By Marcus McClain
NEA Town Courier
The Blytheville School Board conducted their final initial round of interviews in a special meeting March 16 and voted to unanimously narrowed the field to two candidates.
Following her interview Wednesday night, Dr. Veronica Perkins of the Forrest City School District, and Dr. Lloyd Jackson of Kansas City, Missouri were selected as the finalist.
Perkins was selected as candidate after Dr. Link Luttrell of Festus, Missouri accepted a different position.
Perkins has a 28 year career in education including deputy superintendent at the Forrest School District, chief academic office at the Little Rock school district for five years, district level coordinator in the Pulaski County School Special District for three year and a high and middle school principal at North Little Rock.
Perkins received her bachelor’s and master’s of science degrees at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. She went on to complete a doctorate program at Arkansas State University in educational leadership.
The second finalist, Dr. Lloyd Jackson, is the current assistant superintendent in the Kansas City school district. Jackson was selected to the Kansas Board State Hall of Fame and has spent time in the Arkansas school system as a native of Texarkana.
He spent nearly 14 years in the Hot Springs School District with positions including middle principal for two years, high school principal for another four years and deputy superintendent for two years. Jackson was also selected the 2017 Arkansas Association of Student Council’s Administrator of the Year.
Jackson received a master’s degree in educational leadership from Henderson State University in 2006, and he completed the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s doctorate program in 2020.
Interim superintendent Mike Wallace stated both finalists will have separate days to meet with the board in-person for a second interview. As were the initial interviews, both will be conducted in executive session.
Although dates have not been set for finalist interviews, Wallace stated, “We have two qualified candidates that we’ll be working with for the next two weeks.”
The board also appointed Ben Fisher as the head football coach by a 5-2 vote. Fisher spent five seasons at the helm for the Chickasaws and was awarded conference coach of the year in 2018. That season, Fisher led the team to a share of the conference crown and their first playoff win in 24 years.