Gilmore settles in, ‘happy to be a Tiger’

A little more than a week into his new job as superintendent of the Green Forest School District, David Gilmore said things have gone smoothly.

The longtime Carroll County educator officially started leading the Green Forest district on Monday, July 1, replacing Matt Summers, who held the role for 12 years before retiring and accepting a superintendent position in Missouri.

“I’m just kind of getting my feet wet, and so far loving it and trying to learn as much as I can about the district,” Gilmore said Monday, July 8.

Gilmore said he got an opportunity to work with Summers at times over the past month as the two began planning for the official transition.

“About a month before I took the role over, let me come in and kind of shadow with him,” Gilmore said. “We went over financials, we went over the different things the district has done in the past and things looking into the future.

“He showed me the condition of the facilities and some different kinds of master plans, such as safety plans and so on. was fantastic to help me transition through the process.” Gilmore was principal and federal programs coordinator at Eureka Springs High School for the past seven years after a 16-year stint in the Berryville School District.

The Green Forest school board voted to offer Gilmore his first superintendent position at a special meeting held Tuesday, April 23.

“I actually have been applying for some superintendent jobs around different areas of the state so it is great to have one pop up in my backyard,” Gilmore said after accepting the role. “I was so blessed. I feel like this was just the door that God opened for me to allow me to stay in the area and help serve this county and these students over here.

“I feel very fortunate that this happened for me, right here in Carroll County. I have always had a lot of respect for all three Carroll County districts and all the schools in this region. There’s a lot of good people working hard to help students and I am just proud to be a part of one of those again at this level because I have been trying to be a superintendent for a little while now.”

Gilmore, who moved to Carroll County when he was 13 from the Dallas area, is a graduate of Eureka Springs High School. He received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from College of the Ozarks in Branson. He was a teacher, bus driver, elementary, middle school and high school principal in Berryville before taking the position in Eureka Springs.

“I’m very blessed to get a chance to work in all three county schools now, and it will be neat to go to Green Forest and hopefully finish up my career there,” he said in April.

When the new school year gets underway, Gilmore said he plans to be in an observant role, watching how things go before trying to implement any possible changes.

“I’m just going in keeping an eye on things,” he said. “Over time, if I see things that we could do that would be better education, sound practices, we’ll make those changes as needed.

“But Dr. Summers left us in really good shape, obviously.”

Taking in all aspects of the district operations will be an early priority, Gilmore said.

“The overall condition,” Gilmore said. “Facilities in the district, trying to keep tabs of what we’re doing and what we want to do in the future. That’s something that the board and I will need to make some decisions on, also with input from the community.

“We’ll be looking at how to help tackle the growth that we’ve seen over the last few years and help try to make a good, solid foundation here for the next generation of kids that will be coming up through here at Green Forest. I want to make a five-year plan for the district, looking at technology needs, transportation needs, facility needs, educational and curriculum needs and so on. I want to have a plan that we work toward, together as a district, that’s board-approved, that will include input from the community as well.”

One big change that had input from all of those groups was the move to a four-day class schedule for the 202324 school year. While Gilmore said he’s never worked in a district that has been on the revised schedule, he’s looking forward to experiencing it.

“It’s not something I’ve ever worked with, but I do see a lot of schools that are transitioning to that,” he said. “Huntsville recently did it, Decatur has done it and some of the smaller schools around here like Alpena and Omaha have made that transition.

“I think it’s going well here and I think the staff really likes it. I’ve never worked in a fourday schedule, but I think I can get used to it for sure.

“… We want to make sure we’re there for the kids and provide the needs they have and I know the district has been doing a lot of backpack programs and sends food home over the weekends and things like that to help since they have three days off. I think overall it works well for the community and the staff and students, and I know it’s really helped staffing numbers as far as like the amount of absences because they’re able to be off on Mondays and can go see a doctor as needed. They can plan around that.”

Gilmore said he’s been meeting with principals at each district school gearing up for the new school year.

“We’ve been having good conversations,” he said. “I feel we have a very good leadership team and we’ve had good conversations about sound educational practices and expectations. We’ll talk to the teachers about those expectations and go from there. We have a great core staff. Dr. Summers did a great job all these years.

“It’s nice to be able to walk into a well-oiled machine like it is.”

While excited about the future, Gilmore said it was bittersweet to leave Eureka Springs High School, his alma mater, after spending the past seven years there. His final official day with the district was June 30.

“It’s always tough leaving a place like that, my alma mater,” he said. “It was a little bittersweet at times. I loved Eureka Springs schools. They have a great school district and I hope they have nothing but success from here on out. I definitely made a lot of connections over there, friendships, that will help me in this new position.

“But I’m looking forward to this new position and challenges I’ll face here at Green Forest. I’m happy to be a Tiger.”