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Saturday, March 23, 2019 EL DORADO NEWS-TIMES — 3C
Two school districts plan to start 2019-20 with new superintendents
By Michael Shine
Staff Writer
As the 2019-20 school year approaches, two school districts are looking at a change to primary leadership for the district.
Both Smackover-Norphlet and Strong-Huttig will start the new school year with a new superintendent.
Smackover-Norphlet
Smackover-Norphlet interim Superintendent John Gross took over for the 2018-19 school year while the school district searched for somebody to fill the position permanently.
The school board hired McPherson & Jacobson LLC in September to help lead the search. During their first meeting with the board, they sat down to create a list of goals for what kind of person the board members wanted to help lead the district. They landed on a list of 10 primary criteria:
Communicator Manages budget Organizational skills
Construction: Continued from Page 2C
storage space. There’s also a loading dock for the food services area for shipments coming into the facility or out to the different campuses.
A receptionist will be there to help anybody coming in get connected with who they need. The receptionist area will be separated from a waiting area by a wall and security glass window, and doors will be accessed controlled so that the receptionist would have to allow access. These security measures are similar to the entrances of most of the district’s schools.
Along with storage rooms, the common area will also have a meeting/break room where the departments could do training or presentations. The room could be used after hours if needed. The second level of additional storage is because the common/public area doesn’t need to be as tall.
Each department would have access to that additional storage space, including a door that would be large enough for pallets of supplies to be placed into the area using a forklift.
The outside of the building will be a tan wall with a silver roof. Dunn said to help emphasize the public entrance, they’re planning to bump the wall out about a foot with a contrasting metal color. He said it’s a no-cost item, but would help break up the appearance of the large gray building
Dunn said one of the concerns is unknown oil wells on the property. There’s at least two on the property, but he said it’s almost expected for there to be more. He said it wouldn’t cost the district anything if some
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In January, the board was presented with six potential candidates and decided on three to interview.
By the end of January, the board voted unanimously to hire Jason Black as the new superintendent.
Black is coming from the Hallsville Independent School District in Texas where he has served as director of special federal programs. However, he grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, before attending Louisiana Tech. He also earned his superintendent certification in Texarkana.
Black, who is the father of three, said he plans on using everything from his background in his new position. He has served as a junior high school principal at two school districts in Texas, an elementary school principal and a coach. Black
is also a former U.S. Marine, and said he gets inspiration from teachers, coaches and others who were there for him in tough times.
“Coming up through the ranks of education, being around teachers, (and) the planning that goes into it, the determination and the grit to stay with it when there’s going to be tough times ahead," he said.
Black
are found, but would impact the timeline. The Oil and Gas Commission has been notified by the district and would provide the funds to deal with any wells, but there could be timeline delays because the commission would need to vote to provide the funds and they only vote once a month.
A concern Board Member Todd Whatley brought up is the heating and cooling system for the board. He expressed concern about chemicals or fuel used by the transportation or maintenance departments having an impact on the food.
Dunn said they’ll use split systems so the air wouldn’t be circulating between departments and the floor to ceiling walls between each department should also keep any cross contamination from happening.
“What we didn’t want to do is have that wide open,” Dunn said. “We’ve tried to take that into account.”
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or mshine@eldoradonews.com. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.
He said he looks forward
to "building those relationships, meeting people from all walks of life and being able to find a common goal to get things done the way they need to be done for the kids.”
Black said his goal for his first year as superintendent is to focus on building relationships and learning about the needs of the area.
See SUPERINTENDENT, Page 5C
Contributed Photo
Facility: The El Dorado School District plans to create a new facility down the street from the high school that would house transportation, food services and maintenance for all the schools.
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