A local principal and a Kansas superintendent are the last two interviewed candidates standing for the open Fayetteville superintendent job, although that could change in the near future, according to the Fayetteville School Board.
Matt Saferite and Doug Powers were interviewed earlier this week by the School Board for the position. The only two other candidates interviewed have withdrawn themselves from consideration.
School Board President Tim Hudson said there are no current plans to interview more candidates, although board members may still call in more applicants in the future for interviews if they wish. The School Board members met in an executive session Thursday night following the regular board meeting to discuss the superintendent candidates, Hudson said.
Saferite is the only local applicant for the position. He is the principal at Ramay Junior High in Fayetteville. Powers is the superintendent of Maize Public Schools in Kansas, according to his resume.
Saferite and Powers were the third and fourth candidates interviewed for the position that opened up when Supt. Vicki Thomas announced her resignation in January from the Fayetteville School District, effective June 30 at the end of her contract period. Cabot superintendent Tony Thurman was interviewed March 31 by the School Board, and Tom Kimbrell was interviewed Jan. 30.
Kimbrell, the state Department of Education commissioner, later withdrew himself from consideration for the job, saying he and his family instead wanted to stay in central Arkansas.
Thurman also withdrew himself from consideration for the job, he told 5NEWS.
Thomas said she is moving to Texas to care for an ill family member.
Seventeen candidates applied for the superintendent job by the deadline set for the end of March. The candidates include nine superintendents, four of whom are from Arkansas school districts. These applicants are Thurman, Randy Willison from the Batesville, Robert Ross from Mansfield and Denny Rozenberg from Bearden.
The other five superintendents applying for the job include Robert Hill from the Arizona State Schools For The Deaf And Blind in Tucson, Ariz., Larrie Reynolds from Mount Olive Township, N.J., Eric David Ely, former superintendent for Southbridge, Mass., and David Copeland from Madison County, Ala., according to the list of applicants released by the school district.
The remaining seven candidates include John Stanford, deputy superintendent for Columbus City Schools in Ohio; David Hurst, education accreditation officer in Arizona and former professor in various states; Eric Nerison, principal for Langley Middle School in Washington; Chanel Howard-Veazy, principal of Lincoln High School in Dallas, Tex.; Debra Fountain, principal substitute at Hancock County School District in Kiln, Miss.; Robert Rodriguez, assistant superintendent at East Ramapo Central School District in New York; and Greg Rockhold, principal of Tse’ Bit’ Ai Middle School in Shiprock, N.M.
