Rogers board hires 3 principals, special education director

ROGERS — The School Board hired three principals and a director of special education during a meeting last week.

Lisa Williams, an assistant principal at Rogers High School, will be the school’s next principal starting this summer, according to a news release from the School District. She will replace Lewis Villines, who is leaving for an assistant superintendent’s position in the Harrison School District.

Williams has been assistant principal since 2019. She previously worked in the Bentonville School District in several leadership roles, including dean of students at Bentonville High School. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hastings College in Hastings, Neb., and completed a course of study in building level administration at Arkansas State University in 2014, according to the release.

Rogers High School had an enrollment of 2,157 as of last fall.

The board also approved Chip Greenwell as the next principal at Lingle Middle School, Beth Carter as principal of Reagan Elementary School and Tita DeVore as special education director.

Greenwell is currently an assistant principal at New Technology High School. He previously served as a middle school principal in Huntsville, where he also was director of alternative learning and district innovation. Greenwell has a bachelor’s degree from University of Missouri and a master’s from Arkansas Tech University. He additionally completed the superintendent’s cohort certification program at Texas A&M University and an educational leadership specialist program at Arkansas Tech, the release states.

Carter is currently the principal of Crossett Middle School. She previously was assistant principal at George Elementary School in Springdale from 2015 to 2021. Carter has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello, certification in English for speakers of other languages from the University of Arkansas, and a master’s in educational leadership from Arkansas State University. She completed an education specialist course of study in the superintendent’s track at Arkansas State University, according to the release.

Carter will replace Matthew Howard, who is moving into a curriculum specialist role with the district.

DeVore has been the district’s assistant director for special services since 2004. Prior to joining Rogers, she was director of education for Ozark Guidance for six years and was a special education teacher in the Greenland School District from 1992 to 1998. DeVore has a master’s degree in education from the University of Arkansas with an emphasis in special education. She also completed an educational specialist program at the University of Arkansas focused on educational leadership and administrative law. She will replace Sherry Stewart, who is retiring this summer.