Robin Catt retiring from Marion Schools

Longtime educator putting a cap on 34-year career

Marion School District After 34 years in the education field, Marion School District’s Dr. Robin Catt announced her retirement on Monday. She sent an email to Superintendent Glen Fenter in which she thanked him and people she has met throughout her career for the time they worked together.

“My fondest memories working here all involve serving the people in this district,” Dr. Catt said about her time at Marion.

“To me, being a leader is helping others be successful. When you can go home at night and your heart is filled with joy because you help someone find success, to me is the most rewarding part of my career.”

Catt was born and raised in Turrell, Arkansas and graduated from Turrell High School in 1980. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Speech Pathology from Arkansas State University, she went back to Turrell, where she got her first job, as a third grade teacher at Turrell Elementary School. The first of six superintendents she has worked for was Turrell’s Mickey Mc-Fatridge. McFatridge was from Turrell and would later work for the Marion School District, but also helped Catt grow outside of the classroom.

“(McFatridge) helped raise me,” Catt said about her first employer. “He was the first to hire me, but he also was the first to teach me how to shoot a freethrow.”

Catt spent five years in Turrell, teaching third and sixth grade as well as being the Gifted/Talented Education Coordinator. In 1989, she earned her master’s degree in Gifted/Talented Education from Arkansas State and moved to Marion, where she became the sixth grade Gifted/Talented teacher. She earned a Ed.D in Education in 2005 from Arkansas State in the field of Educational Leadership.

She spent the rest of her career, except for one school year from 19931994 at Steudlein Learning Center, with the Marion School District. Her resume includes her time as a teacher, a middle school principal, a Gifted/Talented Coordinator, the Director