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COFFEE WITH CHIEFS FOCUSES ON EDUCATION

By Erin France/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, July 9, 2009 12:00 AM CDT

Dr. Arthur Tucker said he is living a fairy tale.

Tucker, Dollarway School District’s new superintendent, spoke Wednesday during Coffee With the Chiefs at St. Luke United Methodist Church. The program is sponsored by Pine Bluff Weed and Seed.

Tucker said he started working in a cotton field, earning $2.50 a day.

On May 18, Tucker accepted a three-year contract for $100,000 a year from the Dollarway School Board to take the position vacated by Thomas Gathen.

Gathen will become the McGehee School District’s superintendent.

“Where I am now is really a fairy tale,” Tucker said.

In his last job, Tucker was the assistant superintendent of the Texarkana Arkansas School District, but he said that district and Dollarway share issues of high unemployment and decreasing student enrollment.

“I’m not a stranger to the issues we deal with in Pine Bluff,” he said.

He advocated for community collaboration through programs such as Weed and Seed’s ICVR Pen or Pencil initiative. The program urges students to choose education (pencil) rather than conduct that could lead to the penitentiary (pen), organizers have said.

He also advocated for a positive police presence in students’ lives and invited residents to call him if they had suggestions.

Tucker stressed that children need a mentor.

“There is a child that needs you,” he said, pointing at audience members.

Tucker told the audience about his mentor, an announcer at his football games.

“I just wanted to hear my name called because he did it so well,” Tucker said.

If he ever needed anything, Tucker said, his mentor was there to offer a lending hand.

“The investment that you make, you might not see, but some child will.”

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