PBSD plans to sell old office center, schools
Pine Bluff School District officials are planning to sell the district’s former administration building and two elementary schools.
Members of the PBSD board facilities committee met Tuesday morning for a work session to discuss advertising for the best offers on the old multistory administration building on Sixth Avenue, as well as Indiana Street and Oak Park elementary schools. Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree explained selling the campuses would help the district eliminate the costs of insurance and upkeep for the facilities, which have been closed for years, as well as remove its liability for homeless people who she said continues to break into elementary schools.
“We don’t want anything to happen to those buildings and they be in them,” Barbaree said. “We do our best. We keep boarding it up and they keep breaking it down.”
Barbaree said she did not immediately have the total costs of insurance and upkeep, but she added the district has recently spent $2,000 to fix the elevator and the phone wires connected to it at the old administration building. Citing state building code, Barbaree said an elevator must be serviced even if the building is not being used.
The district was headquartered on Sixth Avenue prior to 2021 but has sustained water damage from the pipes on the upper floors, Barbaree said. The PBSD offices are relocated at the Jordan-Chanay Administration Building on West Pullen Avenue.
Barbaree said the district has received an offer for the Indiana Street campus but declined
to confirm the amount of the offer. Bids for each campus will likely be accepted at the board’s August meeting, she said.
Delta Recycling Services had offered to demolish Oak Park Elementary on South Orange Street for $524,000, but committee chairman Charles Colen said demolition would be the last resort for either campus.
“I’m going to post on the website that we do have these three sites for sale, and I think I’m still going to make the recommendation at the regular board meeting that we accept the offer we’ve had on the table for a while,” she said.
ROBEY REPORT
The former Jack Robey Junior High School campus on South Olive Street is being prepared to welcome Pine Bluff High School staff members back for professional development starting July 24 and students back July 31. This is the first school year for the PBSD to operate on a year-round schedule, which will provide longer seasonal breaks.
The PBHS campus on West 11th Avenue is being demolished and will be rebuilt into a two-story facility scheduled to open in 2026.
“They’re still cleaning (the Jack Robey campus) out, but all the teacher supplies and things that teachers had marked from Pine Bluff High have been moved,” Barbaree said. “The floors have been waxed. The outside has been painted, but the whole building on the inside has been painted. The restrooms are done. The ceiling tiles are in. It’s ready for teachers to decorate their classrooms.”
Barbaree added desks that were stored in the Jack Robey gym will now move into the classrooms, adding she believes the gym will be used for practices and games as McFadden Gymnasium at PBHS is among those structures to be demolished. District officials indicated before demolition began last month the old Dollarway Fieldhouse on Dollarway Road would be the home venue for Pine Bluff’s basketball teams.
“I think we’re going to end up using Jack Robey because it’s bigger and it holds more,” Barbaree said Tuesday. “So, now, we’re working on making sure those locker rooms are good. We’re going to have to redo the floor. We had to do that at Dollarway as well.”
Staff professional development days for the PBSD begin July 24. Students in the district return July 31.
PERSONNEL MOVES
A special board meeting was scheduled for Tuesday night.
The following personnel moves were approved at a June 20 board meeting:
Resignations — Laura Case, Southwood Elementary teacher; Ruth Gordon, Pine Bluff High School teacher; Traiven Love, Algebra I teacher, Pine Bluff Junior High School; Samatha McClane, James Matthews Elementary teacher; Antrice McCoy, Southwood PE teacher; Tabitha Turner, Broadmoor Elementary assistant principal; Glean Wilson, PBHS family and consumer sciences teacher; Demarea Lambert, PBHS paraprofessional; and Della Lee, Southwood paraprofessional.
Retirements — Melissa Lusk, PBHS teacher; Betty Sneed, 34th Avenue Elementary assistant principal; Patricia Thomas, Broadmoor Elementary teacher; Alycia Wiley, Broadmoor Elementary principal.
Certified hires (previous employees) — Kina Glass, Southwood special services; Connie Jackson, junior high librarian; Cheryl Scott, PBHS English language arts; Doris Williams, Broadmoor special services; Donna Shepherd, gifted and talented; Henri Murphy, social studies.
Certified hires (new employees) — Taurius Burnett, 34th Avenue fifth grade; Janice White Davis, 34th Avenue first grade; Arlecia Cobb, Broadmoor first grade; Lesha Guest, Broadmoor first grade; Phylycia Dyer, Broadmoor fifth grade; Lawanda Sykes, junior high English language arts; Shundreka Carroll, junior high math; Tiara Sulcer, junior high art; Kendra Jackson, junior high English language arts; Raven Wright, PBHS English language arts; Henry Wilkes II, Southwood PE; Lashana Barnes, kindergarten; Chacolla Brown, seventhand eighth-grade girls basketball/PE/health; Terry Lawson, PBHS assistant football coach; Tyrell Hood, PBHS girls basketball head coach; Denetra Williams, PBHS assistant principal; and Bernice Russell, special education.
Classified hires (new employees) — Felicia Shelton, executive assistant to the superintendent; Aisha Denton, special education paraprofessional; Olivia Johnson, special education paraprofessional; Harold Thomas, certified safety and security officer; Kalan Davis, transportation director; and Trey Heard, bus driver and transportation supervisor.