Pine Bluff School District citizens reviewed three school board zone scenarios presented by the Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Office during a town hall Tuesday night at the Dollarway High School cafeteria.
But one group of stakeholders suggested a fourth scenario would account for an equal number -- 5,423 -- of residents in each of the seven voting zones. Shelby Johnson, state geographic information officer, told interested citizen Charline Wright he would be interested in drawing up a fourth scenario based on the boundaries she and a few others suggested.
"We would want to look at the maps you designed off of," Johnson told Wright, who responded: "They were designed off of your maps, your former Dollarway and Pine Bluff zones."
Wright said the concern she shared with others is that those who live in communities such as Moscow and Tamo would not run for a seat, which she believes would cause the annexed school district to lose a seat on its board. The Pine Bluff School Board would include seven seats based on its total population of 37,961, Johnson said.
The district last month issued a report on redistricting efforts. School districts, like cities, states and congressional districts, undergo a redrawing of governing zones every 10 years based on the U.S. Census, and presented the current PBSD zone, as well as former PBSD and Dollarway zones and the three scenarios. Dollarway was annexed into the PBSD last July 1.
The report and maps can be accessed at pinebluffschools.org by clicking Community Resources and then School Board Zone Update.
The Arkansas Department of Education, which operates the PBSD, asked the GIS Office to draw up three potential school board boundaries the district will use when an appointed local board is reinstated. Stacy Smith, deputy commissioner of the ADE, gave an updated timeline for when such a limited-authority board could be installed, saying the start of the 2022-23 school year would be the earliest point.
"The first step is, we've got to set the zones," Smith said. "When that is decided that is the recommendation, it goes to a voting commission that actually reviews it."
Smith said state and district officials have discussed recommending to the state board a locally appointed board for which interested citizens could apply and be interviewed, a process she said was used when local control was returned to the Little Rock School District.
"For an appointed board, that could happen as early as this fall," Smith said, further specifying the start of the school year.
An earlier timeline Smith shared during a January stakeholder meeting at Pine Bluff High School outlined consideration for an appointed or elected local board with limited authority by November of this year, with the limited authority board for transition purposes with state support and approval by January 2023. State and district leaders also considered full release of the PBSD based on progress toward a strategic plan by November 2023.
"And then for an elected board, you'd have to get in an election cycle to actually elect board members," Smith said. "So, we could actually have a locally appointed board earlier."
Tuesday's town hall was held hours after Go Forward Pine Bluff CEO Ryan Watley asked state Education Department Commissioner Johnny Key to "move aggressively" to return the PBSD to a locally elected board. Smith said there is no faster way an elected board could be reinstated.