Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree outlined five strategic goals for the district during an annual report to the public Monday.
The strategic plan for the district was developed following a survey of patrons and staff, Barbaree said. The goals for the plan include:
Paths for student success: Strengthen and expand learning pathways for every student to succeed after graduation;
Safe and supportive schools: Improve the social-emotional and psychological conditions in all the schools to ensure all students and staff feel safe while on school property;
Enhanced facilities: Improve facilities of all schools;
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Prepare educators: Increase the percentage of highly qualified teachers, educators and staff in the district;
Cultivating community confidence in PBSD.
The district enrolled 2,936 students during the 2023-24 school year, with more than 2,000 participating in extracurricular activities. More than 100 students are inducted into the National Honor Society and more than 100 students are in the Beta Club, Barbaree said.
In July 2023, the PBSD reduced the number of campuses from nine to eight with the merger of Dollarway High School with Pine Bluff High School. The recent Dollarway campus on Fluker Avenue is now the ninth-grade campus of Pine Bluff Junior High School.
The average teacher salary in the district for 2023-24 was $56,795. The district began with a balance of $16,431,000 in July 2023 and received $97 million in tax and bond money during the school year. About $67 million of that was spent for operations and partly toward construction of a new Pine Bluff High School to replace the demolished campus on West 11th Avenue. That left the remaining balance greater than $46 million, Barbaree said.
The PBSD offers a virtual academy for its students, she added. The district has gained some students from other districts who want to attend the academy, which Barbaree said is the only one in the area.
“If we can continue to offer that, as a district maybe we can keep our students from choicing out and going to that,” Barbaree said.
The board meeting that followed the annual report was the first for Patrick Lockett and Bonita Corbin as elected board members. Lockett won a contested race earlier this month for the Zone 7 seat, and Corbin ran unopposed to keep her Zone 6 seat, to which she was appointed in March following the resignation of Dr. Stephen A. Broughton.
“I vow to make sure I do my best to uphold the values of this district and take care of our scholars,” Lockett said. “I assure you this board to get where we need to be, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done. I’m committed to it. If anyone knows me, whatever I commit to, I stay with it.”
The board elected Sederick Charles Rice to remain its president. Ricky Whitmore Jr. will remain vice president, Corbin will serve a secretary and Lockett will serve as Arkansas School Boards Association representative and legislative liaison.
Whitmore (35 hours) and Charles Colen (26) were recognized as outstanding board members for having at least 25 hours of board training.