School Board names new Superintendent
During a special call meeting last Friday evening, members of the Calico Rock District School Board met in special session during which they announced and voted unanimously to hire longtime educator and administrator Rick Green as the new Superintendent to fill the vacancy left by the recent retirement of Jerry Skidmore.
As the hire was the only topic on the agenda during the special meeting, Board President Chris Brandon introduced Green to those present, recapping his extensive resume, then turned things over to him for comments.
Green introduced his wife of 48 years, Jayne, also sharing that he was the older brother of beloved area educator Mark Green who had passed away a few months ago.
Born in Marshall, AR, Green lived in Searcy County until moving with his family to southeastern Kansas. Returning to Arkansas in 1974, he graduated from Big Flat High School in 1975, next attending North Arkansas Community College on a baseball scholarship.
He married Jayne, a resident of Big Flat, in 1976 and moved to Conway where both completed Bachelors of Science degrees in Education, returning to Big Flat in 1980 Green began his career as the high school basketball coach and science teacher.
In 1985 he became the high school principal for the Tri-County School District. In 1990 he moved to serve has high school principal for the Caddo Hills School District, and in 1994 took on the role of superintendent for that district.
His next move was in 2000 when he took on the superintendent job for the Lamar School District, followed by assumption of the same role in 2005 for the Des Arc District until 2011.
In 2012 he began work for the Arkansas Dept of Education in the Office of Federal Programs, where he was the Program Advisor for 1003(G) grants, Title II and Title V, serving until 2020.
His impressive list of accomplishments include; the supervision of multiple building projects, dramatically improving ACT and ACTAAP scores, hosting regional and state basketball tournaments, increasing school’s legal reserve balances, secured $1 million in grant funding for 21st Century Learning Centers and Technology, experience working with deaf students and those with other disabilities, and on and on.
He related his extensive experience in obtaining and utilizing grant money for “school turnaround and school transformation”. Throughout his comments he always returned to the focus being on the kids.
His passion, according to his bio is for “student focused education, building community relationships, making safety a priority and providing opportunities for students that can compare with all other districts.”
In response to a question from Board member Sharon Lane as to why he had an interest in Calico Rock, Green mentioned his brother Mark and his association with Calico Rock and the area. His mother had also been a resident of the local nursing home until passing away recently, both situations had him coming to Calico Rock frequently in the recent past. He concluded that he felt that he “still had something to offer and what better place than Calico Rock.”
Upon conclusion of his comments the meeting was formally adjourned at which time many came over to the Greens to welcome them to the community.
To this reporter Green seemed ready to hit the ground running and was looking forward to the coming school year. If you encounter Rick or Jayne out and about take a moment to welcome them to our community.
