Pine Bluff High School staff getting set for year at Robey

To Ronald Laurent, the setting is familiar: a single building where students can walk indoors from one class to another.

In the past, that building was known as Jack Robey Junior High School. For the next two years, it’s Pine Bluff High School.

“I don’t care what anyone says; this is a dream job, being the principal of Pine Bluff High School,” said Laurent, a former Robey principal. “UAPB is the ‘Flagship of the Delta.’ Pine Bluff High School is the flagship of schools in Jefferson County. There’s nothing like being a Zebra, and I say that being a graduate of Watson Chapel.”

The return to Robey is just one layer of the storyline the Pine Bluff School District is embracing this school year. The other is a year-round schedule for the district.

That shortened the summer break, meaning teachers like Calvin Thomas — who supervises Jobs for America’s Graduates and Intro to Education — will have longer breaks during the school year.

Thomas said he needed the whole summer to pivot from the past school year to this one in preparation.

“I’m looking forward to the frequent breaks we’ll have during the school year so we can plan vacation time and getaways,” he said. “Coming back and trying to transition and get unpacked to go from Day 1 has been a challenge. We’re still working in some classrooms to get them up to speed, but I think we’ll be ready by Wednesday.”

The students’ first day across the district is Wednesday, 2½ weeks before their counterparts in the Watson Chapel and White Hall districts and Friendship Aspire Academies start. Faculty and staff have been meeting since last week’s convocation at Pine Bluff First Assembly of God.

Danny Johnson, a senior choir singer and defensive lineman, is looking at the positive side of the July-June slate as well.

“It’s more mental breaks and stuff like that,” he reasoned. “It’s real important, especially when you play sports, not just football. You’re still an athlete.”

Jack Robey, the feeder school to PBHS from 1986-2023, is reopening while the high school campus on West 11th Avenue is being demolished to be rebuilt into a two-story structure set to open for the 2026-27 school year. Jack Robey was closed to reduce the number of district campuses in operation after the merger of the secondary schools.

The reasons that led to Jack Robey’s closure gave Laurent concerns about going back into his old workplace. Chief among them was fixing a roof that had been leaking.

“We’ve had lots of rain since (the closure), and we haven’t had any leaks — not from the roof,” Laurent said. “The air conditioners are working.”

While some spots on campus were warm and others cool Monday, Laurent said mechanics are still working to correct those issues.

“We’re going to adjust how we do things because we don’t have all that space we had at Pine Bluff High,” he said. “But that’s a positive because it’ll be easier to manage student movement.”

Security has been at the forefront of the district’s plans for the new high school. The old high school’s perimeter was fenced off in response to unwanted foot traffic that led to a number of violent incidents on campus.

PBHS at Jack Robey will have seven security officers on campus, including district security director Foster Baker and three certified safety and security officers.

“This building is more secure to me,” Thomas said. “When we come in, the doors lock behind us. It’s more of a controlled entrance than our old school was. The conditions here are better than when we were at the old facility.”

Improved classrooms and restrooms contribute to the better conditions, Thomas explained.

The incoming sophomore class, including Laurent’s granddaughter Mackenzie, is scheduled to be the first graduates of the upcoming high school.

“That in itself will be a milestone for all the sophomores coming in,” Laurent said.

For the class of 2025, including Thomas’ son X’Zaeviun Sims, they’ll be the first graduates from the Jack Robey campus, a thought Johnson had to get used to.

“That’s a good way to look at it. We were just talking about we’re the weakest class ever to come through Pine Bluff High School,” he said, approaching senior year at his old junior high. “Graduating from Robey? That’s kind of weak. I guess it’s good to be at the old stomping grounds.”

Johnson and his fellow Zebras will still practice football at the old high school, where their indoor practice facility and stadium remain, in the mornings and then head down Olive Street by bus to their new classrooms.

“It really pushes us to be on time, because if we don’t catch the bus we don’t have a ride,” Johnson said. Practice starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 7:30 a.m., with the first bell scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

The school hosted an open house for students and their families Monday evening, but moving desks and boxes was still a process earlier in the day. Players from the football team are helping the staff finish the move.

“The move was smoother than I expected,” Laurent said. “The district administrators made sure we had a professional mover to make sure we moved everything out of the classrooms at the 11th Avenue campus. Once we got everything in, it was just a matter of the teachers coming in and do what they need to do in order to set up, so that part was smooth.”

Kourtney Smith took over PBHS’ choirs last summer after teaching at his alma mater Dollarway and was named district Teacher of the Year in May. Smith also leads the district’s Personnel Policy Committee, which brought the idea of year-round schooling to the school board for its unanimous approval in January.

“So far so good,” Smith answered when he was asked if the transition was going to plan. “With the move, I wish we had more time on the front end only because of the move-in to the building and things of that nature.”

Smith said he’s kept his shortened summer break “chill,” but the early start gives him a chance to plan an end-of-year trip earlier. The PBHS choir won first place at a Chicago music festival in May.

“I’ve just been trying to get an earlier head start on some of those things I would be looking at in September,” he said.

Having teachers under one roof is ideal for teacher collaboration, Smith said.

“As a staff, we’ll see more camaraderie in staff,” he added. “I think we’ll see better working relationships established with people across the campus, as opposed to an old campus where you were kind of isolated. You knew the people in your building. Now that we’re under one roof, that’s going to change that aspect, and we’re already seeing it as far as the collaboration and things of that nature.”

The common theme in collaboration is being student-centered, according to Thomas.

“Just making sure you’re making students feel welcome,” Thomas said. “Some of those students, this will be their first time coming to Robey, those kids who came from (Dollarway) side. … Just making sure we take care of kids.”