| Updated: 4/16/2008 8:42 am |
Published: 4/15/2008 9:41 pm |
Jacksonville wants out of the Pulaski County Special School District but they will not get their independence without a fight from the district. PCSSD voted 4-2 against allowing Jacksonville to create its own 14 campus district.
Over 100 Jacksonville residents showed up in large numbers at the administration building of PCSSD Tuesday night. The requisite signatures were on a petition asking the school board to allow Jacksonville to break away from the district. The new district would compromise of 6500 students. The proposal failed despite the vocal support from several voters and parents in attendance.
Wanda Thomen is a parent who supports the new proposed district. She says she’s disappointed with the outcome.
“I feel the board had already made up its mind,” Thomen says. “Made up it’s mind to take the $30,000,000 we provide the district every year.”
Board president Charlie Wood says that was not a factor in his no vote.
“I actually think the district would be better off financially if Jacksonville broke away,” Wood says.
He also stated he would support autonomy for Jacksonville if supporters can gather petitions from voters in the unincorporated areas of north Pulaski County that would also get moved into the proposed Jacksonville School District.
“If you can get those signatures, and it should not be hard to do, I will switch my vote,” Wood said after the emergency meeting.
