The Pine Bluff School District Board of Directors set May 23 as the date for an open forum as requested by district voters in the form of a petition during its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night.
“The community wants a forum because they want to know what we are doing,” said board president Herman Horace. “Next Wednesday from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. here in the Central Office. It will be right here.”
Horace called for a motion to approve the forum, which was made by board vice president Donna Barnes and seconded by board member Chandra Griffin.
The motion was unanimously approved.
Local attorney Gene E. McKissic led the petition campaign to accumulate the signatures of 50 electors of the Pine Bluff School District.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Board president Herman Horace said at the April 17 board meeting that the petition the board received in early April did not have enough valid signatures to be legal.
“In a letter dated March 21 the board denied a request for a public forum because it must have the signatures of 50 electors of the Pine Bluff School District,” Horace said in April. “We received a petition with 65 names. Only 47 were good names as certified by the Jefferson County Clerk on April 9. So, what is the board’s pleasure? Do I send it back and let them get the 50 like they are supposed to do? Is it OK for me to send this man a letter?”
Board secretary Freddie M. Johnson then made a motion to send the petition back to secure at least 50 signatures, which was passed by the board.
McKissic then secured the additional signatures to satisfy the board’s demand.
“The board of directors shall hold regular monthly meetings during the school term and shall meet on call of the president or secretary or any three (3) members of the board of directors or when petitioned to do so by a petition in writing signed by fifty (50) electors in the school district,” Arkansas Code Annotated Section 6-13-619(a)(1) reads.
Jack Robey
The board took no formal action after hearing an update from auxiliary services director Seth Wynn on the progress he has made in investigating the feasibility of installing a new camera surveillance system on the Jack Robey Junior High School campus, as instructed by Superintendent Jerry Payne.
“I gave you quotes on some camera systems at the last board meeting,” Wynn said. “I was asked by Mr. Payne to get a quote for removing cameras from the classrooms and installing them on the outside of the building, the cafeteria, the two gyms and the media center. Everywhere except the bathrooms.”
Horace indicated to Wynn that in his own conversations with Payne the subject of getting a quote for removing the cameras from classrooms never came up.
Board member Harold Jackson asked how effective the cameras would be at addressing discipline problems at Jack Robey and said that the absence of cameras from bathrooms meant that they could do nothing to address the issue of violence occurring in those areas of campus.
“Will they solve the problems at Robey?” Jackson asked.
Wynn replied that in his fact-finding trip to El Dorado he was told that there were 75 instances of unruly behavior by students in the first semester after security cameras were installed and three such instances in the next semester.
Jackson asked if the school was a high school or a junior high school and Wynne said that it was a high school.
“Junior high school is different from high school,” Jackson said. “Cameras are after the fact. I think you need more manpower. Cameras don’t break up fights.”
Wynn said that the installation of a security camera system in all classrooms, as well as the other areas of campus, will cost $205,861 and the cost to install cameras in all areas except classrooms would be $137,000.
Johnson agreed with Jackson that money would be more wisely spent on additional security personnel over a security system.
“That amount of money would pay for the salaries of 10 or more security guards at Jack Robey,” Johnson said.
School choice
The board approved school choice applications from five students living in other school districts who want to attend the Pine Bluff district.
“I would encourage acceptance of these because as we lose students at $6,850 per individual we must take advantage of the fact that some students want to attend here from other districts,” Payne said.
Barnes asked if board action was required or if the students who were coming in as part of school choice would automatically be added to the district after the passage of the July 2 enrollment deadline.
“You need to take action as a board and then I will send the forms to the home districts of these students,” Payne said.
Payne informed the board that 34 students are leaving the district as part of school choice which translates into a loss of $232,900 in revenue to the district for the 2012-2013 school year.
HIPPY reversal
The board voted to rescind the action it took at the April 17 meeting to transfer two employees employed by the district to the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative.
Grant award
Payne announced that Jack Robey, Belair Middle School and Oak Park Elementary School received a $20,470 Title I grant that will be split evenly between them.
Handbook changes
District director of student health and special services Suzette Anderson informed the board that the district handbook committee met five times and solicited input from parents and staff to come up with the new rules for district handbooks.
Southwood Elementary Principal Alfred Carroll and Southeast Middle School Principal Cheryl Hatley laid out the changes with Carroll discussing K-5 and Hatley talking about grades 6-12.
The changes at the elementary level include a full listing of the consequences for acts of sexual misconduct, the concealment of unauthorized medication, terroristic threatening and dress code violations.
Secondary school changes include a listing of minimum and maximum penalties for violations of the discipline policy and the grouping of Jack Robey with Belair and Southeast for purposes of the excessive tardiness policy.
Personnel action
The board approved several hiring recommendations made by Payne, including a contentious vote in favor of hiring a new principal for Pine Bluff High School.
The board hired Michael Nellums as the new principal of PBHS effective July 1, replacing the retiring Robert Handley.
The vote was four votes to two in favor of the hiring with one abstention.
Horace, Jackson, board member Kenneth Dickson and Griffin voted in favor; Johnson and board member Ellen Nichol voted against; and Barnes abstained.
The board approved the hiring effective Aug. 6 of certified personnel including Bobby Brown as a choir/orchestra teacher at PBHS; LaSheia Foots as a fifth grade teacher at Oak Park Elementary; Sanita Girley as a trade and industrial teacher at PBHS; Nathaniel Jackson as a math teacher at Jack Robey; Gregory Moore as an elementary school teacher at a location to be determined; Nicholas Nelson as a social studies teacher at Jack Robey; Cameron Richardson as an English teacher at Jack Robey; Richard Swan as a social studies teacher at Belair Middle; and Shalisha Thomas as an art teacher at Belair Middle.
Johnson and Nichol voted against the hiring of the certified personnel.
The board accepted the retirement of certified personnel Tammy Neal, a first grade teacher at Broadmoor Elementary effective May 24; and classified personnel Lucille Robinson, a food services employee at PBHS effective May 24; and Linda Wade as a media clerk at Greenville Elementary effective April 23.
The board accepted the resignations of certified personnel effective May 24 of Lindsey Burkett, a first grade teacher at Broadmoor Elementary; Alice Grabe, an eighth grade science teacher at Jack Robey; Betty Johnson, a media specialist at Oak Park Elementary; Lexi Prahl, an Algebra II teacher at PBHS; Taylor Scott, a science teacher at Belair Middle; and Robert Stewart, a social studies teacher at Jack Robey; Jeffrey McKinney, assistant principal at PBHS, effective May 29.; and classified personnel Dina Smith, a paraprofessional at Belair Middle effective May 23.
The board accepted the non-renewals effective May 24 of certified personnel Amy Anderson, a ninth grade English teacher at Jack Robey; Richard Johnson, a math instructor at First Ward; and Alexia Meeks, an English teacher at PBHS.