Of all the possible campus closures that could have taken place in the Pine Bluff School District, Jack Robey Junior High was the last one Mattie Collins expected.
"Of course, I was disappointed," Collins said, reacting to Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree's announcement the district's secondary schools would be consolidated down to Robert F. Morehead Middle School (grades 7-9) and Pine Bluff High School (grades 10-12) starting with the 2023-24 school year, closing Jack Robey and Dollarway High School. "I live right down the street from Jack Robey. My daughter went to Jack Robey. I love the school."
Following a video message announcing the mergers Wednesday, Barbaree said the district must reduce the number of campuses in operation from nine to seven to remain fiscally strong and help it to exit state control. Barbaree said it would have been more expensive to make needed repairs to Jack Robey, which opened in 1986, than keep the Morehead campus, which opened in 1999, in operation.
Losing Jack Robey after this school year came as a surprise to Collins, a retired PBHS world history teacher. She wished that could have been part of the agenda at Monday's board meeting.
"I wasn't prepared for it," Collins said. "I thought the community would talk about something that big before it happened. I love the kids, and I'll always want to do what's best for them, not for me. I think it deserves a community discussion. Our kids are important, no matter where they live."
Barbaree said she did not meet with community members about the mergers, adding the decision would affect faculty and staff the most.
Rosalind Mouser, an attorney and district supporter, said she wasn't surprised by the decision.
"The reason I would say that is when Dollarway was annexed into Pine Bluff, we were always going to have too many buildings because we had a decline in the number of students," Mouser said. "I don't know that I would be surprised by what Superintendent Barbaree announced. She personally informed me she was walking through all the buildings."
Mouser said she would defer to Barbaree's knowledge and expertise, adding she had to take into consideration the number of students on each campus and the condition of buildings.
"I think she's looking at all of those aspects to keep children safe," Mouser said.
Then-Superintendent Barbara Warren last year considered Jack Robey a temporary site for Pine Bluff High students to attend when the latter campus was addressing its safety infrastructure due to acts of violence on or near the campus. That further confused Collins as to why Jack Robey would be shut down.
Since then, the PBSD has beefed up security and installed fencing around the school.
LOSING DOLLARWAY HIGH
Consolidating the student body at Dollarway High into Pine Bluff High was expected, after the Dollarway School District was annexed into the PBSD in July 2021. That didn't make receiving the news any easier for Booker Mays Jr., a district assistant athletic director who joined Dollarway schools as a junior high teacher and coach in 1990.
"Like a bombshell, but you knew it was coming," Mays said. "You just hated to see it come."
Dollarway and Pine Bluff high schools have fallen on hard times in recent years, largely due to academic issues and fiscal distress due to a dropping student population. According to data from the Arkansas Department of Education, Dollarway enrolls 163 students in grades 10-12, compared to 583 students at Pine Bluff High.
"We've got to go by what the data says, and the data says we're low in numbers, and the administrators and everyone else thought it was best to go on ahead and put everybody together," said James Jones, a longtime basketball coach at the Morehead and Dollarway High campuses. "Data doesn't lie, and the data kind of supported that decision."
Barbaree also said she will recommend to the PBSD limited-authority board that some non-licensed teachers not have their contracts renewed, although she doesn't intend to do a reduction in force.
"It's going to be a lot of people losing positions," Mays said. "It's just sad to see Dollarway come to an end after 33 years of being a powerhouse that everybody in the state respected."
Mays learned about the upcoming mergers as Barbaree met with Dollarway High teachers at the school cafeteria Wednesday. Barbaree informed teachers and staff members at each PBSD campus ahead of her recorded message.
The campus, renovated in 2009, could still be used to house some junior high students since it is across the street from Morehead.
"The air didn't go out of the room," Mays said. "Everybody had an inkling of what was going to happen. They've been saying it for two years now, and it finally came to fruition [Wednesday]."
ALL ZEBRAS
With the mergers, all athletic and activity clubs will be known as the Pine Bluff Zebras, effectively retiring the Dollarway Cardinals brand.
"A lot of people are excited about it, and then some people are not so excited about it," Billy Dixon, the PBSD athletic director and Zebras basketball head coach, said on the eve of his 5A state quarterfinal game against Nettleton today. "Anytime you have that type of consolidation take place, people losing their alma mater, losing what they've worked for years for, some of those people are going to be disappointed."
Collins, a community volunteer known for her presence in education-related events, noted some of the disdain from parents who asked her about the impending mergers.
"All of them are upset because they love their school," she said. "This was a total shock.
"I don't know why we weren't called. To me, that should have been on the agenda."
The transition to an all-Zebra identity has been slow, given the district annexation that followed the state's 2015 takeover of the Dollarway district and 2018 takeover of the PBSD, Dixon said. Pine Bluff will remain in Class 5A, the second-highest level under the Arkansas Activities Association based on student population for sports other than football (in which 7A is the highest), and Dixon anticipates the Zebras will remain there for the AAA's 2024-26 conferencing cycle.
"We want a positive approach to welcoming those kids to the Pine Bluff School District and seeing things happen in athletics the way it should happen," he said.
The Dollarway Cardinals floor is shown at the Dollarway Fieldhouse in August. The Cardinals identity will be retired in the Pine Bluff School District after this school year with the consolidation of its junior and senior high schools. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Pine Bluff School District Athletic Director Billy Dixon, right, talks to Sylvan Hills High School basketball Coach Kevin Davis before a 5A state tournament game Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. Dixon is also the Pine Bluff High basketball coach. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)