With a draw from a deck of envelopes, Pine Bluff School District board trustees learned when their seats would be up for election Monday night.
Lori Walker Guelache in Zone 7 drew the envelope with the white card reading November 2024 from the stack held by Mayor Shirley Washington and shuffled by Council Members Lloyd Holcomb Jr. and Bruce Lockett. Guelache’s seat will be the first on an election ballot since at least 2018, when the previous school board was disbanded due to state takeover.
The Arkansas State Board of Education restored local control back to PBSD last month, meaning the PBSD board — appointed by a state-appointed committee last December — has transitioned from limited-authority and will be an elected panel.
The election dates by zone:
Nov. 5, 2024 — Zone 7 (incumbent Guelache)
November 2025 — Zone 1 (incumbent Jomeka Edwards)
November 2026 — Zone 2 (incumbent Lozanne Calhoun)
November 2027 — Zone 5 (incumbent Charles Colen)
November 2028 — Zone 4 (incumbent Sederick Charles Rice)
Ricky Whitmore Jr. in Zone 3 and Stephen Broughton in Zone 6 were absent Monday and will draw for their election dates in a future board meeting, Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree said. One lot remains for November 2027, with the other for November 2028.
The drawing came after weeks of public outcry over the staggered cycle the state board granted the PBSD last month. Opponents say that all seven board members should run for re-election, alleging that staggering elections doesn’t give district citizens full local control and Act 633 of this year’s Legislature is violated.
Those opponents were not present Monday.
LET THE BUILDING BEGIN
The PBSD board approved 5-0 to move forward with construction of the new Pine Bluff High School at its present West 11th Avenue location. District voters in August approved a millage increase toward a $67.34 million construction bond issue for a new high school, which state education officials considered a major achievement for an entity that sought to leave state control.
“The construction phase relies heavier on structural engineers and civil engineers, and that’s when you get to start meeting with the site utility people,” Barbaree said. “Now, you’ve got to get more detailed drawings on that.”
Clayton Vaden of Lewis Architects Engineers revealed updated floor plans for the two-story high school, which the district expects to open by August 2026.
Vaden revealed the classroom building for the campus would have to be built just south of the Harding Drain, which presently runs directly under the high school. The district would otherwise have to pay $3 million to move the drain.
“We thought of a better way to put money into a building rather than the underground of a building,” Vaden said.
Among other features, student parking would be located to the west of the building, bus pickup would be to the north and parent pickup would be to the east. The classroom building would connect to the PBHS Academy building, and no one would be able to leave or enter the campus except through the main entrance during class hours.
The district is receiving state funding for the classroom building, which will replace most existing academic facilities on the campus. The new design also calls for a 2,200-seat basketball arena to replace a gymnasium that opened in 1951, but also for the Student Center and tennis courts to be eliminated.
Guelache lobbied for the Student Center to be preserved if possible. Barbaree said the small facility was not being used as designed and is not an academic building.
Board members will have to consider where to locate the 10th- through 12th-graders during construction, starting next school year. Barbaree suggested the former Jack Robey Junior High campus on Olive Street is still available but needs HVAC and roofing improvement.
SHOWING STRIPES
The Junior High Academy Ambassadors were honored with Showing Your Stripes Awards. Each member belongs to a house — Ultron, Rodimus, Vector, Nemesis and Onyx — and each house competes for honors based on attendance, behavior and grades, among other qualities.
The honored students are Roderick Shy Jr., “Thee Ambassador”; London Nugent; Kameron Boston; Trevion Thorns; London Simmons; Demario Douglas; Ja-Rheal Maxwell; Jayla Crosby; Blake Moore; Errick Smith; JaDaijah Scaife; Varnell Thompson; Samaria Williams; Jimmyriae Epperson; M’Ky Hemphill; Makyah McCloud and Odealtha Watson.
Ambassadors leaders include Principal Arnold Robertson, assistant principal Thaddeus Pearson and sponsor Kendria Jones.
Officials from the Arkansas Martin Luther King Jr. Commission were honored for their two Nonviolence Youth Summits at Pine Bluff High School this semester: Executive Director DuShun Scarborough, fiscal director Walter L. Washington Jr., executive assistant and historian Tiffany Pettus and program coordinator Diana Shelton.
PERSONNEL MOVES
The PBSD accepted resignations from high school security officers Kevin Crumpton (effective Oct. 31) and Adrian Dorn (effective Nov. 3), junior high paraprofessional Clairetha Gordon (effective Oct. 27) and 34th Avenue Elementary dyslexia paraprofessional Cindy Luckett (effective Sept. 29).
A high school custodian and paraprofessional to a classroom facilitator at the high school were terminated.