There was a time when Jacob Hayward thought his career path would include scrubs and stethoscopes.
“My first passion and desire was to go into the field of medicine and become a doctor,” he said. “When I left Hendrix [College], though, I just sort of lost that drive a little bit.”
What Hayward didn’t lose was his drive to help and educate people.
After a four-year stint in the Army, Hayward returned to school and embarked on a journey that has led to a 20-year career in education. And when the new school year gets underway on Wednesday, Aug. 14, Hayward will begin his first year in a new role as principal at Eureka Springs High School. Hayward replaces David Gilmore, who left the district to become superintendent at Green Forest.
“I’m definitely nervous and excited at the same time,” Hayward said. “It’s that feeling I always get about this time of the year, getting into preparation for returning to school, the feeling where you want to make sure everything is perfect and ready to go.
“I have felt very supported. I’ve gotten a chance to get to know some of the teachers and the staff and Mr. [Bryan] Pruitt has been very supportive in my transition.”
Hayward, who most recently was a middle school principal in Siloam Springs, is originally from Mount Vernon, Mo. His family moved to Springdale when he was in the fourth grade and he graduated from Springdale High School before earning his undergraduate degree at Hendrix College in Conway.
Degree in hand, Hayward enlisted in the Army, where he spent four years stationed at Fort Bliss in Texas working with the Patriot Missile System, he said.
“When I got out [of the Army] I went back to school and got my first master’s degree at SMU and started considering options of careers,” Hayward said. “I landed on teaching.”
It only made sense for the now fourth-generation educator.
“I realized everything I was doing was always coming back to, I want to learn this so I can teach others more about it,” he said. “So, it finally made me realize that why I was learning things was to be able to teach other people about it, because I felt like that was really cool to share information and help people grow and learn in their own ways with the information I provided to them. So it’s clicked. It makes sense.
“My mom’s in education, my stepdad is in education, my gramps was a junior high principal for many years and my great-grandfather was a superintendent in Missouri for several years. Education runs in the family.”
After his time at SMU, Hayward returned to Arkansas and enrolled in the state’s non-traditional teacher program before getting hired as a middle school science teacher in Springdale.
A few years later, Hayward became a science specialist with the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative before landing his first administration job as an assistant principal at Southwest Junior High in Springdale. After a stint at Springdale Har-Ber High School, Hayward was hired in 2019 as the middle school principal at Siloam Springs, where he worked before being selected to succeed Gilmore.
“So, I’m currently in my 20th year of teaching and this will be my first stint as a high school principal,” he said.
‘Fell in my lap’
The position “kind of fell in my lap,” Hayward said.
“I got a call from a colleague that said, ‘there’s a position and I’d like to throw your name over there, I think you’d do a great job’ and I said, ‘OK,’ ” he said. “So I came in and interviewed and really enjoyed getting to visit with Mr. Pruitt and learning about the district. I’ve always known about Eureka because we’d come over here for weekends and have always enjoyed the town. The community has always been such a nice place to go to, but I really only knew the district through my interactions as a co-op person.
“But, as I got to look further into it, I really discovered that there’s a high level of excellence here. They’ve really done a great job promoting student learning and having student success. … I knew I could completely support that. So, this gave me a challenge, an opportunity that I had never had before because I didn’t know if I’d ever want to be a high school principal. This allows me that opportunity in a setting that makes sense for me.”
Transitioning to a district and a campus that is much smaller than the schools he’s worked at in the past will be an adjustment, Hayward said, but one he is eager to embrace.
‘Learning Curve’
“It’s definitely been a learning curve for me,” Hayward said of the smaller campus. “The speed and the pace is much different. We have a very high-quality staff and I want to learn from them.
“A lot of times with bigger districts there’s a lot of directives and a lot of initiatives that we have to go forward with. … I’m wanting to see more of what do [the staff] need from me, top down, as opposed to what do they need from bottom up. That way I can really build on those vertical conversation pieces in order to make sure that I’m not overwhelming them with things, but that I’m also not underwhelming them with that they need in order to be successful in the classroom.”
A smaller student population will also be beneficial in getting to better know students and their families at a level that Hayward said he hasn’t really had in the past.
“I can put my arms around every student, literally and figuratively, with 50 kids per grade level, and get to know their names and faces,” he said, adding that he was only able to get to know a small fraction of the students who attended Har-Ber High School in Springdale. “… Now, I get a chance to really get to sit down and get to know the students and their families and kind of help figure out pathways that make sense for them and try to figure out ways to support them while they’re here.
“That’s going to be different for me but is something I’m looking very much forward to.”
Hayward said communicating with staff and students at an effective level is something that has been important to him since his days at Fort Bliss.
“Two things I learned in the military that I really have been conscious about ever since and bring into this setting is, one, as a leader your words are important,” Hayward said. “What you say can impact people in many different ways. That’s something that I’ve had to be thoughtful about, how I say things or phrase things, because I want to be clear in my message and communication, but at the same time I want to make sure I don’t misinterpret or misrepresent something when I say something as well.
“The other thing is, you can’t be a leader of one. To be a leader means that you’re really a service and support. That’s what I do. While I may be principal here, my job is to make sure that the teachers and the students have what they need to be the most successful in their setting. That’s what I learned as an Army officer, too. My soldiers couldn’t do their job if I didn’t provide what I needed to, to give them the success they needed whether it’s training, materials, resources, supplies, things like that.
“Those are the kind of things that I have found to be direct transfers into any leadership role here within the building.”
During his free time, Hayward said he and his wife, Michelle, who works for the Fayetteville School District, spend time with their blended family, especially enjoying eight grandchildren.
“This time of the year is pretty chaotic and hectic, but when we’re not in school we’re usually preoccupied with our grandkids and family,” he said, adding that as a huge fan of Star Wars, he’s known by his grandchildren as “Obi” after the character Obi Wan Kenobi.
Teachers return to campus for inservice days starting on Thursday, Aug. 8, and Hayward said he’s looking forward to having the opportunity to meet all the staff. An open house for students and parents will be from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13, with the first day of classes the next morning.
“Things were great when I got here because my predecessors, Mr. Gilmore and Ms. [Rachal] Hyatt really set myself and my new counselor, Gina Wenger, up for success because so many things have already been done when we walked through the door,” Hayward said. “…I can now turn my attention to the first day of school and making sure it’s good for staff and students.”
