Ed.’s Note: This is the last of two articles outlining the written responses of Pine Bluff School District superintendent Jerry Payne to a set of written directives presented to him by the Pine Bluff School Board at their Dec. 20 regular monthly meeting.
The responses were distributed to board members in tabbed three-ring binders at the body’s Jan. 17 meeting.
Directive
Provide the School Board with valid receipts for your moving expenses as stated in your contract or reimburse the $10,000 that you received in advance to Pine Bluff School District.
Response
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Behind Tab #1 you will find a spread sheet outlining relocation expenditures,” Payne writes in his response. “These expenditures are in addition to those expense receipts given to the Board by the Legislative Auditors in November 2011. Please note the total expenditures for relocation to Pine Bluff were approximately $30,000.”
In his response Payne includes a two page “Relocation Log” in which he itemizes mileage, lodging, food, pay to workers and vehicle rental costs, for a total of $6,728.36.
Payne includes in his response a print out from the Mapquest website showing his roundtrip mileage between Pine Bluff and his former home of Pine Grove, La., as 651.22 miles.
For the month of June, Payne showed mileage of 1628.04, lodging of $460.93 and food costs of $6.27.
For the month of July, Payne showed mileage of 3256.10, lodging cost of $84.90, food cost of $121.40, worker pay of $1,400 and vehicle rental of $396.
Payne shows August mileage of 1302.44, September mileage of 651.22, November mileage of 651.22 and December mileage of 651.22.
Payne includes December food costs of $25.94.
Payne figures $4,232.92 for mileage calculated at a rate of 52 cents per mile.
Payne explains that he included November and December expenses related to two trips to Louisiana because they were to retrieve documents requested by Arkansas Department of Education legislative auditors.
A source familiar to The Commercial provided copies of receipts that Payne submitted to the state legislative auditors in the fall that come to $24,925.98 in an unofficial tally.
“There are expenditure receipts missing from those documents,” Payne wrote in a text to a reporter after having the opportunity to review the documents given to The Commercial. “In addition, Legislative Auditors told me during conference meeting to use mileage instead of gas receipts.”
The documents supplied to The Commercial include receipts for furniture from Haverty’s in Pine Bluff totalling $3,441.32 for items including an executive desk, an executive office chair, a sofa and a recliner; and furniture from Dillard’s totalling $4,985.93.
Additional expenditures include several receipts from Lowe’s in Pine Bluff totalling $1,051.88.
An unofficial tally of all receipts provided by Payne and the Arkansas state legislative auditors to the school board comes to $31,654.34.
Directive
Begin advertising immediately for the positions of Deputy Superintendent, principals, and certified teachers that are currently being manned by interim or substitute personnel. (You have been directed on several occasions to get this done.)
Response
“I respectfully disagree regarding the statement, ‘You have been directed on several occasions to get this done’,” Payne said in his written response. “I was asked in August and September 2011, when will you fill the Deputy Superintendent position? My response, ‘we will wait and re-advertise in the Spring 2012 in order to have potentially stronger field of candidates.’ My rationale, potential candidates were under contracts in their own districts, those candidates would not apply, not leave their school district while under contract. There were five candidates for the position, only one was viable.”
“That candidate turned down the position after being offered the Deputy Superintendent position because her granddaughter was ill and would require candidate to be away extensively from the job at a time we urgently needed the candidate to assist in opening up the 2011-2012 school year,” Payne said in his response. “At that time I informed the Board, that we would not fill the Deputy Superintendent position, because of the lack of any potential viable candidate. Further stated due to the lateness with school just about to start, three interim principals (two elementary and one high school principal) were recommended and agreed upon by the Board to serve the 2011-2012 school year through June 2012.”
Payne included job postings for deputy superintendent, principal for Pine Bluff High School, elementary school principal, middle school social studies teacher, special education teacher, and a draft of a job classification study proposal.
Directive
Provide the Board with the Comprehensive Plan of Action that would curtail sending students to the Juvenile Justice System and the Plan of Action for retention of Students and Teachers.
Response
Payne breaks his response down into three parts, with the first focusing on the juvenile justice system, the second on student retention plans and the third on teacher retention plans.
Part One
“On Nov. 1, 2011, an email response to the members of the school Board was sent with an attachment…regarding our plan for addressing concerns from Mr. Harold Jackson,” Payne said. “In addition to the responses in writing, the Director of Student Health, and Special Services, and I requested and held a meeting with Mr. Jackson on Nov. 9 regarding his concerns of students being sent to the Juvenile Justice System.”
Payne provided a copy of the subject email in which he asks Jackson if he could meet with Payne and Suzette Anderson, the district director of student health and special services, on Nov. 7, 2011, to discuss Jackson’s concerns about students being sent into the juvenile justice system.
Payne also provided a copy of the attachment that allegedly contains his written responses to a set of concerns from the school board on issues pertaining to the Pine Bluff School District and the juvenile justice system.
In the attachment, the school board expresses a desire to see a more efficient alternative school program that identifies and works to correct negative student behaviors in order to address the issue of district students being sent to juvenile court.
In his response, Payne outlines the policies of the district’s First Ward Alternate School.
Payne also provides an outline of the classroom structure and policies of the Jefferson County Juvenile Detention Center and how they are coordinated with the First Ward Alternate School.
The board expresses particular concern over Jack Robey Junior High School.
“Jack Robey Junior High is strongly populated with a very high percentage of behavior issues and extreme absences,” the board writes.
Payne’s response includes figures on the total number of students held back a grade level at the elementary through high school levels from the 2010-2011 academic year to the 2011-2012 academic year, as well as information on support programs for students in need of assistance with improving their grades and with counseling.
Part Two
“As you well know, this concern was brought out during the Community Forum held Aug. 27, 2011,” Payne said in his response to the board’s request for a student retention plan. “This item is being addressed through our District Strategic Task Force Committee. We believe it would be premature to jump ahead of the 28 member committee who are working on the plan. They are addressing goals and strategies for implementation with critical concerns by which our district will have a comprehensive Five Year Plan.”
Part Three
Payne responded to the board’s request for information on a district teacher retention plan by providing copies of sign-in sheets from the district’s monthly “Cadre of Teachers” meetings from August through December of 2011.
“The District hired some 60 new teachers for the 2011-2012 school year; of those 60 new teachers to the District, 40 had never taught before,” Payne said in his response. “Therefore the ‘Cadre of Teachers’ training was established to support these teachers through mentoring, research, classroom management, strategies for connecting home and schools, networking, parent conferences, lesson plan design, and demonstration lessons. In addition, our Program Management Oversight Committee (PMOC) is comprised of superintendent and four directors. The PMOC visits school sites monthly, meets with Principal and Assistant Principal(s) and makes classroom observations/feedback forms.”
Payne added that the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff is being addressed through the Strategic Task Force Committee.
Plan of Entry
As part of his written response, Payne provided the board with a copy of a district leadership plan he supplied to the board in May.
“This document outlined my plans as a new superintendent to lead our district,” Payne wrote in his response. “This document was given to each Board Member on May 23, 2011.”