State Gets New Head Of Department Of Education
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Former Little Rock school superintendent Ken
James is the new director of the Arkansas Education Department.
The state Education Board voted to hire James unanimously today
at a brief meeting at the Governor`s Mansion. Governor Huckabee
made the formal announcement.
James` absence from two weekend school events in Lexington,
Kentucky, where he is school superintendent, fueled speculation
there that he would return to Arkansas as director of the state
Education Department.
Huckabee named Tom Courtway as interim education director to
succeed former director Ray Simon, who left the post in October to
take an education job with the Bush administration. Simon left on
the eve of a special legislative session called to address a state
Supreme Court order to overhaul Arkansas` unconstitutional public
education system.
Courtway, a tax lawyer, shepherded the Education Department
through the record long 61-day special session and in recent days
has spearheaded its implementation of Arkansas` first statutory
consolidation of schools.
