Superintendent search on a roller coaster ride

Pea Ridge School Board members are still looking for a school superintendent after a work-intensive weekend that included seven candidate interviews, three executive sessions, an offer made, accepted, then declined.

Saturday night, after each of the seven candidates had been interviewed an hour by a committee and another hour by the board, search advisor Dr. Paul Hewitt presented the committee’s evaluations of the candidates to School Board members. After board president Joshua Ramsey thanked the committee members for their service, the board retired into executive session with interim superintendent Dr. Roland Smith to consider the candidates.

The board agreed to offer the job to Dr. Michael Murphy, superintendent at St. Clair, Mo. Murphy accepted the offer after negotiations. Monday night, when Murphy met with his School Board, he was offered a threeyear contract and a “significant” raise. He accepted and called Hewitt and Ramsey to decline the Pea Ridge offer.

“I’m disappointed. He was tremendously talented. He was considered one of the top 10 percent superintendents in the state of Missouri,” Ramsey said of Murphy. “Now, we get back to work. We had a good pool of can- didates.”

“We have good candidates — five practicing superintendents, one assistant superintendent and one internal candidate. The board has to get together and decide what direction they want to go,” Hewitt said.

Murphy, who had told the board he wanted to move to a smaller community, offered apologies Tuesday morning.

“I offer a sincere apology for the situation I created for the Pea Ridge community. With that, I really never saw this coming ... My board met in special session with a plan and process to replace my position. This has been an emotional roller coaster ride for my family. With that, analyzing our pay structure and what it would take to replace and lose 10 years of experience, my board realized what they would have to pay,” Murphy said, adding that he was offered (with a unanimous vote) a three-year contract and a “significant” raise which would improve his retirement pay. Murphy praised the Pea Ridge school and community saying “so- lidifying your community is very, very important to me.”

Ramsey said a special board meeting would be called as soon as possible.

The regular School Board meeting is 6 p.m. Monday.

Times photograph by Annette Beard School Board and community members listened to Dr. Paul Hewitt, advisor to the board, present the strengths and weaknesses of superintendent candidates Saturday in the high school media center after Smith listed the qualities as perceived by the...