Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Cooperative Prepares For Leadership Change
CUDNEY STARTED IN PRAIRIE GROVE
FARMINGTON — Charles Cudney takes a broad perspective when asked about the greatest challenge he’s faced during 44 years in education.
“I think on a personal level, it’s learning to be the same professional every day for all of the people that you work with and lead, regardless of what pressures you may be under,” Cudney said.
Cudney, 66, is retired June 30 after six years as director of the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative. He previously spent 29 years as a school district superintendent in Missouri and Arkansas.
The cooperative has 16 member school districts in Benton, Washington and Madison counties. It provides training and programs for teachers and administrators on all aspects of teaching, learning, school operations and state laws.
Close observers of his career agreed Cudney has lived up to the highest standard of professionalism.
“He’s been an outstanding leader for our co-op,” said John Karnes, superintendent of the West Fork School District and the incoming president of the cooperative’s board, which consists of area superintendents.
Cudney was a strong advocate for Northwest Arkansas schools in Little Rock, often meeting with
legislators, Karnes said.
“He really had a feel for the direction our districts were moving in,” Karnes said. “It seemed like he was a step ahead of us most of the time, anticipating the needs of our districts.”
John Jungmann worked with Cudney for six years as an administrator in Monett, Mo., which is about 50 miles southwest of Springfield.
Jungmann followed Cudney as Monett’s superintendent when Cudney retired for the first time in 2008. Jungmann is now superintendent of Springfield schools, the largest district in Missouri.
Cudney had much to do with shaping him as a leader, Jungmann said.
“I always think of him as the epitome of professionalism,” he said. “He is always right on point with his thinking around education and how we support students. He poured into me as a younger leader what it meant to have high expectations for both students and staff and the community.”
to missouri and Back
Cudney, a Green Forest native, started his career as a high school teacher in Prairie Grove.
He was only 29 when he got his first superintendent job in 1983 in the small, rural district of Wheaton, Mo.
He went on to serve as superintendent in three other small Missouri towns. After retiring from Monett, he worked as an adjunct professor for a while but soon was drawn back to K-12 when a superintendent position opened in Greenland in 2010.
Greenland, a district of about 800 students, was under state control and had spent two years on Arkansas’ fiscal distress list. The district was just getting its finances back in order. Cudney said he was impressed by the community’s effort to rebuild the district financially, saving it from possible consolidation with another district.
The state chose Cudney from 27 applicants to lead the district, a job he held for four years.
“I’m glad I did it. I very much enjoyed it. I made a lot of friends there and have very much enjoyed watching that school district continue to grow and progress to where it is today,” he said.
Cudney accepted the director’s job at the cooperative in 2014. Since then, the cooperative has gone from 55 employees to a little more than 100, and the budget has grown from $ 4.5 million to $ 7.5 million, according to Cudney.
“He’s really brought in a lot of good people,” Karnes said.
Half of the cooperative’s work involves providing early childhood education for developmentally delayed kids. The number of students it serves has grown from about 400 to 1,000 during the past six years.
More and more young children in the region are receiving professional child care, which has led to more being identified as needing some kind of therapy, he said.
The other half of the cooperative’s work is curriculum and instruction support, including professional development services, for the Northwest Arkansas school districts, which enroll more than 90,000 students combined.
“We just didn’t have the number of support staff to provide the services to the school districts that were needed,” Cudney said. “The state has thankfully listened to us and been willing to provide us more grants to help support that.”
The cooperative’s services are very important, especially to small districts such as West Fork that can’t afford to hire its own literacy or math coaches, Karnes said.
“I don’t know what we would do without them,” he said.
the transition
Cudney announced his intention to retire last fall. The cooperative’s board chose one of its own members, Farmington Superintendent Bryan Law, to succeed Cudney starting July 1.
Law said he has nothing but respect for Cudney.
“He’s done a wonderful job. He really has been a great leader for all 16 districts,” Law said.
Law, 57, won’t be moving far; his office is about 100 yards from the cooperative’s office. Law and Cudney have had numerous discussions recently.
“I’ve been able to go over on multiple occasions and meet with him and some of his staff members to talk about some of the programs and things that are taking place, and we’re continuing to do that,” Law said.
There will be a learning curve, he said.
“I think the biggest mistake I could make would be to go in and try to make changes right off the bat until I spend some time and learn the culture and get a solid grasp on the day-to-day duties and responsibilities,” Law said.
School districts are preparing to open their buildings to students this fall after closing them in March because of the covid-19 pandemic. The cooperative likely will play a role in that by acquiring personal protective equipment for Northwest Arkansas school districts through a collective bargaining program used by the state, Law said.
Some families will want to keep their children home in the fall. Making sure those students receive an education that’s as good as what they’d get in school is critical, Law said.
“And I think the co-op will play a role in trying to work with the districts to make sure that that takes place,” he said.
Law is earning $140,864 this school year as Farmington superintendent. His salary as cooperative director will match Cudney’s current compensation: $132,000 plus a $6,000 annual travel allowance, according to Andrea Martin, outgoing cooperative board president.
Cudney and his wife intend to continue living in Fayetteville. He hasn’t ruled out the possibility of working again as an adjunct professor, but he mainly just wants to enjoy life.
“I want to take time and relax, spend time with family, and do some traveling,” he said.