DECATUR — State appointed superintendent LeRoy Ortman reported at Monday’s town hall meeting that the search for his replacement is in progress.
Ortman, who came out of retirement to help the financially-troubled school district in August of 2008, announced in January that he plans to resign from his position at the close of this school year.
Because the district will not have a school board in place to make hiring decisions until next October, a committee of state officials and community members has been appointed to help select a new superintendent - hopefully by June, Ortman said. Arkansas Commissioner of Education Tom Kimbrell will make the final choice for the new superintendent, based on the committee’s recommendations.
The school is currently advertising for the superintendent position, and candidates are asked to mail their resumes directly to Kimbrell by March 28. The job announcement was composed by ADE staff, according to Ortman, and sets high standards for the new administrator.
“You probably don’t have to walk on water to get this job, but you sure have to be a powerful swimmer,” he said.
Ortman said he became concerned there would not be many applicants for the position when he read a recent article in the newspaper that reported only four people applied for the superintendent’s position at the Mulberry School District.
After reading the article, Ortman said he called the ADE to see how many people have applied for the superintendent’s position in Decatur. Ortman said officials from the ADE didnot give him an exact number of applicants, but told him that more people had applied for the position in Decatur than in Mulberry.
The local hiring committee, composed of five community members and two staff members, plans to meet March 29. Before they begin to review resumes the committee needs to come up with a wish list of the qualities and characteristics they want in a superintendent, Ortman said.
The new superintendent will face some serious challenges, according to Ortman. Even though the district’s general fund balance for February was $917,228 - almost twice what it was last year - the school will have to tighten its budget by several hundred thousand dollars next year because of declining enrollment, he said.
Enrollment was down about 50 students in 2009, compared to 2008 numbers. Then, the school lost another 25 students in 2010, Ortman said. The district receives about $6,000 in state funding for each student.
The state gave Decatur schools $180,000 to offset the declining enrollment this school year, but that will not continue in subsequent years, Ortman said.
“It’s not an impossible picture, but it could be impossible if you continue to lose enrollment,” he told community members.
News, Pages 1 on 03/17/2010