderson who has been the district's interim superintendent in recent months. Linda English had been the superintendent for much of the 2021-22 school year.

A native of Brinkley, McGee began his career in August 1998 as a civics teacher and coach at Little Rock Central High School in the Little Rock School District.

He then became an assistant principal at Horace Mann Magnet Middle School in Little Rock, followed by working as a coordinator at what was then the district's Felder Middle School Learning Academy, principal at Hamilton Learning Academy in Little Rock, and then principal at Horace Mann Magnet Middle School.

Subsequently, McGee was assistant superintendent and executive director of secondary education for the North Little Rock School District before being named in May 2020 to be the interim superintendent for the district.

After serving in the interim role, McGee served an additional seven months as the district's assistant superintendent and then returned to the Little Rock system to be the deputy superintendent.

In addition to earning a bachelor's degree in liberal arts from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, McGee has a master's degree in educational leadership and a specialist designation in educational leadership from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In 2017, McGee earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Arkansas Tech University at Russellville.

McGee was named a recipient of the 2018 Verizon Innovative Learning Grant and graduated from the Arkansas Executive Leadership Academy in 2022, as well as the University of Southern California Urban Superintendents Academy Class.

He is a member of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, American Association of School Administrators, National Alliance of Black School Educators, Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

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