Story by James Leigh
Photos by Donald Cross
Tish Knowles wasted no time after being named the new superintendent at Mountain Pine School District.
After five years at Earle School District, Knowles resigned her position on May 14 and started at Mountain Pine the following day, giving her a unique situation as a new superintendent.
"It was the last two weeks of school, and I'm an observer," she said, noting that coming on six weeks early allowed her to get a glimpse into what the school is like. "But I did not want to go in classrooms and observe the last two weeks of school and get any perceptions in my mind because the last two weeks of school, that's not when you want to go visit classrooms."
Knowles got to know some of the students and teachers, and she even got to experience graduation with the Class of 2024.
"I was able to go to graduation," she said. "I was here when they graduated, so I got to sit on stage with the with the teachers and the students. That was really my first activity with students, so I got to see that senior class."
Since graduation, Knowles has gotten to "see and observe" how the teachers and staff interact and has been able to meet with them.
"It has been quite the process, and to come that early has been an opportunity for me to get to know people," she said. "I came on board before teachers were out of school and staff members were out of school, so I was able to meet with the staff. I met with elementary staff, high school staff, met with the special (education) staff, and got to know people. I met with the custodians and maintenance crew. I just have met with everybody. I don't know everybody's name and faces here, but I'm learning."
Knowles started her career in special education, and after a decade of teaching, she decided to go into administration.
"I was a principal for five years, and then I went to the co-op," she said. "I was at Crowley's Ridge Educational Service (Cooperative) as the Teacher Center coordinator, and then I decided I wanted to go back to school. I was appointed to be superintendent at Earle School District. They were a school district in state takeover. They were in financial, fiscal distress, and so I worked really hard on that with a team of people to help get us out of fiscal distress. And then it's time to move on. I started applying for jobs, and this area came up. I didn't know anything about Mountain Pine until I came here."
The interview process was an all-day affair, Knowles said.
"You would think it would be scary, but it was a six-hour interview," she said. "So I came, and went in the board room, and they had 20-something people, staff members, interview me. They all had a question, and sometimes a follow-up. So I answered all their questions."
Knowles was then taken on a campus tour, and she returned to find a group of 15 or more community members waiting with questions.
"They asked me questions, and they never -- nobody ever asked the same question," she said. "It was different questions, and then after that, I ate dinner with the board. And then they asked me questions. And it's quite the process, but it was really an opportunity to get to know people."
Since taking over as superintendent, Knowles has determined the school district is "a diamond in the rough."
"I knew nothing about Mountain Pine until I moved to this area, and I hear people say, 'Well, we kind of get a bad rap about this or that,' but I don't see that," she said. "I see a diamond in the rough. Yeah, we might need to tweak some things. We might need to make a few changes, but I see that we've got a team of people ready to do that."
Knowles recently watched "The Blue Angels," a documentary about the elite Navy flight demonstration team, and she noticed some correlations between the district and the flight team.
"I have a six-member administration team," she said. "I have two principals, have the special ed supervisor, have a federal coordinator and a curriculum director and myself. The Blue Angels have six pilots, and those six pilots fly as one. I want our team to fly as one, and it gives me chills to think about it."
The goal for that team, Knowles said, is to work together as a team.
"They're not used to working together as a team," she said. "They've worked together as a team in different aspects, but not in the approach that I'm used to working in. Working on a budget is not one person putting in the budget and doing this. It's a team approach. We're looking at it: 'Here's what we need to do. How do we do that?' And I just love what I see, and everybody has been wonderful."
Knowles said she knows Mountain Pine School District is not where it needs to be. According to the Arkansas Department of Education Data Center, for the 2022-2023 school year, the high school had a 59.47 D while the elementary school had a 64.67 D.
"I want everyone to be working as a team, working together," she said, explaining her plan to help improve the district. "I am the kind of superintendent that I'm going to be in classrooms, at least one day a week. I expect our principals will be in classrooms -- I expect them to be in classrooms two days a week. That's my expectation."
The goal is not to catch teachers or students doing something wrong but instead is to be on hand to help them, Knowles said.
"It's not about 'I got you,'" she said. "It's how can we help? So I'm going to be looking for a few things, and it might be different things, different weeks or different days. But I'm going to make sure that our high-quality instructional materials -- and not just me, our principals -- that our high-quality instructional materials are being used with fidelity. Are we utilizing the tools that are provided to you to increase student achievement? That's one.
"What does our behavior look like? Are there certain times in the day where students have increase with incidents, whether it be fights or just squabbles or whatever it is, behavior issues? What does that look like? What are the trends? Are you seeing the same thing over and over? Are teachers sitting down behind their desk and students are going wild? Are we working together as a team? Are our students working together as a team? Is the teacher truly the facilitator in the classroom? So all of these are things that help us get better."
Knowles said that being in the classrooms will also allow the administration to see if there is some teacher excelling at something.
"There might be an opportunity to see things that 'Hey, that person's doing something really good,'" she said. "'I saw this in this classroom the other day. Maybe he can do a professional development, or have a faculty meeting to share tidbits about how he did this, or how she did this.'"
Teachers and staff at Mountain Pine will not be isolated from Knowles, but they need to reach out to her secretary, Tina Herron-Nevels, to set up appointments.
"An open-door policy is not just anybody walking in every day, whenever they feel like it," she said. "They can have access to me -- I don't have a problem with that. I'm very personable, I believe, but that's where Tina comes in."
Knowles' main goal as the new superintendent at Mountain Pine is to help each student excel.
"It's important that we teach our students, utilizing materials that we have with fidelity, and increase their scores," she said. "If I've got a student that just not getting it, what do I need to do differently? Is there somebody else who can reach that child? What do we do? How can we help this child read? Whatever it is. Academic success would be my main goal."
The district also needs to increase enrollment, Knowles said, which is another issue she is working to resolve.
"Our enrollment has gone down over the last 10 years," she said. "It's gone up a couple years, and then down -- up and down. We want that climbing. You're going to be fiscally sound if you have students. That's where you get money, so you've got to have money to run efficiently. And if you're not growing students, if you're declining enrollment and you're still increasing staff, you've got a problem.
"So you want to increase your enrollment, you want to grow your enrollment, and make sure your staff is tight. The biggest chunk of our money pays for salaries, and we have to make sure that we're not overstaffed or understaffed. You've got to look at that balance, and so you've got to grow academically. And that is a challenge for me."
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles walks through the parking lot at the school. She is focused on getting everyone to work together to improve student outcomes.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles plans to spend time in teachers' classrooms and talking with them to help improve student success.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles taught special education for 10 years before going into administration, so she feels confident that she can help improve student success.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles looks out over the football field. The new superintendent has been on the job for two months already.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles is focused on improving students academically. The district's schools both have D letter grades from the Arkansas Department of Education.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles feels the district is a "diamond in the rough."
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles has a goal of improving academic success for the district's students while also growing the student population.
Mountain Pine Superintendent Tish Knowles is confident in the administration team at the school district, and she feels that by working together they can make sure the students succeed.