By Mark Buffalo
Staff Writer
LONOKE — Sandi King is the new Lonoke High School principal as she was hired by the Lonoke School Board during a meeting last month. She replaces Marc Sherrell, who is the new director of support services and athletic director.
King comes to Lonoke from Gladewather High School in east Texas where she was the high school principal.
“My husband Mike and I were wanting to come to Arkansas,” King said of how she became interested in the LHS job. “Lonoke is the size town be both like. It is close enough to Little Rock but still in a rural area, which we like. We love the smaller-town atmosphere where the community has more of a family feel. The school district is the perfect size.”
King said she was impressed with everyone she came in contact with, including secretary Vickie Moore and the interview committee.
“All seemed very sincere, warm and welcoming,” King said. “I knew this was the place I wanted to be. I prayed that God would send me where I was supposed to be and everything just fell into place for me here. So I feel there is at least one someone out there who needs me or perhaps there is someone in Lonoke who God needs placed in my life. Either way, I know something positive will come of my being here.”
During her career, King has done many things in education. She’s been a teacher and coach and her husband has also been a coach. She’s taught health, physical education, gifted and talented, theater, future problem solving, mock United Nations and her last eight years in a classroom, she worked in special education.
During her coaching tenure, she’s been a head basketball and track coach. She’s assisted in volleyball and softball. For the last six years, King has been in administration, including two years as an assistant principal in San Felipe Del Rio, which is on the Mexico board.
King received her bachelor’s degree from Stephen F. Austin University and her master’s degree in Educational Leadership at Texas A&M at Texarkana.
King said she’s excited about coming to Lonoke.
“Every district has its hare of challenges and we all want continuous improvement,” she said. “However, I do not believe in change simply for the same of change. I play on doing a lot of observing and assessing both the strengths and weaknesses of the campus. We must be focused on what is best for our students; not what is best of good test results.
“My main objective is to meet the needs of the students, to guide them, help them, discipline them when necessary and encourage them no matter what the situation.”
King and her husband Mike have two grown sons and daughter “in heart.”
Their oldest son is an officer in the Air Force. He and his wife live in Georgia. Their youngest son is a branch manager for Enterprise in Oklahoma.
“I can’t forget my two girls — Bella, our 7-year-old French bulldog and Taza, our fierce and might 15-year-old three-pound Chihuahua,” King said.
