Summers leaving Green Forest after 12 years

  Summers

By Rick Harvey

For the first time in 13 years, the Green Forest School District will have a new superintendent when the 2024-2025 school year gets underway in August.

Matt Summers, in his 12th year leading the district, announced last week that he is retiring as Green Forest’s superintendent and has accepted the superintendent position in Hurley, Mo. The board approved Summers’ retirement at its regular monthly meeting held Tuesday, March 26.

“It’s 12 years for me here in Green Forest and it’s year 28 in Arkansas, which is full retirement,” Summers said. “My initial plans were to stay and go on T-Drop, which is a different type of retirement … my initial plan was to do that probably about three more years, but I had this opportunity kind of present itself about a month ago and it really all happened pretty suddenly.

“So, I will be retiring in the state of Arkansas and drawing full retirement starting at the end of June.”

Summers’ retirement will be a short one.

“I will retire for the whole weekend,” he said. “For two days I will put my feet up and have a drink with a little umbrella. Then, July 1, I will take over as the new superintendent of Hurley Schools.

“There is no restrictions or disqualifications against the Arkansas retirement so I will be drawing full retirement in Arkansas while being paid as a full time superintendent in Missouri.

Summers said he will be commuting to Hurley each day and his family won’t be moving. Hurley is approximately 60 miles north of Green Forest.

“It’s a small rural district,” he said. “I went up and interviewed on March 18 and was offered a contract that night.

“… Financially it’s really a no-brainer, drawing retirement in Arkansas while drawing a full superintendent’s salary in Missouri. If I can stay five years then I would be vested in both states, drawing retirement from both states. My goal is to be there seven to nine years.”

Summers announced his retirement on the Green Forest district’s Facebook page on Wednesday, March 27.

“When I did the Facebook post and in my letter of resignation, the first line on both of those included that it was with mixed emotions,” he said. “That is so true. A lot of time people write things because it sounds cute or looks good or reads smooth, but it really is that way. This is a job in a community where you really spend the major part of your week working there, working with the people and getting to know the families and staff and students. It is hard. It is very difficult to walk away.

“This has been the best job I’ve had to date and it’s hard to imagine that it’s been 12 years. It feels like 12 days. I’ve had the opportunity to work with so many outstanding teachers, admin, support staff and so many great kids and families. … I specifically want to thank our board. They’ve been outstanding and I can’t say enough great things about them.”

Summers will see some similarities when he starts his new role next school year. Like Green Forest, Hurley uses a four-day weekly schedule. Its colors are also red and white and its mascot is the Tigers.

“There’s not going to be a yard sale on clothes,” Summers said. “There’s a lot of similarities. It’s a much smaller district, but I’m really looking forward to that because the great part of this job is that student interaction. I go in and read to our students on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the elementary and intermediate and it takes almost a semester to get through to every class because of the volume of kids that we have. There, I might be able to turn that over in a couple of weeks.

“… I’m really looking forward to this new opportunity and I didn’t want to give the impression that I’m retiring and headed to the back porch on a rocking chair. That’s not the case. I’m retiring from Arkansas and it’s just time for the next opportunity and next challenge.”

OTHER BOARD ACTION

The school board approved the 2024-2025 calendar, which again will be a four-day week schedule, Summers said.

“We surveyed the staff and 96 percent voted for the four day over five day,” he said. “And, 76 percent of parents picked the four-day schedule.

“It seems we are growing into that and it’s becoming something that’s beneficial to all.”

Salaries were also discussed at the meeting with the board approving pay increases for longevity and also increases for classified staff.

The board approved employees who have worked in the Green Forest district from five years to nine years to receive a $250 increase, from 10 to 14 years a $500 increase and those who have worked in the district 15 or more years a $750 increase.

“It’s not as large as we would like, but getting things started is always the hard part,” Summers said. “I feel like in the future those numbers can go up and we can add to that.”

The board also approved a recommendation from the district’s Personnel Policies Committee for increases in the classified staff salary scale, Summers said.

“Another approval by the board was an $11,000 project that will go toward monthly $50 payments to those families in the district that have been identified as homeless to help with food and toiletries.

“We have identified 40 families, which is 107 students within our schools,” Summers said. “We budgeted $11,000 for this project and through communication with these families and these students, one of their greatest needs was more food and toiletry type items.”

Summers said the district is working with Harps on the project.

“I think it’s a very positive stance for people that might be in a bad spot,” he said.

A new school bus was also approved by the board for $136,684, an amount that will come out of the 2024-2025 budget, Summers said.

“We won’t pay until the bus arrives,” he said. “Prices have soared on things like that. That’s one that is hard to swallow.”

Another $11,000 was approved by the board for football-related equipment.