School Board chooses Owoh to serve as superintendent
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board has selected Jeremy Owoh to be the new superintendent of the 3,700-student school district, a return engagement for the administrator who worked as an assistant superintendent in 2015-17.
Owoh is currently the deputy superintendent of the Little Rock School District, a role he assumed in July after serving as the state-appointed superintendent in the Pine Bluff School District and, before that, as assistant commissioner in what is now the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Owoh, 42, said his past experiences have prepared him for the chief executive role in Jacksonville.
“That’s one of the things I’ve shared with the Jacksonville School Board — they are gaining a wiser person than who I was back when we started the district,” he said. “I’m looking forward to taking the district — along with the personnel and community members — to the next level.”
Owoh will replace current Jacksonville/North Pulaski Superintendent Bryan Duffie, who said earlier this month that he has accepted a job as deputy superintendent and superintendent-elect of the Alma School District, starting July 1.
Duffie, 50, has been employed in the fledgling Jacksonville system for five years — one year as an assistant superintendent and then four as superintendent.
Daniel Gray, president of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board, said that Owoh was the name board members immediately raised upon learning of Duffie’s resThe
“He is a tremendous talent in the state of Arkansas. I think we hit a grand slam home run.”
— Daniel Gray
ignation.
“He is a tremendous talent in the state of Arkansas,” Gray said about Owoh. “I think we hit a grand slam home run.
“It’s just a natural choice,” Gray said. “He knows our staff. He knows our district. He knows our parents and students. He’s familiar with the desegregation case. There is not a better choice. “
The announcement of Owoh’s selection, effective July 1, comes as the Jacksonville system awaits a decision from a federal judge on whether the district has met its desegregation obligations and can be released from most court oversight of its operations.
As part of the effort to meet those school desegregation obligations, the district is in the midst of a capital construction campaign, with the building of a new elementary and high school completed, a new elementary and middle school under construction, and one or more additional elementary schools to follow.
The ongoing work on construction projects and the desegregation case, assessing and addressing student literacy and math achievement, and ensuring financial stability in the system will be his priorities, Owoh said Monday night.
Gray said the future superintendent’s three-year contract will include an annual salary of $200,000 plus a $10,000 annuity and $5,000 toward his student loans. He will be provided with an additional $15,000 if he moves to Jacksonville within three years.
Owoh and his family live in the Little Rock district, where he has worked since July 1. His compensation package is $170,000 in the capital city district.
“Little Rock will always have a special place in my heart,” he said, calling the decision to change jobs bittersweet in some respects. He began his teaching career in the district, and his son has been a student there.
As the incoming superintendent, Owoh will be able to have a say in the selection of two assistant superintendents, as current Assistant Superintendent Tiffany Bone is leaving this summer to take a similar position in the Fort Smith School District. The district’s other assistant superintendent position is vacant.
From 2003 to 2008, Owoh was an English teacher at Little Rock’s Parkview High School.
He then served as dean of students at Mills University Studies High in the Pulaski County Special School District; as assistant principal at Ridgeroad Middle School in the North Little Rock school system; as principal at Fuller Middle School in the Pulaski County Special district; and from 2011-2015, as principal at Little Rock’s J.A. Fair High. From 2015-2017, Owoh was assistant superintendent of curriculum in the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District. In 2017-2018, he was assistant commissioner for educator effectiveness at the Arkansas Department of Education.
A graduate of the Camden-Fairview School District, Owoh has a bachelor’s degree in English education from the University of Central Arkansas, a master’s degree in secondary education from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and a doctorate in educational administration and supervision from UALR.