District on track
Editor, The Commercial,
Mrs. Charline Wright stated an untruth in her letter to the Pine Bluff Commercial on July 21.
For the sake of our children, her statement needs to be corrected. The Pine Bluff School District is on trajectory to be fully returned to local control by the end of this year, a fact I have consistently shared with our community.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
I first met with Mrs. Wright and her husband in March, just two months after taking over as superintendent of the District. I shared then that I was in the process of gaining more clarity regarding the District’s exit criteria from state control and a return to complete local control.
In the fall of 2022, the Arkansas State Board of Education voted to return partial local control to the District by appointing a limited authority school board, which is in place now. Because of the progress our District has made in meeting the exit criteria set by the state Board of Education, and because the District School Board is working tirelessly to continue to improve, the Pine Bluff School District is on trajectory to be completely returned to local control by November of this year.
JENNIFER BARBAREE
SUPERINTENDENT,
PINE BLUFF SCHOOL DISTRICT