Campbell named president of state school board association
William Campbell, vice president of the McGehee School Board, was recently named president of the Arkansas School Boards Association’s board of directors.
The appointment was made due to the resignation of Tad Margolis, who was named president in December during the annual conference and Campbell was named president-elect. Campbell will fill out the remainder of this term and serve his term as well in 2023, according to a news release.
He has been employed with the Arkansas Division of Workforce Services for 28 years and is currently serving as a field manager III for the Pine Bluff local offices serving five counties.
Campbell has been a member of the McGehee board for 30 years and has also served as a regional director, secretary treasurer, vice president, and president-elect of the association. He has 1148.95 of boardsmanship hours and has been awarded the Honor Board Member, Outstanding Board Member, Master Board Member, Pinnacle, President’s and Platinum Award from the association.
On April 6, he traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Arkansas senators and representatives to discuss federal funding, special education needs, broadband accessibility, teacher and administrator shortages, K-12 nutrition, student and staff mental health issues, and other topics of importance to education. The committee met with Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton and Rep. French Hill, Bruce Westerman and a staff member from Rep. Rick Crawford’s office.
Campbell is also representing the state as a founding member of the newly formed Consortium of State School Boards Association, which was created due to states leaving the National School Boards Association (NSBA).
Arkansas is one of 22 states to form the new association and Campbell and executive director Tony Protho are both representatives on the executive committee. Campbell will be a full-board member when the bylaws and other polices are established Jan. 1, 2023.
The 22-state consortium was birthed in late 2021 by state school boards associations following an unauthorized letter from the National School Board Association requesting federal law enforcement help to protect school boards and school personnel. State associations were not consulted about the letter, which many saw as unnecessary and counter to their commitment to community involvement. This letter followed years of financial mismanagement on the part of the NSBA, according to the news release.
The first meeting of the consortium’s 22 founding state associations occurred April 10-11 in Raleigh, N.C., where Campbell served as the state’s representative.
Campbell is a lifelong resident of Reed (where he served as mayor for eight years.) He is a graduate of Tillar High School and holds a BSE in vocational education and a M.Ed from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He also holds hours toward a Ph.D in enrollment management.
He is a graduate of Leadership Pine Bluff, the Division of Workforce Services Leadership Development Class I, and LeadAR Class 16. He is a member of the Southeast Arkansas Workforce Investment Board, where he serves as chair of the planning committee. He is also a member of the
Jefferson County Habitat for Humanity Board of Directors, where he is chair of the Housing Selection Committee.
Campbell is a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and is a member of the Delta Sigma Lambda Chapter at Pine Bluff where he has served as a past president, and he is currently serving as intake coordinator and chair of the district’s elections committee.
He is a strong advocate for public education. His main concern for all kids is that when they graduate, they can perform at and exceed the level of expectation of what the state and nation expects. His belief is that public school students can and will outperform or perform at the same level of anyone they go up against in life and should be equipped with the tools to make it happen, according to the release.