FARMINGTON -- One of the defining qualities of legacy means no success without a successor and outgoing Farmington superintendent of schools Bryan Law leaves the district primed for continuing growth.
Law's last day on the job will be June 30 before he takes over leadership of the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative and Jon Paul Laffoon, his replacement, moves into the superintendent's office.
Speaking after Monday's school board meeting Law predicted great things are going to happen in the community and the district will continue to grow.
"It's going to grow in the right way and I look forward to watching it grow. I look forward to working across the street still getting to work with some of the staff in a different role," Law said. "This has truly been a blessing in my life to get to be here at Farmington the 20 years that I've been here and it's bittersweet to leave, but I know great things are going to happen for this school district."
The district showed its appreciation for Law's contributions highlighted by completion of three phases of expansion beginning with the 1,800-seat Cardinal Arena and Performing Arts Center; the new high school campus; and the $16 million state-of-the-art Farmington Sports Complex showcased at Cardinal Stadium, a 3,700-seat venue for football and soccer along with separate track and field facilities.
During its May 18 meeting Farmington school board designated the street connecting State Highway 170 and functioning as access to Cardinal Stadium and the Farmington Sports Complex as Bryan Law Way. The street loops around Farmington High School and intersects State Highway 170 at two points.
Matt Wilson, a 2017 Farmington graduate, who first attended Delta State University at Cleveland, Miss., and now the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith on a basketball scholarship, marvels at the improvements in the last three years since he walked the halls of the former high school campus on Double Springs Road.
"It's been crazy to me because we only had the arena when I was in high school," Wilson said. "I came back during Christmas break my first year from college -- just seeing the high school, seeing the construction on the football field, then last fall getting to come for the first football game was just really cool to see how it all kind of came together and how much it's grown."
Farmington hosted the Class 4A State basketball tournament March 4-7 with the girls basketball team coached by Brad Johnson winning twice to advance to the State Finals, which were canceled due to covid-19 concerns, and the Lady Cardinals were declared co-state champions for 2020 along with Star City, the other team to qualify for the finals. From Wilson's perspective -- winning the state championship in girls basketball was predictable.
"That's awesome and it's been a long time coming and I know Coach J has had a few teams that have gotten really close, a couple of Runner-ups and semifinals. I knew it was coming. It was only a matter of time," Wilson said.
Law put his heart and energy into working for the district. Monday's school board meeting was his last as superintendent and both he and members of the board expressed mutual appreciation for the work they've done together. A few tears were shed as the meeting concluded.
"This is a wonderful place to be. It's a wonderful place to work. It's a wonderful place to live. It has a great sense of community and pride in its school district," Law said. "When you have your neighbors that are larger, you have a lot of things in the community, but in this community the school is very important and it's a wonderful school. It has a wonderful staff, wonderful students and I've been blessed to get to work with these people."
"Hopefully, I can take a little bit of pride in what we've done and future things that are going to move forward," Law said.