Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Wright Offered Superintendent's Job

A replacement for Prescott School Superintendent Don Johnston has been named, though no formal contracts have been signed.

Ronald L. "Ron" Wright, from Bismarck has been tentatively selected as the new superintendent for the Prescott School District.

Wright earned his bachelor of science in education from Ouachita Baptist University in 1981, and went on to earn a masters in education from the University of Central Arkansas in 1988.

Wright's holds several certifications, including secondary social studies teaching certificate, earned in 1981, secondary principal's certificate, obtained in 1988, K-12 curriculum specialist, in 1995, and an administrator's certificate in 1998.

He taught social studies at Bryant and Glenwood high schools. He was at Bryant from 1981-84 and at Glenwood from 1985-88.

From 1988-90 Wright was the assistant principal at Mena High School and held the job as principal of Bismarck High School from 1990-94.

Currently, he is employed as a standards support specialist with the Arkansas Department of Education. He has been with the ADE in this position since 1996.

His duties include processing school district annual reports, assisting districts identified as academically distressed and conducting standard review visits.

While with the ADE, Wright also worked as a field service specialist from 1994-96. In that capacity he provided technical aid to districts during their COE studies, organized and conducted COE visits and planned and conducted workshops for staff development.

From 1995-97, Wright worked with the North Central Association as an assistant state director.

Some of his core educational beliefs are: instruction is the primary function of all school personnel; shared decision-making often leads to higher productivity; all students have abilities and a need for education; there is no substitute for equity; and good instruction requires constant maintenance.

Wright was born in Mena, attending public schools in Hot Springs. He graduated from Hot Springs High in 1972.

In 1975, he married Connie Thornton. She is currently the media specialist at Glen Rose Elementary School.

The Wrights have three children, Jesse, 15, Nathan, 17, and Rachel, 19.

His hobby is collecting political buttons along with Indian and Civil War artifacts. He enjoys canoeing, golf and singing.

Wright has also served as a Little League coach and was the Booster Club president in Bismarck.

A contract between Wright and the district was expected to be signed in a special meeting of the school board Monday, April 13.