Dick Johnson to hold news conference

According to a press release issued today by the Fayetteville Public School District, assistant superintendent and athletic director Dick Johnson will hold a news conference on Thursday, August 6 at 10am in the Adams Leadership Center. Most likely, Johnson will be discussing his resignation which was announced earlier this week.

The news that Johnson had stepped down from both positions came as a surprise to some. It was only a little over two months ago that the Northwest Arkansas Times’ Heath Allen began a story with the words, “Dick Johnson isn’t going anywhere.”

At the time, Allen’s story served as confirmation that Johnson would remain on board as the Fayetteville School District’s athletic director even though he’d previously decided to resign from that position to focus solely on his role as assistant superintendent.

Of course, a lot of things have changed since May. Superintendent Bobby New has been replaced by Vicki Thomas and there’s quite a controversy brewing in terms of how we’re going to be funding the brand new Fayetteville High School.

Johnson did not return e-mail messages sent by us.

He’s done a lot for the district over the years and it’s possible Johnson’s just ready to relax. We’ll know more tomorrow.