A new superintendent in the Watson Chapel School District may not be in place by Monday, the start of a new fiscal year, but the board president said this week the trustees are close to making a hire to replace the retiring Tom Wilson.
Board President Goldie Whitaker had said after Wilson announced his resignation June 4, she was confident the seven-member panel would have a new superintendent in place by July 1, the day after Wilson officially retires. Following a special meeting Wednesday, Whitaker extended that deadline to July 8, when the next regular meeting is scheduled.
The board had conducted three special meetings since the June 10 to interview finalists for the superintendency. Wednesday’s meeting was a work session, the nature of which Whitaker did not specify.
Whitaker identified the finalists as Veronica Perkins of Blytheville, Marvin Burton of Little Rock, Keith McGee of Helena-West Helena and David Westenhover of Alpena.
Perkins has been superintendent of the Blytheville School District since April 2022. Burton is a former interim superintendent of the Little Rock School District who is listed on the district’s website as an interim administrator on special assignment. McGee is a former North Little Rock district assistant superintendent and LRSD deputy superintendent now at the helm of the Helena-West Helena district. Westenhover, previously a principal in Jasper and superintendent in Alpena, is a consultant with Strategic Partnerships Inc.
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“We are at the point of making a decision on the candidates we did interview,” Whitaker said. “We have completed all interviews, and now it’s just weighing in on the proper procedure of naming a superintendent.”
Wilson was hired as an interim superintendent in July 2022 and had the interim tag lifted three months later.