Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jermall Wright
Little Rock School District superintendent has always had a soft spot for struggling schools, students.
Jermall Wright might not have expected to reach celebrity status as an educator, but he has a hard time going anywhere in Little Rock without being recognized as the Little Rock School District’s superintendent.
“It’s becoming harder and harder to be anonymous,” says Wright, easily recognizable with his wellgroomed, full beard and, usually, a pair of Converse, which he owns in seven or eight styles and colors. “It comes with the territory.”
Wright, who officially took the helm of the 22,000-student Little Rock School District on July 1, 2022, is not entirely at ease with the visibility of the position, preferring that all eyes stay on the work at hand — improving academic achievement, raising graduation rates, making sure students are safe in their classrooms and the like. But he knows that everyone has an opinion about how those things should be done.
“I chose to come here,” says Wright, 47. “I really want to make a difference in a system that may not have been living up to its full potential, and so I am sacrificing a lot, personally, to be here, because I want to see our families, and I want to see our community, do well.”
Wright came to Little Rock by way of the Mississippi Achievement District, made up of schools in Yazoo City and Humphries County and run by the Mississippi State Board of Education since 2019. The Achievement District was slated to be created in 2018, but the board had been unable to hire anyone to lead it until Wright, then chief academic and accountability officer in Birmingham City Schools in Birmingham, Ala., accepted the job of superintendent there in 2019.
The problems facing the Mississippi district were similar to those facing the Little Rock School District, which was taken over by the state in 2015. The state Board of Education gave partial control of the Little Rock district to a newly elected school board in 2019, but did not fully release it from state control until 2021.
“I just want people to understand and know that I chose to come here because I’m deeply committed to making sure that kids like me are provided access to opportunities that they may not get otherwise.”