PINE BLUFF -- The Teach Pine Bluff initiative announced its first round of scholarships Wednesday, awarding seven teachers from the Watson Chapel, Pine Bluff, and Dollarway school districts money to get master's degrees in their content areas.
In return, the teachers will commit to living and working in Pine Bluff for three years.
Under the Teach Pine Bluff Initiative, certified teachers with bachelor's degrees can qualify to have 100% of their graduate school tuition paid at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff or the University of Arkansas at Monticello, said Ryan Whatley, director of Go Forward Pine Bluff.
He said teachers can attend other universities in the state and still receive the scholarship, provided their content area requires classes at a university other than one of the three originally proposed. Those teachers, he said, will receive up to $20,000 toward their tuition.
Nine teachers were selected, Whatley said, but two declined the scholarships.
The teachers selected for the scholarships are:
• Ryan Amberly Acker of the Pine Bluff School District, Master of Education in Secondary Mathematics at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
• Yolanda Bush of the Watson Chapel School District, Master of Education in Mathematics at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
• DaNeen Higgins of the Watson Chapel School District, Master of Education in Educational Leadership at ASU-Jonesboro.
• Jalon Hughes of the Watson Chapel School District, Master of Education in Educational Leadership at Harding University.
• Virginia Humphrey-Gulley of the Dollarway School District, Master of Education in Educational Leadership at Harding University.
• Damiccah Shauntae Robertson of the Pine Bluff School District, Master of Education in Educational Leadership at UA-Monticello.
• Crystal LaTonia Shelby of the Dollarway School District, Master of Education in Special Education-ALP at UA-Fayetteville.
"This is an opportunity for me to continue to serve my special needs students in the Dollarway School District," said Shelby, who is in her third year of teaching. "Without the scholarship, I wouldn't have been able to continue my education."
Mildred Franco, executive director of the Generator-An Innovation Hub, part of Go Forward Pine Bluff, said the scholarship is a way to raise the education level of teachers in the Pine Bluff area, which she said will benefit the teachers directly, and will also benefit the students of the districts by attracting good teachers.
"We are committed to having three [groups] of nine per year," Franco said. "That means 27 teachers who will have degrees of master's of education, and who will have committed to teach in Pine Bluff. That is huge."
Franco said interest in the initiative is strong in the districts and she hopes to find additional funding sources in order to provide even more scholarships.
"We had 50 applicants and we could only choose nine," she said. "So the desire is there, the need for critical content mastery is there, but we have to start somewhere and this is the beginning."
The initiative was launched this year by Go Forward Pine Bluff as a way to attract teachers to the city. Area businesses have pledged $690,000 to fund the tuition costs.
Terms of the Teach Pine Bluff Initiative require teachers to earn their master's degrees within a four-year period. Once a master's degree is obtained, a participant must teach for a minimum of three years in the three districts.
The Pine Bluff School District is the largest of the three districts with 3,557 students. Of the 190 classroom teachers, 149 are certified while 41 are non-certified but have received waivers to teach, said Superintendent Jeremy Owoh.
The Watson Chapel School District has 2,391 students and 178 classroom teachers, said Superintendent Jerry Guess. Of those teachers, 158 are certified and 20 have received waivers.
The Dollarway School District is the smallest of the three, with 980 students and 77 teachers, seven of whom have received waivers.
State Desk on 09/12/2019