Pine Bluff School District officials Tuesday announced a funding partnership with the state of Arkansas for an estimated $22 million to $23 million building plan, an undefined amount of which will go toward construction of a new Pine Bluff High School.
PBSD assistant superintendent Wanda Van Dyke said the plan was approved by a legislative board more than a month ago, but it was finally announced to stakeholders during an open forum at the Pine Bluff Convention Center auditorium, along with plans for the upcoming school year.
"We submit our plans for a partnership, and they review it," Van Dyke said of the legislative board. "There's a 'Warm, Safe and Dry' plan and a footage replacement plan. We submitted that [latter] plan, and it takes about a year-and-a-half to develop.
"Our partnership plan is, this is what our hope would be to do. They review that plan, and they basically prioritize what schools need, so they may come back and say, 'Hey, we think it's a good plan, a needed plan, good job. We'll approve it, but we're not going to give you any money.'"
Instead, according to Van Dyke, the legislative board agreed to partner with the district, which is operating under control of the Arkansas Department of Education.
"That's based on our wealth index in our community," she said. "So, wealth index is kind of on a 1-point system. So, we come in right at 49, 50 points, so they pick up 51 percent and we'll pay the 49 percent."
District officials did not release a floor plan or artist rendition of the planned high school, but Van Dyke said new buildings would be constructed at the campus's present location at 711 W. 11th Ave. A date for the start of the project has not yet been announced.
Van Dyke said the construction plan is a culmination of both the high school project and other campus projects yet to be revealed.
"We're going to reposition the high school," she said. "So, it's a footage replacement, meaning if we want 3,000 feet, we've got to take 3,000 feet down. So, we'll be looking at some of the older buildings on campus. It's just not a wise investment to try to renovate."
PBSD Superintendent Barbara Warren said plans for a new high school campus emerged before talks of the PBSD annexing the Dollarway School District, a move the state Board of Education approved last December and took effect July 1.
Warren said in May her goal is for all nine campuses of the annexed PBSD -- including Dollarway High School -- to remain open as long as it's feasible. The present Dollarway High campus on Fluker Avenue was renovated in 2010 when Robert F. Morehead Middle School was at the location.
"It is more about creating a state-of-the-art educational center that our entire community can be proud of, that when our students go off and see all this wonderful stuff that they can say, 'Hey, we can do those great things,'" Warren said.
She did not definitely say whether a new Pine Bluff High School would be in any way a step toward merging it with Dollarway High, which has long been rumored.
"... So it's not the purpose -- as a matter of fact, all this came up before there was even a conversation about annexation -- but I think it would be awesome for the entire community to connect around a new high school," Warren added.