Dr. Tom Kimbrell steps out of his white SUV after a long day of searching for houses. He steps in the administration building, his first time exploring his office since accepting the superintendent position. He finally meets his office staff in person, yet he speaks to him as if he’s known them his whole life. He’s known for his down-to-earth personality, commenting that he rarely chooses to wear a tie. And yet, he’s one of the most influential men in the Arkansas public school system.

The school board chose Kimbrell as the district’s new superintendent April 24. He will be leaving his tenure as the Arkansas Education Commissioner under Gov. Mike Beebe, and his contract here doesn’t take effect until July 1, when former superintendent Randy Rutherford’s separation with the district is final.

Kimbrell said he started his career in education administration in 1984 as a teacher and coach in Pocahontas. From there he continued to teach science and coach in Paragould, where he would return after a short stint in Koi as a high school administrator. He served as superintendent for Paragould for 11 years until he left for a year as superintendent at North Little Rock.

Afterwards he became the executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators from 2005 to 2009. He said he was then asked by Gov. Beebe to become the Arkansas Education Commissioner in 2009.

“I have a litany of different experiences from small schools to medium and large-size schools,” Kimbrell said. “I’ve also had every administrative job dealing with principals, teachers, business managers and as commissioner, I dealt with every public school in the state.”

Kimbrell said his journey to the district was started through an opportunity offered by school board president Rhonda Sanders and former district superintendent Dr. Richard Abernathy.

“People called about an opening and said they were interested,” he said. “I knew my next step was probably going to become superintendent again, so I wanted to go to a school district that my seventh grade daughter would enjoy going to with a challenging academic program in a community with opportunities for extracurricular activities.”

Kimbrell said he believes his experience is what set him apart from the five other candidates applying for the position.

“I’ve been with the Administrator’s Association and having been the commissioner, that job is a phenomenal place to learn,” he said. “There’s not another place in the world like it in public education. I’ve learned more in the most five years than I could ever imagine.”

His hiring comes right after the district’s recent audit that cited financial mishandlings and is widely believed to be the reason for Rutherford’s dismissal. Though he said he wasn’t completely aware of the entire situation, he is ready to gain back the public’s trust.

“Through the years, I’ve been known as someone who’s very honest and operate under issues of great integrity. I try to boil things down to simple terms and try to resolve problems face to face. I try to get things done in a way people understand,” Kimbrell said. “The way to approach this is to get back out into the community and be honest, show people numbers, seek input from others and make this about all of us, primarily focused on students rather than the adults. If you can always answer the question, ‘Is this decision what’s best for students?’, you can never go wrong.”

Shortly before the job opened in April, Kimbrell showed interest in a superintendent position in the Fayetteville School District, but he said he had a feeling this is where he was supposed to be.

“My gut’s told me a lot of times where I needed to be. I’m a person that believes the good Lord puts you where you’re supposed to be when you’re supposed to be there,” he said. “I’ve passed up a job in Springdale as assistant superintendent because my gut told me to stay in Paragould. I worked harder to get the Cabot superintendent job than any other job I’ve ever tried to get, and it didn’t work out. The way things worked out, I have a really good feeling about it.”

He also said location played a major role.

“It’s centrally located. I’ve built a huge relationship with legislators, and three hours away at Fayetteville is tough. I did it at Paragould, and that was hard on my family. Plus, the community: Bryant is Bryant because of the school district, and I want to be a part of that.”

Kimbrell said he intends to see the district in a new direction.

“I think in the next years, people will see Bryant become one of the most progressive school districts in the state. I think what we have to do is create more opportunities for students to have multiple tracks in and out of career and college pathways,” he said. “Blending learning from the use of technology and the ability for students courses that are not typical courses where you’re always face to face with a teacher in a classroom, but being to do it at different times.”

He also said he wanted to institute more hands-on classes and learning centers built on student career focus, and that it starts with more with building relationships with surrounding colleges and universities.

“My goal is within three years, we’ll have half the seniors that walk across the stage not only receive their high school diploma, but at least an associate degree so that they at least have two years of college under their belt,” Kimbrell said. “We’re improving the college completion rate for our students here in the district.”

When the proposed millage increase failed in February, it left the district with one final attempt to ask the community before being forced to accept state aid and direction for new facilities. Kimbrell said passing the increase starts with asking and answering the right questions.

“When I heard the numbers, it told me that most of the teachers didn’t support it,” he said. “Why did they not support it? There’s a lot of questions I need to ask, and I need to figure out what the problems were with it. Then we need to answer those questions and come up with a solution to their concerns.”

Whatever the solution is, Kimbrell said he remains optimistic he’ll find it.

“I think this community wants this school district in the state of Arkansas, and they’ll do whatever it takes as long as they’re a part of the solution,” he said. “The solution is not something that’s quietly tried to be bulled over on them. You have to be open and honest about it.”