EXECUTIVE SESSION with Jeffrey Richardson

By Steve Brawner Editor

Jeffrey Richardson has been a Marion School Board member for a long time –32 years actually. He was honored with ASBA’s 30-Year Service Award at the Annual Conference in December.

It’s been an eventful 32 years. Richardson has helped hire four superintendents, including the current one, Dr. Glen Fenter, who came to the district after serving as president of Mid-South Community College in nearby West Memphis. He also was part of the board that approved Marion’s nontraditional school calendar where summer breaks last only seven weeks and then twoweek breaks occur every nine weeks.

Report Card caught up with Richardson in the Marion School District boardroom to ask about that calendar, about hiring superintendents, and about how he remains fresh and enthusiastic after all these years.

You ran for office 32 years ago to be a school board member. What made you decide to do that?

“Well, during the time I had children in school, and I had some concerns about trying to be a part of their education. There was no better position out there than to be on the school board, because being on the school board, we were a part of making policy, and trying to get things that the students need to further their education.”

What were you concerns?

“My concern basically was to draw a closeness between white and black students. There was too much of a gap in that area that I felt that I could help mend together.”

How can a school board member help do that?

“You can help by attending workshops and training and other things that are out there that would inform you about different types of policies and laws that you can implement back to your district.”

Did Marion do anything proactive in the area of race relations?

“Oh, yes, We now have AfricanAmerican personnel in place, where in the past we did not. We have more African-American teachers that will also represent the school. We have about 52% African-American students attending school. We’re trying to match the ratio where children have more of a comparable learning environment with being around their own peers.”

Did you have an opponent that first time?

“Believe it or not, in my whole career of the 32 years, I’ve only had one opponent. ... That was probably 20 years ago.”

So no one else wanted the job?

“Well, apparently either that, or they had confidence that I was going to do it whatever. I never questioned that.”

Did it surprise you that nobody else ran?

“Well, yes, because there always was a possibility of that because of my colleagues, they often have had [opponents]. Somewhere, somehow, every time I go to get a petition and turn it in, the question that I always would ask was, ‘Do I have opposition?’ ‘At this point, no you don’t.’ The closer you get, then it’s time out. You only have so many days to file. So I’ve just been blessed in that area.”

Did you ever think you would serve 32 years?

“No way. I didn’t really sign up for a lifetime. I have told myself several times that after my term was up, I was going to not run again. Each time I get encouragement from the community, from the mayor, city councils, church leaders. I guess people are in a hole. They always would share their concerns. You know, ‘You’re needed.’ And with that recommendation, it just motivates you.”

When does your current term end?

“I’ve got four more years from as we speak now. We changed our election from November to May, so this coming May, I have four more years.”

Do you think you might do it again?

[Laughs.] “Well, I keep saying I’m not. I think with 36 years or so, I really think it’s time to go to the house. You know, I don’t want to go to the house in a wheelchair.”

How do you keep yourself fresh and enthusiastic after 32 years?

“I attend all of my requirements that the state asks us to do as far as workshops, education programs. I work closely with my superintendent, hear what he has to say, and work with my other colleagues. I have a group of guys and young ladies that are very energetic. They have the same agenda that I do, and it makes it easier.”

What is that agenda?

“They want everybody to have a safe workplace. We want the best education that we, along with the state Education Department, can offer for our children where they can be strong, productive young ladies and young men, because they are our future, and so if we do the legwork for them, it makes it easier for them to proceed.”

Are you still fresh and enthusiastic about what you’re doing?

“Yes. I feel good every time we have a graduation because we took part in the program to give the children the tools that they needed to make that accomplishment. I’m very elated when we come together as a community, and they can see the improvement of not just the school, but the community as a whole. It just makes you want to go a little further.”

You’ve hired how many superintendents?

“We have hired four. We had one in the position that was going out on retirement during the transition of my being elected on the board and him retiring. Each one has been very helpful in directing us and informing us. The one we have now is very considerate, very caring and concerned about the growth of the district, as well as the academics that are instilled in the students.”

What have you found are your best practices?

“Basically, [we want] someone that has the position at heart, not so much in monetary value but in heart. You need a superintendent that’s going to care for all students, all staff, regardless of what level they may be in. You want the type of person that can be diverse, that can understand the culture and the different setting of students because all students don’t come from the same culture. They don’t have the same setting in life, and you need someone sitting there that can balance that and make it work.”

You think you’ve got that right now with Dr. Fenter?

“Oh, yes, no doubt.”

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What led y’all to hire him?

“He was a neighborly citizen in this community. He did so much for our community college and improved it. When I say ‘improved it,’ I mean improved it. The community felt more warm towards him because of this achievement in the past. We felt that if we got somebody that the community was more accepting to work with than someone that we don’t know anything about, we’d better try to go that route, and that’s what we did.”

Have you been able to work with the community college since he came on board?

“Yes, we have students attending every day. We have some that have finished it before they finish high school. It has been a great tool for our children, the trades, to learn the skills that they receive from down in that area. It was a God blessing that we have a facility so close that the access to it is very economical. They don’t have to drive 40 or 50 miles to receive that service.”

Tell me about Marion’s calendar.

