Meet the candidate : Superintendent finalist visits with community
Posted on Saturday, May 3, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/64766/
School superintendent finalist Richard Abernathy visited Fayetteville Friday for a day-long series of meetings as part of his interview process to be considered for the job.
Abernathy, the superintendent of the Bryant School District, is the only candidate being interviewed as a potential successor to current Superintendent Bobby New. The Board of Education’s plan has been to hire a superintendent-elect who would begin working next school year and take over when New retires in 2009.
The school board previously interviewed Abernathy on April 15, and Friday was developed as a follow-up visit with the community.
His schedule on Friday included meetings with principals, district directors and administrators and a meeting with board attorney Rudy Moore Jr. He also met with representatives of the President’s Council for school parent / teacher organizations and met with representatives of the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
In the afternoon, the district held a 90-minute reception at the high school’s Bates Annex for teachers and other school employees to meet him. About 25 people were in the room at any one time, as employees came and went during the meeting
Abernathy said he has been through similar interview processes when interviewing for other superintendent jobs. The main difference is the last time the groups had more “ scripted questions” than what he has heard in Fayetteville.
During his meeting with the President’s Council, topics that came up included millage proposals for high schools, redrawing attendance zones, school size and handling controversies.
Abernathy said Bryant was a very small school system at one time with a K-12 campus years ago. Today the high school campus covers about 100 acres and the high school serves grades 9-12.
The Fayetteville campus covers about 40 acres and currently includes grades 10-12, though the board plans to add ninth grade to the high school. The board hasn’t taken any action yet on a recommendation an appointed committee made last week that the school be moved to a 73-acre site on Morningside Drive.
High school debates are nothing new to Abernathy. He said Bryant voters approved a millage increase in 2003, but they were not able to convince people to approve a high school improvement project last fall.
Abernathy said the rezoning might have been a factor in the millage defeat, as some people upset about changing schools might have voted against it.
Asked about his approach to attendance zones, Abernathy said last time Bryant appointed a committee of parents to look at changes. The main things that have to be looked at in developing zones are student population and socio-economics of the students.
McNair Parent Teacher Association President Laura Underwood said she thought New’s successor needs to have “ a relationship ” with the Arkansas Department of Education and the state Legislature. The district does not qualify for state assistance on construction projects because it is considered a “ wealthy ” district.
Leverett parent Dian Bacon asked Abernathy if he had any thoughts on optimum school size.
Abernathy said around 630 would probably be an efficient size for an elementary school. If it is slightly below 500, there might be some efficiencies from not having to hire as much staff for the population.
His district does have one elementary school with 90 students, he noted, referring to Paron Elementary School. Bryant annexed the Paron system in 2004 after it was forced to dissolve due to new consolidation legislation.
Some of the President’s Council members expressed concern that making a decision on the future of the high school in Fayetteville has been put off too long and deferred to committees too many times.
“ I believe in committees to a point, ” Abernathy said. “ The last thing a community needs is a (school ) board that cannot make a decision. ”
It will be impossible to get total community consensus on an issue, he said.
Abernathy spoke about his district’s own controversial decision to close a school, when it shut down Paron High School. He said the decision was driven by both standards and finances.
The school wasn’t able to meet state standards on curriculum offerings because of its low enrollment.
However, he said, some people in Paron will claim he “ lied to them” about the district’s plans for the school. At one point, he said, he had a two-hour meeting where he discussed the situation with a patron who eventually sued the school district over the school closure.
“ You can’t win over emotional issues, ” he said.
His wife, Paula, and teenage children Tyson and London also visited Fayetteville, though they did not attend the day’s meetings.
To end the day, Abernathy had dinner with board members and some representatives from the Fayetteville Public Education Foundation. Board members Susan Heil, Becky Purcell, Howard Hamilton and Tim Hudson attended, but members Tim Kring, John Delap and Steve Percival did not.
A public reception for Abernathy will be held from 2-4: 30 p. m. today at the Walton Arts Center.
The board is scheduled to meet at 5: 30 p. m. Monday at the Adams Leadership Center, 1000 W. Stone St., to discuss the interviews with Abernathy.