Bryant Schools Has Hired a New Superintendent
MySaline told you recently that the Bryant School Board had met with and interviewed State Commissioner of Education Tom Kimbrell of Cabot for the open position of Superintendent. It’s now officially a done deal, as Mr. Kimbrell will begin duties on July 1st, 2014.
Click to see more about who Tom Kimbrell is and the experience he brings to the Bryant School District: https://www.mysaline.com/profiles/blogs/interviewing-kimbrell-for-su…
The search began for a new Superintendent after former Superintendent Randy Rutherford was put on administrative leave and then let go by the School Board, for reasons that have yet to come totally to light. Fred Dawson, formerly of the Bauxite School District is serving as Interim Superintendent until June 1st.
UPDATE 04/25/14, 1:55pm:
School Board Names Kimbrell Superintendent
The Bryant School Board is pleased to announce that Dr. Tom W. Kimbrell will be joining the district as our new superintendent of schools.
Dr. Kimbrell brings over 30 years of experience in public education to Bryant. He currently serves as the Arkansas Commissioner of Education, and was previously superintendent of the Paragould and North Little Rock school districts.
Dr. Kimbrell will assume the duties of superintendent on July 1, 2014. He will replace interim superintendent Dr. Fred G. Dawson.
“We want to thank Dr. Dawson for his leadership during this time of transition,” said Rhonda Sanders, board president. “And we are thrilled to have Dr. Kimbrell join the district. His strengths in school finance, curriculum and instruction will be especially beneficial.”
“The Bryant community is known for its support of the school district and its passion for education,” Kimbrell said. “I look forward to being a part of this community and am excited about where we can take the district.”
Dr. Kimbrell and his wife Tina will begin the process of relocating from Cabot to Bryant immediately. Their son Kason will enter college this fall and their daughter Gracie will begin 8th grade in the Bryant School District.
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Comment by Laura Butler on April 30, 2014 at 4:58pm
Shelli, I knew you were smart when I met you at McClellan. Have a great day.
I don’t have anything against Tom Kimbrell, since I don’t know much about him, but… I’m not happy the other 5 candidates weren’t interviewed. If you have a job opening for receptionist or maintenance person and get 6 candidates, do you only interview one? No, because you want the best person for the job. Now let’s say the job pays 10 times the salary of a reception or maintenance position. NOW do you interview more than one candidate? Let’s say you’ve had a problem with your most recent Superintendent in charge of the education of thousands of children in your School District and it was a PR nightmare and you had to fire him. Is it a good idea to take due diligence to interview every qualified candidate? If a school board member’s answer to this question is “no,” then perhaps they need to lose their job too.
Shelli, I think you may be right. But my overall point still remains, why don’t they ask questions about past leadership as a superintendent in regard to student learning? By the way, I looked up Paragould, and my gosh, it’s worse than Pocahontas! And let’s not talk about NLR. And this is what the Board at Bryant wants?
I am under the impression that it was Paragould, not Pocahontas where he worked. Am I wrong? https://www.mysaline.com/profiles/blogs/interviewing-kimbrell-for-su…
When Benton picked most recent superintendent:-Started with 19 applicants
-Narrowed field to only those with Arkansas certification 8 (of the 19)
-Days later decided to add a 9th to final list. Someone NOT AR certified.
That person was Jeff Collum. The new superintendent.
The Benton Courier NEVER questioned or commented on the late entry who did not meet criteria set by school board.
NLR schools are dismal at best. Plenty of friends and even my brother went to school in NLR. Can’t speak for Pocahontas. LR is no better, the main reason we moved to Benton was to escape the schools while my son still had a chance. I think Tom has it summed up perfectly, this guy swooped in while the getting was good before the administration changes. Better to take less pay than be out of work. I also wish that the state would reconsider common core, my teacher friends from all over the US are not happy with it. I need to do some further research, cause of course the supporters only say what they want you to hear and the Nons do the same.
However, maybe with a better district this guy may do well. Anyone is going to do poorly in NLR, not much help for them regardless of who runs it sadly