“When we first got involved, of course, there was a lot of pushback from teachers and some of the parents, but as we moved forward it was very acceptable because they saw the vision. The superintendent enlightened us with a vision that during the summer months children lose focus. You’re out three months or so, you are not focused on school. That’s a lot of time lost versus dividing it. You’re basically going to school the same amount of days, but it’s being distributed where you can take a break. At first there was some controversy because it was new, but now everyone seems to be accepting of it. You have time to be with your family more. Any kind of projects that you might want to try to get involved with, you don’t have to wait so long to do it, or a short vacation with your family, it gives you all those options. Whether you are doing anything with it, you have it at hand.”

When do you start school?

“When we start school after the seven week break, mostly it’s the early part of

August. [Then we] go nine weeks, and then we take another break.”

Two weeks, right?

“Two weeks. It’s on and on until it just rotates.”

When did you start this?

“Back in 2020, the first part of 2021. We talked about it in ’20, and we actually just pushed it in ’21.”

Was it Dr. Fenter who brought it to you?

“Oh, yeah, of course. He’s a sharp guy as far as innovating things that we need to do in education.”

You mentioned that there was some pushback from the community at first.

“Yes because parents, they’re going to be parents, and they had some concerns about working, who’s going to be at home with my children, and vice

I didn’t really sign up for a lifetime. I have told myself several times that after my term was up, I was going to not run again. Each time I get encouragement from the community, from the mayor, city councils, church leaders. I guess people are in a hole. They always would share their concerns. You know, ‘You’re needed.’ And with that recommendation, it just motivates you.

” versa. All of the concerns that they had, it was welcomed, but giving them that break and giving them that option to do other things … outweighed their concerns. We still haven’t won a hundred percent, but we’ve got a good 75% that we have won. They have accepted.”

Did you make the case that the students would have a better education this way?

“Yeah, no doubt. We have seen grade levels improve. We have seen graduation levels improve. The discipline in the school has declined. Now we have very small amounts of expulsion and we attribute that to the breaks.”

How does the break help in these areas?

“As I said earlier, it helps because it relieves tension. It gives people time to regain and to have a vision about education. When you’re at something that’s all the time, all the time, you have no breathing room. It gives you a chance to make adjustments, and at some point in life the older we get and as children get older, they get tired of doing the same old thing over and over. You’ve got to keep them motivated with doing different things and fortunately sometimes you have to be the first one to do it. Any time you’re the first one, you know, it’s like, well, are you crazy? Nobody else is doing it.”

Do you think students are rejuvenated as well as the teachers?

“I think that the students, in my view, appreciated it. They welcomed it. At first, they didn’t understand it, and I think a lot of your downfall with moving anything forward is understanding it. In any workplace or anywhere that there’s going to be a change, people are going to resent it because they don’t understand it.”

Summertime is the traditional time for different sports and family trips and everything. Does everybody just kind of squeeze that into the seven weeks?

“When you really just look at it and just come down to earth, who’s going to take two or three months just actually on vacation? You have very few. Most of your vacation is only going to be a couple of weeks at the most. Money wise, everything is so expensive. Unless you’ve just got a lot of money, two or three weeks [is] all you’re going to go anyway. And all the other time is just going to be time, as I said before, it’s just wasted. So take that time and make something positive from it.”

Do kids otherwise grow up with the expectation that somewhere I’m going to get three months, and in real life you don’t get three months?

“Yeah, that’s what I said prior to our conversation that it’s very important to have a superintendent that has a vision. The Good Book says that a man without a vision will perish, and that’s what we need. Everybody’s not going to agree, but at least you’ve got one. And once people can understand it, it takes time.

“It took time for it to get to where it’s at, but it’s there now, and we have other school districts and community leaders asking how we do it, where it came from. I have gone to different workshops, and when other board members find out I’m from Marion, they ask questions like, ‘Man, y’all have got this. How’s this work? How’s that work? … We’re going to carry this back to our district. We’re going to try this. We’re going to try that.’

“So it’s getting out that it’s a good thing. It’s not a bad thing. It’s a good thing.”

Is it something that you’re proud of, that you’ve been the first to do this?

“Sure. Any time that you’re the first of something, it’s like you’re a role model, or you’re the model for improvements, and that’s what Marion wants to be. It wants to be a model for improving. We don’t have maybe the big factories and other things that some of the larger cities, many smaller cities may have, but we want to be a model for education.”

What happens in Memphis good and bad – and it’s not all bad – totally affects Marion.

“Yes, I mean, most people in this area work in Memphis, even myself, and what does go on up there does impact us. One of the things that impacts us is that we have a lot of people that have moved from Memphis to this area because of our school and because of the level of crime that we don’t have. They want comfortable settings to raise their children without them being chained up all the time, and Marion offered that. West Memphis offered that.”

You’ve been doing this for 32 years. What do you look forward to for the next four?

“You know, as times change, and as life changes, I’m looking to be prepared for these changes because they’re going to come, and having the right tools to deal with them with whatever changes might come before us. Each day with government, each time you have an election, you don’t know what it’s going to do to you and to your district, so you just try to have an open mind and be prepared to deal with it. You just can’t lay out and say, well, I’m going to do this and I’m going to do that, because you don’t know what’s coming towards you. When the Legislature and governor and all reconvene and come out this spring with new rules, new regulations, we want to be able to adjust if by chance we have to. We want to have the knowledge and the tools to make that adjustment well. … Each time, it’s a different tweak on what you might have to do and what you may not have to do.”

Note: Executive Session is edited for length, style and clarity.

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