Residents brainstormed ideas Saturday to improve the Dollarway School District with the intention of providing a framework for planning and coordination.
About 24 people took part in a meeting at Robert F. Morehead Middle School in conjunction with the Dollarway School District having been selected by the Rural Community Alliance to launch a Community Schools Initiative. Its goal is to unify all parts of the Dollarway community to create a strategic plan that will support students and schools.
Dollarway Superintendent Barbara Warren identified three major needs of the district: teacher salaries being lower than those of two nearby school districts, parents not being engaged with their children’s education, and students misbehaving.
Appointed to her current post in December 2015 by the Arkansas Board of Education, Warren took the reigns when the state dissolved its local board of directors because the district was struggling fiscally and academically. Dollarway has been in academic distress since 2010, as fewer than 49.5 percent of students have scored at a proficient or advanced level in math or literacy.
The district enrolls about 1,192 students. About 92 percent are black people, five percent white people, 1 percent Hispanic, and 1 percent other. [The remaining 1 percent was not specified.]
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Warren said Dollarway suffers to some degree because some parents prioritize their children’s appearance and feelings instead of their education. She told the story of a boy who knows about five people who were killed in his neighborhood and knows about his uncle being in jail. Warren said this boy does not focus, uses foul language and fights. At the same time, she said that three percent of students cause a disproportionate number of problems.
Dollarway students scored below the Arkansas average on the 2016 ACT Aspire.
“Our scores are not where we need them to be,” Warren said.
Dollarway first-year teachers earn $33,000 per year, whereas White Hall first-year teachers earn about $38,000 per year and Watson Chapel first-year teachers earn $36,000 per year. As a result, Dollarway is suffering.
“People have to live and they have to make decisions for themselves,” Warren said.
Pine Bluff Alderman Bruce Lockett helped organize the meeting. He invited people to invite others to future meetings to make the process more inclusive. He noted that the meeting had been announced in church fliers and via Facebook.
“There are no big “I’s and little “you’s,” Lockett said. “This is an open process and we want to involve anyone who has a concern for the district.”
“This has been an organic process,” Lockett, a Dollarway High School Class of 1983 graduate, said. ” … You can do outreach to 1,000 people and you may get only 100 folks. Don’t be surprised; the crowd here is great. I tell folks ‘The Lord says He only needs two.’ Who are we to say we need 100?”
Candace Williams is the executive director of the Rural Community Alliance. She said her organization wants to hear from community members.
“We are here for the long run,” Williams said. “We will have another meeting next month. We will have a parent engagement summit in the fall. We want you to bring another person to each meeting.”
Jerri Derlikowski, the owner of Community Resource Innovations, defined community schools as “a place but also a set of partnerships between the community and the school.” They focus on academic support outside the classroom, health and social services, and community activities. She noted that community schools do not take over the district and are not charter schools.
“The school itself cannot provide everything to every child so the community is there to support the school and have [students’] needs met so they are better able to learn,” Derlikowski said. “We have fiscal issues in this district. … We are going to take some first steps today.”
Warren is the mother of two children who are enrolled in the Dollarway School District. She wishes Dollarway employed a grant writer because Dollarway needs assistance seeking outside moneys to provide a better education.
Community members brainstormed these issues relative to the Dollarway School District: drug abuse, poverty, health disparities, curriculum development, extra-curricular activities, career technical programs, civic engagement programs, financial literacy, anger management, and money management. They broke into small groups and discussed how to address these issues with an eye toward improving education.