The Pine Bluff School District board has directed the Jefferson County clerk to open Zone 5 for candidate filing for the March 2026 school board election, Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree announced in a Friday morning news release.
The availability of Zone 5 had been a point of contention in recent months after Barbaree announced in July three of the seven seats on the school board would be up for election in this cycle. That move followed the passage of Act 503 of this year’s state Legislature that called for a reorganization of election dates. The Zone 5 seat presently held by Charles Colen was not going to be open until March 2028, as the district sought to maintain as equal a number of seats open for every election as possible. The district, which has opted to extend board seats to six years under the new law, originally sought to hold elections in a 3-2-2 rotation – zones 1, 2 and 3 in 2026, zones 4 and 5 in 2028 and 6 and 7 in 2030.
“In July, the Pine Bluff School Board determined its current election plan in accordance with Act 503 of 2025, a comprehensive law enacted in April 2025 that substantially reformed school board election procedures,” Barbaree wrote in her statement.
“Since that time, the District has been made aware of concerns regarding the timing of Zone Five’s next election, which the District had slated to open in 2028,” she continued. “Although the District believes its current plan is legally defensible given ambiguities in the state, the Board has directed the Jefferson County Clerk to immediately open ZONE 5 for candidate filing for the March 2026 election.
“The District believes this proactive step will eliminate distractions and allow full focus on what matters most, educating the students of Pine Bluff School District.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Barbaree declined further comment.
As of Friday morning, the only filings for the PBSD board have come from incumbents Lozanne Calhoun in Zone 2 and Ricky Whitmore Jr. in Zone 3, according to the county clerk’s office. The filing period for the March 3, 2026, school board election concludes at noon Nov. 12.
The Concerned Stakeholders of the PBSD, a citizen-led organization not connected to district leadership, advertised for interested candidates to file in zones 1, 2, 3 and 5, despite the latter not being open until now. Charline Wright, chairperson of the Concerned Stakeholders, pointed to a clause in Act 503 that states terms set to expire in 2027 “shall expire in 2026” in an article earlier this week.
Wright said Friday’s announcement was a victory for her organization.
“It’s a victory, but then – and we’ve been working strategically – hopefully Dr. Colen will put in his petition,” Wright said. “If not, we’re preparing to get somebody else. This is a victory, and we’re going to get this before nobody runs for it. … We want Dr. Colen to keep his seat. My thing is, (opening the seat) is the law. Follow the law, OK? That’s all we’re saying. I was not being critical. I’m reading the law.”
Wright said earlier this week she would seek an attorney in order to have Zone 5 up for election.
“Whatever the board’s motives were, I don’t know and I don’t have ESP,” Wright said.
Messages seeking comment were left for PBSD Board President Sederick Charles Rice and Colen.
Colen’s original election date was November 2027, following lots drawn by board members upon the district being granted full local authority in 2023. The board, which was previously appointed by the state Board of Education in late 2022, asked at the time to stagger the election dates to promote continuity in its leadership.
Act 503 has changed Section 6-13-608 of the Arkansas Code, which states in subsection (d)(2):
“School board members shall initially draw lots for two-year or four-year terms in districts with four-year terms in districts with four-year terms or two-year, four-year or six-year terms in districts with six-year terms so that, as nearly as possible, an equal number of positions are filled in each subsequent school board election no longer than:
“(A) Two (2) school board elections for those with four-year terms; or
“(B) Three (3) school board elections for those with six-year terms.”
According to subsection (d)(4), those with terms set to expire in 2025, 2026 or 2027 would have their seats up for election in 2026; and those with terms set to expire in 2028 and 2029 would have them expire in 2028. The PBSD previously set five-year terms for board members upon being granted full local control.
Seats in zones 6 and 7, held by Bonita Corbin and Patrick Lockett, are scheduled to be up for election in March 2030, according to the election schedule announced in July. In November 2024, before Act 503 was passed, Corbin was elected to serve the remainder of Stephen A. Broughton’s term through November 2028 (Broughton moved out of the district), and Lockett defeated Wright for a term that was to expire November 2029.
Act 405 this year changed the election date for an annual school election to the date of the preferential primary election, which is to be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March in an even-numbered year, and second Tuesday in November in an odd-numbered year.