Teachers and community members of Strong turned out on Thursday afternoon to send off Superintendent Jeff Alphin. He announced his retirement in January and his last day will be June 30.
Alphin started with the Strong School District in 2014 as the high school principal, a role he’s still currently filling while also taking on the role of superintendent.
He grew up in El Dorado, graduating from Old Union High School – which is no longer around – in 1985 before going to the El Dorado branch of Southern Arkansas University – which is now South Arkansas Community College – and then on to SAU Magnolia. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1990.
Alphin worked in the El Dorado School District at Barton Junior High before returning to school to get a Masters in Education in administrative supervision. From there, he became the high school principal in the Stephens School District.
In 2006, Alphin became the assistant principal at Magnolia Junior High School. While with the Magnolia School District, Alphin served as the juvenile liaison and drug court representative for the school year until 2014.
As part of the party, those there received the chance to talk about their experiences with Alphin.
School Board President Cindy Smith said there’s been good and bad times working with Alphin, but even when they disagreed on something they were both focused on how to make things better for the students.
“I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for the support over the years and working to educate our children,” she said. “That means the world to me. Just thank you and I’m hoping that whatever your endeavors are as you go through this journey called retirement that they’re the best for you.”
Smith said one of her most memorable moments with Alphin was when they first went to the state department for a waiver — relating to the school district having less than 350 students — because Alphin was so prepared.
“I was almost in tears when we came out of that meeting that day because I’m thinking ‘Oh, lord, what is he going to say?’” she said. “It was your first one and he blew it out of the water. He went in. He had all his ducks in a row. I’m sitting there with my mouth open thinking where did he get all this information from in such little time?’ It was a huge success in that when the state department looked at our information, they were like ‘we want y’all to tell the rest of the people what you do down in Strong.’”
Smith also brought up the idea that the Strong-Huttig School District is a village to educate the students the best they can.
Teacher Evelyn Thomas also stood up to speak about Alphin, thanking him for the work that he’s done for the district. She is also with the Strong-Huttig Education Association. She also echoed what Smith said, that even when they disagreed, it was a good working relationship.
“Whenever I have presented to him something that we wanted to do — like the academic banquet, Read Across America — whatever I wanted to do, or the association, he’s all on board,” Thomas said. “He’s always like ‘put me in somewhere.’ Like last year, he said ‘when are you going to do the luncheon for the faculty and staff?’ The first thing we did was sit down to check his calendar. We really have worked together for the Education Association.”
The staff at Strong-Huttig School District came together to give Alphin a “money machine” for when he needs some change. It’s comprised of a box with a pool of bills in it that can be pulled out. Becky Bolding, Gardner-Strong Elementary school improvement specialist, said it goes until it’s all gone, then Alphin comes back to volunteer with the district.
“You’ve heard of planting the money tree, but we thought you’d rather just pull it out,” Bolding said.
Also as part of the party was a wish jar that those in attendance could add to with wishes for Alphin as he goes into retirement.
The overall sentiment was that Alphin has left a good impact on the schools and the community during his time with the district as well as that he’s put his heart into the work he’s done for the district.
“Thank you, I appreciate that,” Alphin said.
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.