NLR district ups pay range to $200,000 in superintendent hunt

The North Little Rock School Board has voted to increase the superintendent’s salary range to $200,000 in an effort to find a “qualified” candidate who would want to stay in the school district.

Ray and Associates Inc. search firm met with the School Board in a special meeting Thursday to discuss the results of its recent community survey, get approval of its flier and to set a range for the superintendent’s salary.

Board members voted 4-2 in favor of setting the salary range at $200,000. Board members Lizbeth Huggins, Natalie Wankum, Cindy Temple and president Dorothy Williams voted yes. School Board members Tracey Steele and Sandi Campbell voted no. Board member Rochelle Redus wasn’t present.

Carl Davis, regional search director for Ray and Associated Inc., and Ryan Ray, the firm’s president, originally asked School Board members if the salary range could extend to $215,000.

“You got to put some bait on the hook,” Ray said. “You have to have someone stay and not job hop for another salary.”

Brian Brown, the school district’s chief financial officer, recommended to the School Board a salary range of $175,000 to $185,000 because anything more might require at some point the shifting of funds or absorption of positions.

“We have been experiencing declining enrollment,” Brown told the board. “We have to keep ways to keep our expenses in check with declining revenue and de

clining enrollment.”

Ray said for the school district to be able to find a quality candidate it will have to compete with other districts that are willing to pay more money and have fewer students.

“In Iowa they are willing to pay $210,000, and they have half the enrollment of North Little Rock,” he said. “As your consultant, I need you to know that districts that are smaller with less problems are paying more money.”

Davis agreed.

“It’s our job to tell you that you don’t want to be a training ground,” he said. “We don’t want superintendents to come here and leave in two years for a place with a better salary.”

Steele noted that the cost of living is lower in Arkansas than in many places and that should be a factor. He also said adding benefits to the salary range might make the position more attractive to candidates, as well.

Ray said the cost of living in Iowa is low too and that most jobs also have benefits.

Temple said it was time for the school district to hire a good superintendent.

“I know we have tight financial positions,” she said. “We also have financial opportunity. We have been through this twice. We need to spend some money to make those goals.

“If we find a good superintendent, then they might be able to make up the financial difference in a year.”

Wankum expressed concern about moving to the $200,000 range.

“I understand you get what you pay for, but I don’t want to be further in red,” he said. “I am just concerned about making a very healthy promise of a salary. We want the best, but we aren’t financially able to pay for the best.”

Williams also mentioned the uncertainty of the pandemic playing a factor.

“The Arkansas School Board told us to be careful because we don’t know where our finances are coming from and how many students we’ll have,” she said.

After several minutes of discussion, Brown said he would increase the salary range to $200,000 if that was the wish of the School Board.

“It’s a difference of $15,000,” he said. “I don’t want $15,000 to break this superintendent search.”

Davis told the board that getting the range to $200,000 was “perfect.”

The School Board voted unanimously last month to use Ray and Associates to assist in the search for a new superintendent for the 8,000-student district.

The board voted April 23 to immediately terminate the contract of Bobby Acklin, who initially served as interim superintendent before becoming the district’s full-time superintendent in July 2018.

The move came after the School Board evaluated Acklin’s job performance in January and voted to extend his contract — which was set to expire June 30 — to June 30, 2021.

Comments made by Acklin in an audio file sent to board members by the high school principal were among the issues that led to the superintendent’s termination, officials said.

The School Board voted 7-0 last month to appoint Keith McGee interim superintendent.