Pine Bluff School Board to meet tonight, first time in 4 years

The Pine Bluff School District is now headquartered in the Jordan-Chanay Administrative Center on Pullen Avenue. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
The Pine Bluff School District is now headquartered in the Jordan-Chanay Administrative Center on Pullen Avenue. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)


More than four years have passed since Pine Bluff School District board members met as a group. That's because the board was nonexistent until now.

For the first time since the Arkansas Department of Education took over the district, a newly selected group of seven will meet with recently hired Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree for a special called board meeting at 6:30 tonight at the Jordan-Chanay Administration Building, 1215 W. Pullen Ave.

"We're excited about sharing information with the public," said Barbaree, who officially took on her role Jan. 3. "I've had several people wanting us to talk publicly and share information with them. They are hungry for information and they are wanting to know more about PBSD. This is a fabulous opportunity to provide information to the citizens who are hungry to know what is happening."

The state takeover of the PBSD in September 2018 due to fiscal distress led to the dissolution of the school board. From that point, all final decisions have been made by the state education secretary, a role now held by Jacob Oliva, one of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' nominees to her first cabinet.

In December the state Board of Education, the policymakers for K-12 education in Arkansas, approved seven new trustees to operate as the PBSD board under a limited authority, meaning all final decisions will still have to be approved by Oliva. The trustees include Jomeka Edwards in Zone 1, Lozanne Calhoun in Zone 2, Ricky Whitmore in Zone 3, Dr. Sederick Charles Rice in Zone 4, Dr. Charles Colen in Zone 5, Dr. Stephen Broughton in Zone 6 and Lori Walker Guelache in Zone 7. Each of the zones was redrawn last year as a result of the 2021 annexation of the Dollarway School District into the PBSD.

The seven trustees were selected through an interview process by a committee organized by the state board and had to go through training before a meeting could be conducted.

"I felt the school board training went very well," Barbaree said, adding that future training is planned for every month and will address policy, finances and parliamentary process, among other things. The Arkansas School Board Association led training Jan. 13.

The agenda for tonight's meeting includes the swearing in of each board member by District 11-West Circuit Judge Jackie Harris, an election of officers (board president, secretary, etc.), a superintendent's report and new business including approval of a purchased service agreement, approval of purchases (for PowerSchool software, CDW-G Malware and CDW-G Desktops), approval to advertise for an architect and approval of personnel.

Barbaree explained she'll have to ask the board for permission to advertise for an architect for the new high school project. Barbaree's predecessor, Barbara Warren, said well before her departure in December that the decision where to construct a new high school would be left to the new board once installed, but public sentiment has pointed toward renovating the current campus at 711 W. 11th Ave.

That decision, however, is not up for discussion tonight, Barbaree clarified.

"There were some specs [of the project] that were drawn back in 2018, but the architect for the project has since retired," Barbaree said. East Harding Construction is the construction manager that was selected for the project in 2018.

LIGHTHOUSE LEADER SHEDS LIGHT ON POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP

The superintendent of Arkansas Lighthouse Charter Schools stressed Wednesday that the system that operates two schools in the same Pine Bluff location is working "collectively" with the Friendship Education Foundation on a possible transfer of those schools.

Lighthouse Superintendent LaShawnDa Noel said the Arkansas Public School Resource Center approached her about Friendship's interest in the K-6 elementary school and grades 7-8 middle school on West Second Avenue. Friendship operates elementary campuses on South Hazel and South Main streets, and a school that houses grades 5 and 12 on West 73rd Avenue.

"It's always been my position to keep students and parents in the best position possible," Noel said. "The APSRC came to Lighthouse about Friendship's interest, and I kept an open mind."

Arkansas Lighthouse Charter Schools was formed as a local education agency by the unification of its campuses in Jacksonville, North Little Rock and Pine Bluff in June 2021. The campuses were previously operated by a national Lighthouse Academies agency, which now operates as a consultant to school districts and other charter schools rather than as a charter management organization like the Friendship Education Foundation.

Friendship and Lighthouse leaders will appear before the ADE's Charter Authorizing Panel on Feb. 14 to hear whether that body will approve the transfer of the Pine Bluff and North Little Rock campuses to Friendship's control. The Pine Bluff Lighthouse schools had been struggling academically and had dealt with a large turnover of students in recent years.

"I think Friendship will do a great job answering all issues," Noel said. "They are a turnaround type of organization."


Upcoming Events