By Ray King

As the school year winds down for the Pine Bluff and Dollarway School Districts, Barbara Warren, who serves as the superintendent of both districts was asked Monday how the districts are doing after a year when COVID forced many changes.

Warren spoke to Deltaplex News and said:

She said the Dollarway graduation will be at the stadium and the Pine Bluff High School graduation at the convention center and while admittance will be limited, the numbers for the convention center will be higher.

Last week, Jerry Guess, the retiring superintendent of the Watson Chapel District talked about state funding for new facilities in his district, and Warren was asked about the possibility of that happening at Pine Bluff.

Warren said the district was looking at the state contributing about 56 percent of the costs involved in a new high school facility and said the district would have to go to the patrons and seek the rest through a millage increase.

Warren was also asked about the blending of the two school districts into one which will take place for the next school year.

She said there will be some jobs cut but will not be a major RIF and while some positions will be lost, there will be opportunities for those people to transition into other positions.