Think your local school board does all the heavy lifting looking for a new superintendent? Think again.
Your tax dollars may be paying for an expensive consulting firm with curious connections.
McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C, based in Omaha, Neb., is a popular firm for Arkansas school districts to hire. Founded in 1991, McPherson & Jacobson has placed “more than 750 superintendents and other officials in public and non-profit organizations.”
McPherson & Jacobson's Arkansas consultants are educators with deep ties in the state.
Dr. Kieth Williams is McPherson and Jacobson’s lead consultant, joining the firm in 2009. He spent 16 years as a superintendent, according to his bio on the company’s website. He is an associate professor of education leadership at Harding University in Searcy.
How intertwined is he to a current superintendent? Very.
Several news articles show that Williams is the father of Cleveland County School District's Jerrod Williams. Prior to landing in Cleveland County, Williams was the superintendent of the Sheridan School District where he left under a cloud of controversy.
Dr. Kieth Williams met with the Sheridan School Board prior to the hire. The board voted to spend at least $11,500 for four phases of the search.
Other McPherson representatives apparently finished the hiring process, according to board minutes. Jerrod Williams, who was then Bauxite's superintendent, was hired at Sheridan over another applicant. A third applicant withdrew.
According to this screenshot from a 2018 document, Jerrod Williams even once worked as a McPherson & Jacobson consultant while employed by the Sheridan School District.
Jerrod Williams wasn’t — and isn't — the only superintendent connected to McPherson & Jacobson.
Cabot Superintendent Dr. Tony Thurman was a McPherson consultant in 2018 while he was also the district’s superintendent.
Jerrod Williams and Thurman are no longer listed McPherson & Jacobson consultants on the firm's website. Jerrod Williams was, however, listed as a McPherson and Jacobson consultant in a 2022 proposal for Brevard Public Schools in Viera, Fla.
Other current Arkansas consultants include Dr. T. Kenneth James of Batesville, a former Superintendent of the Year for the State of Arkansas in 1998 and the former commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education; Bobby Lester, former Pulaski County School District superintendent; and Dr. Megan Duncan, a former assistant commissioner of education for the Arkansas Department of Education. Duncan currently is the assistant superintendent for the Conway Public Schools.
Wayne Gibson is also currently a consultant. He serves on the El Dorado School Board.
The amount these consultants are paid is unclear. Are superintendents breaking ethics rules holding two jobs? That's unclear, too.
Our investigation showed some Arkansas consultants also have direct ties to current state government.
What does all of this cost?
How much are taxpayers paying for their school boards to hire McPherson & Jacobson?
It’s unclear in Arkansas how much school districts pay the firm because that information is not readily available on schools’ websites. The Sheridan School District paid at least $11,500.
South Arkansas Reckoning discovered an undated proposal online for a Missouri school to hire McPherson & Jacobson.
Earlier this year, a California news article reported the Stockton Unified School hired McPherson and Jacobson for $43,900 to search for a superintendent. In 2012, the Bellevue School Board in Washington hired the firm for $26,000, which excluded “fees such as transportation costs for finalists to come interview.”
It’s not just superintendents.
The Kentucky Department of Education signed a contract this week with McPherson and Jacobson to lead the search for the state’s next education commissioner. “The contract is effective through June 30, but subject to renewal, with total cost not to exceed $65,250.00. Representatives from the firm attended the meeting.” Read more here.
Tangled Web
McPherson and Jacobson is a curious entity. It not only has consultants hired by school boards and states but those same consultants advise applicants with tips about writing winning resumes, according to their website.
The company also posts job openings on its site and hosts seminars for job seekers. Applicants must apply through the firm’s site.
Currently, no job openings are listed in Arkansas.
The Firm’s Drama
McPherson & Jacobson isn’t without controversy.
Earlier this year in South Carolina, the Richland School District Two school board hired McPherson & Jacobson to lead its superintendent search. One of the company’s consultant? The school district’s last superintendent who left the school district under a “mutual agreement.”
Ironically, Jerrod Williams left the Sheridan School District under a mutual agreement, too.
At the Merced County School District in California, McPherson & Jacobson was fired by the school board in a contentious vote, much to the dismay of administration, after the firm allegedly released information that put the district at risk for potential liability.
What happened to good ol’ education?
Once upon a time, an elected school board chose a superintendent. That makes sense because local folks know best how a person may fit into their community and school.
These days education is big business with most every job from cafeteria workers to custodians to superintendents outsourced.
Why can’t a school board examine resumes? Why pay a consulting firm thousands of dollars to find applicants who have already paid the same firm to “get a leg up” in a job search? Why is it acceptable to spend millions of tax dollars to a consulting firm to do a job that was given to a school board?
McPherson & Jacobson advertises: It's About the Kids!! But is it really?
