Many apply for superintendent post

Spending his weekend reading job applications, Dr. Paul Hewitt said there are excellent candidates for the Pea Ridge School superintendent position.

“It looks like a pretty good pool. We’re already making phone calls to screen,” Hewitt said.

By Friday morning, there were 36 applications received and two more had come in before the day was over. Friday was the deadline to apply for the position of superintendent of schools for Pea Ridge.

Of the 38 applicants, 23 are current superintendents, four are assistant superintendents, seven are principals and two are “other,” such as curriculum coordinators. Of the applicants who are superintendents, 11 are from Arkansas, four from Texas, three from Missouri, two from Oklahoma and one each from Colorado, Montana and Minnesota.

Hewitt, the advisor to the School Board, and Dr. Roland Smith, interim superintendent, will review applications and narrow the list. Hewitt said he usually makes “three piles — yes, maybe and no.”

“I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I’ve never seen such a large pool,” Hewitt said, adding that his last superintendent search was for a school district with 40,000 students and a superintendent salary of $250,000 and there were not nearly as many applicants.

“We have some good candidates here,” Hewitt, adding that Pea Ridge is a wonderful district, one for which he would like to work if he were younger.

Semi-finalists, possibly 10, will be presented to the School Board Thursday, Feb. 16. The timeline allows for reference checks to be made Feb. 20-29, and the semifinalist interviews with an advisory committee and the Board members on March 9 and 10. The board is to interview the finalists March 11 and plans to approve a superintendent March 15.