The Pine Bluff School Board has rescinded the appointments of Gregory Epperson and Faye Gant to a vacant board seat in zone 6 because neither person lives in zone 6.
As a result, the board voted Tuesday night to select Gwendolyn Woods to fill the zone 6 seat. The board vacancy opened after then-board member Leon Jones resigned in January after moving outside the district.
Board Chairman Henry Dabner responded to the confusion Thursday, contending the board is not responsible for making sure an applicant for an open board seat lives in the correct zone.
“When the applicants apply for the position, they are responsible for going to the courthouse to make sure they live in the correct zone,” Dabner said. “Gregory Epperson did not live in the correct zone. We have not received a map of the zones for five years. We have to get these zone maps. No one can tell us who makes the map.
“After we did not know about Epperson, I wanted to make sure we did not run into the same mistake. But that’s what happened. Gwendolyn Woods lives in the zone 6 district. She was sworn in at the courthouse on [Wednesday]. I can’t blame it on the board.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Epperson said he thought he lived in zone 6, and was encouraged by Dabner and fellow board member Stephen Bronskill to apply.
“When I was approached, I thought I would get more involved in the community and the district from which I graduated,” Epperson, a 2004 graduate of Pine Bluff High School, said.
He was prepared to be sworn in at the Jefferson County Courthouse on Friday, Feb. 17. But that did not happen because “Mr. Dabner told me that I was living in the wrong zone.”
Epperson declined to respond to Dabner’s statement that each applicant is responsible for knowing his or her zone.
“I do not want to be tied up in any mess,” Epperson said.
Despite the kerfuffle, Epperson is still receptive to serve on the board in the future if such an opportunity arises.
Dabner wishes to find a resolution as to who is responsible for having the zone map.
“If we had had a map, we would have helped ourselves,” Dabner said. “If I really had time, I would track it down. It should be posted in the district. That is a bad problem.”
Gant did not respond to messages by press time.
In personnel news, the Pine Bluff School Board approved three hirings, two resignations, two retirements and four firings after meeting in executive session on Tuesday night.
The new hires are Brandon Ellison as a bus driver; Shequil Jones as a special education paraprofessional at Belair Middle School; and Linda Walker as a bus driver.
The resignations are Andrea Potts as a library media specialist at Thirty-Fourth Avenue Elementary School and Larry Freeman as a special education paraprofessional at Belair Middle School.
The retirements are Glenn Denton as a grounds foreman and Jessie Matthews as a warehouse worker.
The terminations are Samuel Chaney as a math teacher from First Ward Alternative; Jan Booker as a child nutrition assistant; Emmer Hence as a child nutrition assistant; and Stephanie Powell as a child nutrition assistant.