Amy Sanchez hoping to inspire as Strong-Huttig’s new superintendent
As an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas in Conway, Amy Sanchez was dead-set against two things.
“I said I’d never teach and I’d never live in Camden, but God had other plans,” the new superintendent of the Strong-Huttig School District recalled with a laugh.
Sanchez entered UCA in the fall of 1993 with every intention of becoming a physical therapist.
After all, Sanchez enrolled in a school with one of the top-rated PT programs in the state, if not the nation.
She was also sports-oriented, having played softball, volleyball and soccer.
Sanchez sang in the Camden Fairview High School choir, an extracurricular activity that earned her a small scholarship that helped to pay for college.
Neither PT nor any of her other educational pursuits at UCA felt “natural,” Sanchez said.
She tried her hand at accounting (her father’s profession) and had looked into theater.
Though she had tried to run from her true calling, Sanchez said she had reached her junior year at UCA when she was finally forced to acknowledge that academia seemingly coursed through her veins.
“My mom was a retired educator. She had taught elementary school, K - 12,” Sanchez said.
“l had grown up in the classroom. I always did her bulletin boards for her. I
was in the classroom in the womb,” she continued. “Teaching is where I thought I could make the most impact.”
Taking heed of her instincts proved to be the right move for Sanchez. She immediately noticed a change upon switching her major to education.
“I actually began to enjoy my schoolwork,” Sanchez said, adding that she graduated from UCA in 1998 with a B.S. in elementary education
and a total of 150 credit hours.
Sanchez followed in her mother’s footsteps in more ways than one. Her mother taught in Pulaski County and Camden, Sanchez’s father’s hometown.
Sanchez’s first teaching job out of college was as a math and science instructor at Booker T. Washington Elementary School in Little Rock — a job she landed three days before the start of the new school year.
“l was going to be the person to change the world. I was very idealistic. Now, after 25 years, my feet are more firmly planted on the ground,” she said.
During her first year of teaching, Sanchez said she learned several important lessons that helped her grow in her profession.
“I was as green as grass. I understood quickly how important it is to rely on your cohorts,” she said, adding that she remains in close contact with one of her Booker T. Washington colleagues.
Her bond with her students was just as meaningful and extended beyond the classroom.
Sanchez took in one of her Booker T. Washington students following a fire in which the student’s house was destroyed.
From Booker T. Washington, Sanchez moved on to Forest Heights Middle School, now Forest Heights STEM Academy for sixth eighth grades Little Rock.
In 2002, while teaching at Forest Heights, Sanchez earned her master’s degree in education administration and was offered a job at Lucilia Wood Elementary School in Elaine.
“The state had taken over the Elaine School District and the superintendent (the late Harold Duncan) afforded me the opportunity to be an administrator,” she said.
In her first administrative role, Sanchez worked closely with the school’s chief academic officer, state school performance and monitoring officials and, of course, the students.
“Those kids were so sweet,” she said.
At the behest of her mother, Sanchez — now pregnant with her first child with husband Jose, who she met while working in Elaine — made the move back to South Arkansas and took a job teaching reading to fifth graders at Washington Middle School in El Dorado.
It was at WMS that she crossed paths with her immediate predecessor in the Strong-Huttig School District.
“That’s where I met (former Strong-Huttig Superintendent Kimberly Thomas),” Sanchez shared.
“She was teaching reading and she was on a different team and we’ve stayed connected ever since,” she continued.
Thomas served as the superintendent of Strong-Huttig schools from 2019 - 2023. She retired from the post after the spring semester.
Sanchez commuted from Camden to WMS for a year before she took a job in Camden, teaching fourth graders in the morning and fifth graders in the afternoon at Camden Fairview Intermediate School.
She then held the title of assistant principal for eight years at Camden Fairview Intermediate School before being named principal of Ivory Primary School.
“Being the assistant principal at Camden Fairview Intermediate School was cool because it was the actual building where I had attended middle school,” said Sanchez.
In 2021, she left Camden enroute to the Siloam Springs School District, where she served as director of student services and school improvement.
Now, she is bringing to Strong-Huttig nearly 30 years of experience, lessons and grace that she has received from dedicated mentors and educators across the state.
Sanchez has been on the job since July 1 and has spent that time meeting with community members, noting the importance of the school district and local community working together to ensure students’ success.
“That’s what I’m headed to do now, meet the community because every single person is valued and I want to hear from them,” she recently told a News-Times reporter.
“Everybody has been extremely supportive and welcoming.”
Sanchez said there are plans to hold regular community meetings to solicit input from local residents.
Ideas she is looking to implement include providing passwords that will allow parents electronic access to the schools’ grading systems and technology that will give parents the option to use their mobile phones to pay any school fees.
Plans are also in the works for an open house and other back-to-school activities prior to the first day of school, Aug. 17.
“My vision is to inspire and bring forth all the greatness that is in this community,” Sanchez said. “I’m super excited for new opportunities and the new school year. I would like for us to be that model school district and have that recognition for the kids.”