The Arkansas Rural Ed Association announced De Queen Public Schools Superintendent Jason Sanders as one of its two 2024 AREA Superintendents of the Year. For their outstanding leadership in education, the AREA recognizes two Superintendents of the Year, one from North and one from South of Interstate 40. The candidates are nominated by Educational Service Cooperatives, which are AREA members. The AREA is proud of the dedicated superintendents who make up this large community and effectively lead Arkansas rural districts.
“I am most proud of the culture of learning and continued academic success here at De Queen Schools,” Superintendent Sanders said. “This year, four out of five campuses in our school system are rated as an A or B campus. Also, one of our campuses was selected as the Home of the 2024 Arkansas Teacher of the Year. De Queen has the absolute best teachers and students in Arkansas!”
Under the leadership of Superintendent Sanders, De Queen Public Schools has introduced several new academic programs that have helped students, such as DQTV, Leopard Launch (associate degree), Leopard Medical Academy (concurrent credit), Intro to Teaching (concurrent credit), pre-engineering, robotics, and e-sports, The district also opened the Leopard Care Clinic through a partnership with Dr. Randy Walker.
Superintendent Sanders joined De Queen Public Schools as an assistant superintendent in 2018 and was tasked with overseeing the construction of the new De Queen High School. After the retirement of Superintendent Bruce Hill in 2019, he was promoted to Superintendent. Under his leadership, the district continued to improve its facilities and build on its tradition of academic success despite facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the past six years, the district has made twenty-five million dollars worth of facility improvements and has several ongoing projects. Ground is about to be broken for a new school farm so that students who do not have access to acreage can still participate in animal science and agricultural opportunities. The district has implemented several new partnerships, such as Chartwells and Senic Solar Energy.
Superintendent Sanders stated, “I am very thankful to the Board of Directors for hiring me at De Queen Public Schools and allowing my family to call De Queen home.”