Editor’s note: The charge against Patsy Hughey for fraudulent use of a credit or debit card was dismissed in July 2017.
PINE BLUFF -- The Dollarway School Board has fired Superintendent Patsy Hughey after five months on the job.
Lisa Lenox, an administrative assistant at the Dollarway School District, said the board voted 4-3 Monday night to fire Hughey, effective immediately.
Attempts to reach Hughey on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Tammi Docket-Wilson, the school district's improvement specialist, has been appointed interim superintendent.
Board Secretary Gene Stewart, who made the motion Monday night to fire Hughey, said he and other board members believed the district needed a stronger leader who has experience dealing with troubled schools.
"We have a lot of serious issues here at Dollarway," Stewart said. "Those troubles were not caused by [Hughey], and we know that. We just need to get someone who knows how to guide us and make us a better district.
"The search for a new superintendent is going to take some time. We aren't going to rush this. Ultimately, we are looking for someone who can hold everyone accountable and turn things around."
In July, a state Board of Education committee initiated quarterly monitoring of the Dollarway School District to ensure that administrators keep working to improve student success at the high school.
The district is considered by the state to be academically distressed, with fewer than half of its students scoring at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams over a three-year period.
Hughey's termination marks the second time in less than a year that the Dollarway School Board has fired a superintendent. In April, the board voted to fire Bobby Acklin, whom the state education commissioner had appointed to lead the district in May 2013, after the previous Dollarway School Board was dissolved by a state takeover for poor academic performance.
District violations cited in the takeover included failure to ensure all teachers had proper state licenses and inaccurate record-keeping in regard to student transcripts, putting some students in jeopardy of not graduating on time.
State officials reported that the district committed no violations of state accreditation standards in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years. The state handed control of the district to a new board in October 2014.
Board members said at the time of Acklin's firing that he wasn't doing enough to improve the district's education standards. They then hired Hughey -- who had previously served as the district's director of federal programs -- as interim superintendent before later hiring her for the position.
Hughey served one year as superintendent at the Stephens School District -- from 2013-14 -- and spent 13 years working in various capacities for the Camden-Fairview School District before moving to Dollarway.
News of Hughey's firing took at least one Dollarway parent by surprise Tuesday.
Regina King, whose daughter attends Dollarway High School, said she had been planning to meet with Hughey about ideas she had to improve the district. Now, she said, she doesn't know what to do.
"I really think it looks bad to fire someone who has only been on the job for a few months," King said. "The woman didn't have time to do anything. They didn't even give her a chance."
Stewart said King's argument was valid and that Hughey didn't commit any egregious act to cause her termination.
"It's just that we need to go in a new direction," Stewart said. "And I hope people can understand that. We've got to turn things around here at Dollarway. We thank Mrs. Hughey for her services and wish her well."
State Desk on 11/04/2015