Pride gets education agency promotion

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key has named Kiffany Pride the new assistant commissioner for learning services in the the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Pride will start Wednesday, replacing Stacy Smith. On June 11, Key said Smith will become the state superintendent for coordinated support and service, effective Wednesday. Smith replaces Mike Hernandez’s role leading a staff working with academically and financially struggling schools.

Hernandez is going to work for the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators on Wednesday, replacing Richard Abernathy as executive director when Abernathy retires in December.

Key cited Pride’s leadership and experience in literacy. She worked as a teacher, literacy coach and athletic coach for the Little Rock School District, adding that “the schools in which she worked saw dramatic improvements in student outcomes.

She spent about six years as program administrator for the Pulaski County Special School District’s Department of Learning Services before joining the state Department of Education in 2018. She started out as a Response to Intervention coordinator for literacy from August 2018-February 2019.

Then she became a Reading Initiative for Student Excellence assessor until August 2019, when she moved into her current role as the director of curriculum and assessment.