Charline Wright News Today

For their first monthly report to the Arkansas State Board of Education last week, Watson Chapel School District administrators and state Department of Education officials detailed how they have addressed the safety and academic issues that earned the district an accreditation probation status last month.

Along with restoration of full local control of the Pine Bluff School District comes the right and responsibility of district board elections to be conducted.

For local control

Arkansas State Board of Education members voted unanimously to return full local control to the Pine Bluff School District immediately during a regular meeting Friday at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.

Now that Pine Bluff School District voters have approved a tax increase to a unified rate of 47.7 mills, administrators will reach out to teachers and students for their input on how the new Pine Bluff High School should look inside the walls.

A deputy education commissioner will petition the state Board of Education next Thursday to return the Pine Bluff School District to full local control by November, although the district superintendent feels that could happen in September.

District on track

Pine Bluff School District Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree broke down the importance of the Aug. 8 millage increase election and detailed the differences among consolidation, annexation and mergers in The Commercials latest episode of its webcast series, "The Newsroom."

No to school tax

Voters in the Pine Bluff School District will have a chance to approve or reject a 0.9-mill increase in the Dollarway attendance zone to 41.7 mills this election season. The request may come as a surprise to many since the district had not previously promoted the increase until Monday afternoon, when district Superintendent Barbara Warren issued a news release on the ballot measure. Early voting for the Nov. 8 general election began Monday.