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Sunday OCTOBER 24, 2010 Last modified: Friday, October 22, 2010 10:37 AM CDT

Efforts for local school district stalled by board

By Bill Lawson / Staff Writer /

blawson@jacksonvillepatriot.com

Jacksonville city officials on Oct. 12 asked the

Pulaski County Special School District board to
allow district staff to share data needed to continue
with plans for a separate school district.

The request was not granted, even though the new

president of the Pulaski County Special School
District board is from Jacksonville.

Bill Vasquez was elected president after two new

board members were added to the board, replacing
Charlie Woods and Danny Gilliland, both of Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher asks the PCSSD board to
Sherwood. allow Jacksonville to start working with the district on
gathering data to assist in the creation of a Jacksonville school
When Mayor Gary Fletcher and Jacksonville City district. (Bill Lawson)
Council members lined up to show solidarity behind the separation efforts, only then-board president Tim Clark
offered a motion to grant Jacksonville’s requests.

However, the motion died from lack of a second.

Ivory Tillman, the president of what he said is Jacksonville’s National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People chapter, said his organization had withdrawn its support because it hadn’t obtained the
concessions wanted from the group pushing for the new school district. The Arkansas website for the NAACP
doesn’t list a branch office for a chartered chapter in Jacksonville. Only North Little Rock and Little Rock are
listed with chapters in Pulaski County.

Former PCSSD board member Bishop James Bolden said he spoke for part of the black community in
Jacksonville and that the majority of Jacksonville’s black community members believed they could get a better
education and facilities with their own Jacksonville school district than through the current configuration.

Meanwhile, Gwen Williams of McAlmont was elected treasurer of the board to supervise the district’s multi-
million dollar budget. She was subpoenaed to attend a recent Legislative Audit committee meeting where
members inquired about her financial dealings with the district’s travel funds and unpaid cell phone bills.

http://www.nlrtimes.com/articles/2010/10/24/jacksonville_patriot/local_news/nws01.prt 10/24/2010