District 308 superintendent offered post in Arkansas

By Erika Wurst For Chronicle Media

 

Superintendent Matthew Wendt

Superintendent Matthew Wendt

Oswego Community School District 308 Superintendent Matthew Wendt, Ph.D., has been offered the superintendent position with the Fayetteville Arkansas School District.

Contract negotiations are pending but the offer is expected to be finalized this week.

If Wendt agrees to that deal, he will be breaking his five-year contract with District 308 to join the Fayetteville Arkansas School District.

The announcement came just days after Wendt publicly stated he was committed to District 308.
Wendt joined District 308 in July 2012 coming from the Ankeny, Iowa, school district.

The school board there sued Wendt claiming he defrauded the district by accepting a $176,000 transitional allowance upon his resignation, only to sign a three-year contract with Oswego the next day.

Wendt ended up receiving half of his severance and the lawsuit was dropped.
According to a release issued by the Fayetteville School District, the Board of Education recently voted unanimously to name Wendt as the new superintendent, pending the successful negotiation of a contract.
In the release, the district said School Board members spent hundreds of hours recruiting more than 30 qualified applicants from across the county to fill the position as superintendent.

Two of the applicants had been previously named Superintendents of the Year in their own states, the release said.
Fayetteville School District officials said board members spent more than 15 hours in executive session interviewing candidates. Following their search, Wendt was selected as the best choice, they said.

According to the district, the board started with an applicant pool of more than 30 prospective school administrators who were interested in the position as superintendent. That list was narrowed to six candidates; one of whom withdrew from the selection process.

“We are fortunate to have had such a strong applicant pool, and I appreciate the work this board did in researching and interviewing candidates,” Fayetteville School District Board President Tim Hudson said. “The board is confident that in Dr. Wendt we have found a leader who will embrace the district’s strategic plan that is being developed and build on our strengths to take Fayetteville Public Schools to national prominence.”

 

Follow us on Twitter

Like us on Facebook

— District 308 superintendent offered post in Arkansas —