There may be some weariness on both sides regarding the lobbying efforts by a collection of individuals called “Concerned Stakeholders.”
They have, on multiple occasions, said they believe the members of the Pine Bluff School Board should be all democratically elected immediately instead of elected in a staggered rotation over a few years.
They base that on their interpretation of state law, saying that once the district has been released from state control, which has taken place, school board elections should follow suit.
We should point out that they have gotten nowhere with their request – not with the state, the local superintendent or the currently seated school board members.
At a recent meeting where the stakeholder members held court, only five others were in attendance. That doesn’t necessarily say a lot about their arguments – or it might.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
But it could definitely point to the public’s loss of interest in what the group is seeking and perhaps the group’s own interest in its goals.
One suggestion for these folks is for them to push the case in a court of law. We doubt that one more trip to the podium, to say this all ought to be done a different way, will change the course of how the school board members are being elected.
But a trip into an attorney’s office and a lawsuit might. Just a thought, if indeed, they believe strongly enough about their case and have some dollars to put toward that end. That would be the beginning of getting the matter settled once and for all.
From our perspective, however, the training wheels are of some comfort in the current situation. The Pine Bluff School District was run into a ditch by a properly elected school board.
We will never forget one board member saying the board had to bear the responsibility for the failure. Hence, there is no magic to someone putting their name out there to serve on the school board and being elected.
No, the magic is that a vetted group of interested people on what was a limited-authority school board has, through the guidance of a hard-working superintendent, been able to bring back the Pine Bluff School District from the edge of the abyss and that there is now significant hope for the future.
In short, let’s not mess up a good thing. Hopefully, the people who are elected in the future will be as dedicated and wise as the ones serving now. But let’s not rush the current magicians off the stage as they learn and carry out what it takes to successfully operate a school district. There’s time enough for that to happen down the road.