LozAnne Calhoun, the Zone 2 representative on the Pine Bluff School District Board of Directors, is facing a challenge from former PBSD principal Arnold Robertson Jr. in the March 3 election.
The winner of this race will begin serving in March. Calhoun has served on the board since December 2022, when she and six others were appointed to a limited-authority board that received full local control in September 2023.
Calhoun has been an education program coordinator with the Arkansas Division of Higher Education since December 2023. She previously served 15 years at Southeast Arkansas College, starting in financial aid, transitioning to the registrar’s office and finally becoming vice president for student affairs.
Robertson is an assistant principal at North Little Rock Middle School. He’s been in education nearly 30 years, with 23 of them in building-level administration at Dollarway Junior High, Dollarway High, Jack Robey Junior High (now Pine Bluff Junior High) and Pine Bluff High.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Both were asked:
1. What has led you to run for a seat on the PBSD board?
2. What are the most pressing needs you’d like to address on the board?
These are their responses:
LOZANNE CALHOUN
1. I have a passion to see our scholars and district grow and achieve. Having a background in higher education gives me a unique perspective on what our scholars require to continue their education. I also understand that some students may enter the workforce or enlist after high school and I support those choices as well.
2. A pressing need to address is the current letter grades of the individual schools and the district. To address this, we made changes by approving new curriculum, restructuring certified teachers to meet student needs, continually assessing test data to identify academic needs and supporting our superintendent to lead these efforts of change.
ARNOLD ROBERTSON JR.
1. Five of my children have graduated from Pine Bluff High School, but my commitment did not end there. I am and have always been a Zebra; from Sixth Avenue (Elementary) to Sam Taylor Elementary, to Greenville (Elementary), to Dial Junior High, to becoming a 1987 graduate of Pine Bluff High School. Our students today deserve the same quality of education with more advanced resources than those days, and I want to be a part of fostering that opportunity for our community.
2. Our most pressing need is, how do we move from being an F district? Not only for our district, but for our community and the city of Pine Bluff. I do not believe that at this point there is a building-level administration experience presence on our board. With that comes real-time, thought-provoking perspectives that speak to what current supports are needed for our faculty, staff and students. Too many times we have spent funding in areas where it has not benefited student success, and I want to be at the table to ask those questions and offer my expertise to hold us all accountable for student success and academic achievement with integrity. As principal at Pine Bluff Junior High, we were above an F for two years and we were continuing the improvement before my departure. A great part of that team of teachers and leaders are still in the district and they know what it takes to move our students forward. They need someone in that position who knows what to look for and where to look to provide their classrooms with what they really need for academic improvement and student achievement. I am that man!