Bald Knob board picks schools chief
The Bald Knob School Board has hired the principal of Prairie Grove High School as its new superintendent.
The board selected Jed G. Davis, 42, over two other finalists, citing his skills at culture-building, community outreach and innovative ideas. Board members also pointed to his experience in technology in education, which they said would complement work already in place in the district. He starts July 1.
“Throughout this interview process I learned a lot about the people and the great things that are happening in Bald Knob public schools, and I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this community and school district,” he said in a news release from the 1,071-student Bald Knob School District in White County.
Davis has been principal of 595-student Prairie Grove High School in the Prairie Grove School District since 2020. He was the district’s junior high principal from 20192020 and the middle school assistant principal from 20182019.
Over a 20-year career, he has worked in several public schools, including teacher, coach, assistant principal and principal.
Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2004 from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; a Master of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 2005; and a doctorate from Texarkana A&M University in Texarkana, Texas, in 2023.
As superintendent, he will be paid $130,000 annually, in monthly installments, starting July 1, according to his contract, which the district released to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
He will also receive a retention incentive of 2% of his base salary for the 2026-2027 academic year.
Additionally, when other certified staff get raises and bonuses, he will get one, too, but it will be one-and-a-half times more, the contract states.
He must live in the district, but he will be given 18 months from the time he starts work to find a place in the school system’s geographic boundaries, according to the contract.
The agreement also addresses efforts to raise achievement. Failure to do so won’t mean a breach of the contract, but it would be addressed in the board’s evaluation of his job performance.
The contract is for three years, a standard period given to most superintendents across Arkansas.
Overall, 18 people applied through the McPherson-Jacobson recruiting firm. The other two finalists were Travis R. Fletcher, 41, superintendent of the Concord School District in Cleburne County, and Jeffrey L. Graham, 45, Sidney Deener Elementary School principal in the Searcy School District.
Davis will replace David Bangs, a retired chairman of Graduate Studies in Education at Harding University, who has been working as interim superintendent.
The search for a new superintendent began after the Bald Knob School Board placed Melissa Gipson, the previous superintendent, on leave in October. The board and Gipson reached a $150,000 separation agreement in December. Her salary was $117,816.48 a year.