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PINE BLUFF SCHOOL BOARD REHIRES SUPERINTENDENT ANTHONY

By Larry Fugate/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, July 30, 2009 11:21 PM CDT

Frank Anthony’s retirement lasted one month. The Pine Bluff School Board voted Thursday evening to give Anthony a two-year contract as district superintendent, the same post he left June 30, effective Saturday.

“We felt he was still the best match for the Pine Bluff district,” the Rev. Dr. W.R. Norful Sr., board president, said after the called board meeting. The proposed contract offer came after a 25-minute executive session.

Fifteen educators from four states submitted applications seeking to succeed Anthony. However, the board rejected the 15 and indicated the search would continue. One director said early in the search that the board was looking for someone to make a long-term commitment to the district.

Three directors — Norful, the Rev. Jimmy L. Fisher Sr. and Tyra Tyler-Johnson — voted to offer the contract to Anthony, who was not present. Director Herman Horace voted against the motion and David R. Brown abstained. Director Laura Brown was absent and the Zone 7 seat is vacant.

The education retirement law was changed after Anthony notified the board early this year that he planned to retire. The General Assembly changed the requirement so Anthony and other educators can retire and not sustain any reduction in pension benefits if they accepted another job in education.

The district faces a shortfall of $1.4 million in revenue during the 2009-2010 school year, Doug Brown, the district’s director of business and finance, told board members earlier this month.

“We’re gonna have some tough decisions for the 2009-2010 school year,” he added.

The loss of 210 students during the 2008-2009 school year will cost the district more than $1 million over the next two school years, or $519,000 during 2009-2010.

The Legislature’s decision to increase the retirement matching requirement from 6 percent to 14 percent, a one-step increase in the salary schedule for all certified district employees — even those who have reached the top of the schedule — approved in May and food service costs will account for the bulk of the balance of the shortfall.

The district earlier eliminated “approximately eight to 10” secondary and elementary positions, which saved between $400,000 and $500,000, Brown said.

Anthony took over the helm of a troubled district in January 1999. Pine Bluff schools had been placed on the state’s academic distress list and was facing fiscal problems that had to be addressed quickly.

Anthony recommended $2 million in budget cuts to the school board after less than four months on the job. The cuts involved eliminating more than 30 certified teacher and administration positions, 45 classified jobs and closing two elementary schools.

By the spring of 2000 the district was removed from the state’s academic and fiscal distress lists. However, with Pine Bluff’s population shrinking and district enrollment falling, more cuts were needed. By late 2005 the school board followed Anthony’s recommendations again and called for a Feb. 14, 2006, referendum on his proposal to close five additional schools, restructure the district’s debt service by adding 2 mills for capital improvements and add 4.5 mills to the tax books to fund $29.4 million in capital expenditures.

The proposal to build two new elementary schools, the Pine Bluff High School Academy and renovate or erect additions to all other district campuses was adopted at the polls on Valentine’s Day. Anthony was named Superintendent of the Year for 2006-07 by the Arkansas Association of Education Administrators for his efforts in turning the district around.

He worked with state education officials to obtain an additional $13 million in “partnership funds,” part of the Lake View education settlement, and convinced the board of the need to build a $2.8 million multi-purpose complex and student center at PBHS. The district paid cash for 33 new school buses.

Dr. Robert Handley has served as the district’s interim superintendent.

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