Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

School board hires new assistant principal

School board members met in special session on Tuesday, June 6, and hired Scott Jones, former head baseball coach at Arkadelphia High School, as the new assistant principal at Gurdon High School.

According to information from the superintendents office, the board approved the selection 6-0.

Jones, 28, said Wednesday, June 7, he will begin his full-time administration duties as assistant principal and dean of students on Aug. 1.

Charles Failla, former assistant principal, is still with the district as head of technology.

Gurdon Superintendent Bobby Smithson said, "The technology position became full time and Mr. Failla wanted that so we had to hire someone as assistant principal for the high school."

Jones, who is a native of Arkadelphia, said he was employed by the Arkadelphia School District for the past four years as a seventh grade health and physical education teacher. Jones said he was also head baseball coach three out of four years at AHS. He was an assistant baseball coach the first year.

While at Arkadelphia, Jones said he helped with the football program. He worked with the offensive line for the high school for a year and was the head coach for seventh and eighth grade football in 2005-06.

Jones is a 1996 Arkadelphia High School graduate, and graduated Ouachita Baptist University with a bachelor of science in education in 2000.

In 2005, he earned a master of science degree in sports administration from Henderson State University.

While attending OBU, Jones said he was a graduate assistant for football in 1999 for wide receivers and tight ends.

He said he took a break from education after the OBU graduation from 2000 to 2002 and worked for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as a wildlife officer. He was a game warden in Calhoun County at Hampton.

"It was my only two years out of Clark County and I was glad when the position came open at the school in Arkadelphia," he said.

At GHS, Jones said he will be dealing with discipline.

"I am excited about the position," he said. "I have a lot of respect for the Gurdon School District. I really like the small town atmosphere. The structure of the school organization is top notch and I am excited about becoming a part of that."

Jones said he believes GHS Principal Leonard Gills and Smithson will be "great resources to learn from."

Jones wife, Amy, is a teacher at Malvern. For now, she will continue to commute there and Jones will commute to Gurdon.

"We will see how things go as far as moving to Gurdon," he said. "I will not rule out the possibility."

Jones and his wife have three sons: Whit, 6; Jett, 2; and Cy, 8 months.