Editor's note: This is part two of a two-part series on the fate of the Dollarway School District.
A unified Pine Bluff district will see the merger with the Dollarway School District effective July 1 under the leadership of Superintendent Barbara Warren, but that decision by the state Board of Education on Thursday came after city leaders, stakeholders and alumni expressed their opinions.
During a public comment period, Go Forward Pine Bluff CEO Ryan Watley, whose organization conducted consolidation studies of all school districts in Pine Bluff, said research showed that Dollarway could not operate independently and still provide quality competitive education.
No matter the decision, Watley said, a team of innovative leaders needed to be established to rebrand the education system and reform it, making it organic to the needs and desires of the community.
"This cannot be accomplished without community voices and a team dedicated to the implementation of those changes," said Watley. "Everything that Pine Bluff is doing hinges on the progress of our schools. We cannot afford to come back in this room three years later and talk about the consolidation and annexation of Pine Bluff."
The timetable Watley was referring to was that the Pine Bluff district is itself under state control and has until 2023 to be returned to local control or consolidated with another district. Dollarway has been under state control for five years, and Thursday was the deadline for the state board to decide what would happen to it. Through much analysis and with the help of an education consulting firm, officials had already decided that the district, while it had made improvements, was not in a position to be turned back over to local control.
Mar'Tavius Proctor, a 2019 Dollarway graduate, spoke about the environment of the two school districts and the potential of merger being dangerous for the student body.
"Pine Bluff has a high crime rate," said Proctor. "There's a lot of gang activity at any school that you may visit across the state, and Pine Bluff and Dollarway just happen to be two of those schools. There's a lot of bullying."
Proctor said students have taken guns to school, and consolidation will increase the chance of rival-gang trouble.
City Council member Joni Alexander advised the board to revisit the district boundary lines of the Dollarway district to justify how tax dollars from the Jefferson County Industrial Park are distributed.
"All of this money goes to the White Hall School District with a city population of 5,000 versus Pine Bluff with a population of over 40,000," said Alexander.
"Boundary lines and looking at the history shows clearly that these boundary lines...they existed before the industrial park was ever created," said Key, when he was asked by state board chairperson, Charisse Dean, to address some of the concerns being made by the speakers. "The boundaries of Watson Chapel, Dollarway, Pine Bluff and White Hall, there have been modifications, but those modifications go all the way back to where the districts were classified by numbers so you had unnamed districts."
Key said using the maps provided by the Arkansas Geographical Informational Systems, officials thoroughly studied the boundary lines and didn't have any plans to make modifications.
Key also made clear that Superintendent Warren was very frank during a work session, held earlier in December, about the creation of a school board. At that time, she said she wanted to avoid adding administrative layers to her already difficult task of running both districts. And while Key would not immediately recommend a formal type of group, whether it was an appointed board or advisory board, he said he does think Watley's suggestion for community input will eventually become a part of the transitional process.
"There will be a place for that, but for the sake of the staff members of both school districts, the first priority has to be getting it right, internal policies and procedures rules, regulations and all of those things the district needs to move forward," said Key. "We get that right, then we can start talking about the broader picture of community involvement."
District operations and what that will look like will be Warren's focus as she prepares for the next steps in her journey with the support of the state. Stacy Smith, a Department of Education official, said a dedicated staff was already assigned to Dollarway and Pine Bluff school districts including specialists involved with payroll, special-education curriculum, fiscal matters and leadership.
"This next six months, this transition committee, it is so important and key in making sure all of those decision points are made," said Smith. "The bigger conversation is what happens after six months. We can't stop after six months, and it's not about keeping the Pine Bluff School District at status-quo so that we're not back here in two years talking about what's next."
Smith said officials want Dollarway schools to remain open and vibrant, and they want the Pine Bluff and Dollarway students to have access to each other's resources. "There is support but the real action in my opinion is we have to get the first six months right and then after that, it's what are we working towards," she said.
While both Watley and Alexander said they believe the board's decision to annex is a step in the right direction, the community will play an important role in the success of the unified school district. Proctor did not agree with the choice made.
"I don't like the decision," he said. "I went to school there, and I witnessed various things within that school district, so I feel like the decisions should have been based upon student engagement and students giving their input."
Proctor said he will continue to work with Warren for the betterment of the district and the community and hopes more voices will join in the effort. Warren said she was sad that the Dollarway district did not meet the exit criteria set by the state but that she is proud of all of the hard work that has transpired in the past five years.
The journey for Warren hasn't been perfect, she said, adding that there were some things she wished she had done differently. She said that just as progress was starting to build within the district, she ran out of time.
"We started in a place five years ago, and, literally, I would come here and I felt like a voice crying in the wilderness just saying the same thing over and over again," said Warren. "The systems are broken, the district's on fire, and that was true. There were very few systems operating effectively."
Warren said she is glad that a decision was made and she looks forward to merging the progress of Dollarway with the progress Pine Bluff has already made. Her future hope, she said, is to make good on some of the work Pine Bluff has already begun.
"I can see for sure making certain the elementary schools and middle schools are open and have a community feel, but one day I feel a state-of-the-art high school where both districts will attend" will be needed, said Warren, who added that the Dollarway district has been through a lot. "There are several facilities that Dollarway doesn't have. I do hope in the future we will be able to, as we merge and become a unified district, make certain all of our students have access to the latest and greatest."
As Warren reflected on the district's past, she thanked the Dollarway staff members for their effort, support and faithfulness. She also thanked the Pine Bluff district. As Pine Bluff moves forward, Warren said, her goal is to meet the standard and exit state control before the deadline.
"I am confident that we are going to make great strides," said Warren. "Now that the decision has been made. Let's move forward."