Ramey announces plans to retire
■ He has served as superintendent of the Siloam Springs School District since 2001.
There was hardly a dry eye to be found at the end of Thursday’s school board meeting as Superintendent Ken Ramey announced his plans to retire on June 30 after a 52-year career in education.
Ramey grew emotional as he recounted his time serving Siloam Springs Schools and explained his decision to retire. Several school board and audience members also were moved to tears as the board reluctantly moved to accept his resignation.
Ramey has worked in the Siloam Springs School District for 27 years, first as the high school principal, then moving up to assistant superintendent before being hired as superintendent in 2001. In 2017, he was named State Superintendent of the Year by the Arkansas Association of Education Administrators.
“It has been my honor to serve as superintendent for the past 17 years and to work for the school district since the 19921993 school year,” Ramey wrote in his resignation letter. “Siloam Springs is a strong, vibrant community with a caring ‘can-do spirit.’ The administrators, faculty and staff of the Siloam Springs School District are some of the best people that I know. I respect each of them highly and thank them sincerely for supporting the growth and development of all students.
“Here, student needs have always come first. Our mission, vision and values are at the heart of who we are in making a positive impact for students. Continually building trust, forming relationships and cultivating partnerships has allowed our school district to move forward. Parent and community support in booster clubs, adopters, parent teacher organization, millage campaigns, chamber events and scholarship programs has greatly enriched the lives of so many students for a better future.”
Before he came to Siloam Springs, Ramey served as Lincoln High School principal and Prairie Grove Middle School principal, athletic director and head
the first time for the intermediate school to lose a student in some time, including the six years he has been in the position. As a principal working with students on a daily basis, it is especially heartbreaking for something like this to occur because you form a relationship with them; regardless of how much you know each one on a personal level, they’re still our students, he said.
School administrators told students about Hammett’s involvement in the accident at the beginning of the day on Tuesday, their first day back from Christmas break, out of an effort to ensure that accurate information was being distributed, Hornbuckle said.
When Hammett passed away on Tuesday evening, the same effort was made to ensure the accuracy of the information being distributed. Hornbuckle delivered prepared statements at 9 a.m. Wednesday to students, which notified them of their classmate’s death.
Counselors were dispatched to classrooms for the remainder of the day to be available to distraught friends and classmates to speak to them about healthy and appropriate ways to handle death, how it can affect one’s emotions and what kinds of emotions are acceptable in such cases, Hornbuckle said. He also mentioned its effect on many of his staff members, who are still trying to process it mentally while continuing to remain uplifting influences for their students.
“We want to make sure the community knows that we are still going to follow up with our kids here in the building and there will be ongoing support and counseling,” Hornbuckle said. “This is not something that ends today. This will be something that his classmates will carry with them from now on, and so to the families out there, we want to work with families who have kiddos who might be struggling with this.
“To Tyner’s family, our hearts break for you. He was a child who would light up any room. It’s hard to deal with any type of death, but especially a 10 or 11 year old. So yeah, our heart breaks for them and it’s going to take awhile to heal, so if we can support them in anyway, we want to know how and certainly want to do that.”
The city remains cognizant of the issue and city staff has been directed to begin researching options for preventive measures that could be installed to avoid such an incident from repeating itself at some time in the future, City Administrator Phillip Patterson said. He expressed thoughts and prayers to Hammett’s family and said that on behalf of the city, the news left them with heavy hearts.
Another individual quick to comment on the incident was State Rep. Robin Lundstrum, who said she has been closely following the story.
“Just like everyone in Northwest Arkansas when we heard about this tragedy, my heart stopped,” Lundstrum said. “My deepest sympathies to the families, teachers, and students of Siloam Springs Intermediate School, please know that you all are being held up in prayer, that you are all loved and very special to so many in Siloam Springs and beyond. The death of Tyner reminds us that life is very precious, no matter how short or long, each of us has an important role to play on this Earth for whatever time we are given. Make it count.”
For those wanting to offer their support, a Go Fund Me page started by Stephanie Martinez, who the page describes as an employee of the Siloam Springs School District, is currently online and accepting donations to assist the family with funeral and hospital expenses. On Friday, the goal of $2,000 has been exceeded, at $2,050.