Dollarway public school district now under state control

The Dollarway School District, in academic distress since July 10, 2014, was placed under state control by the State Board of Education Thursday, according to a press release from the Arkansas Department of Education.

The board named Barbara Warren as superintendent starting immediately.

According to the Pine Bluff Commercial, Dollarway is in academic distress for the fifth straight year, the result of it having fewer than 49.5% of students scoring proficient or advanced in math or literacy. It also is on a watch list that could lead to fiscal distress.

Warren will be the district’s fourth head administrator this year. The school board fired superintendent Bobby Acklin in April and replaced him with Patsy Hughey, who it fired in November and replaced with interim superintendent Tammi Dockett-Wilson. According to the Pine Bluff Commercial, the district’s athletic director, Lee Hardman, has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the district, Hughey and the school board.

Warren had been the director of the Arkansas River Education Service Cooperative since July 2011. In that position, she worked with local and state government agencies and institutions of higher education and oversaw the cooperative’s budget and day-to-day operations. She previously was a special assistant to the Pine Bluff School District superintendent from July 2007 to June 2011.