PINE BLUFF — St. Peter School in Pine Bluff has a 110-year history of educating black students in Jefferson County.
In spite of aging buildings and decreasing enrollment, the school’s new principal is seeing new hope in the school and its mission. Carol Ann Beeman said the school has an excellent reputation in the city as a place for good academics and discipline and a safe learning environment.
“It’s been a real light in the community,” she said.
Through the hardwork of Beeman, teachers and parents, they are working to stabilize finances and increase enrollment and interest in the state’s only black Catholic school.
Since Catholic schools began in Arkansas in 1838, there have been at least 11 predominantly black Catholic schools. Starting in the 1960s, the numbers began to drop. When St. Peter Elementary and High School (along with neighboring St. Joseph School serving white students) closed in 1975, it was the last black Catholic school in the state.
Through the efforts of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, the elementary school reopened in 1984. And Beeman wants to keep it that way.
Beeman credits the nuns with making the school an enriching and safe place to learn for 20 years. They were respected and they were dedicated to their students. But by 2004 the order could no longer staff the school. The next three years were rocky for the school, Beeman believes, because there were two interim principals.
“They did have 130 students. It really declined when the sisters left,” Beeman said.
In June Beeman, longtime educator, art therapist and a great-grandmother from Marshall (Searcy County), was hired to lead the 82-student school.
Beeman previously taught for four years at St. Edward School in Little Rock and St. Patrick and Immaculate Heart of Mary schools in North Little Rock. In 2006 she chose to focus on finishing her doctorate.
She believes God had another plan for her life in 2007.
“God puts it sometimes right in your face,” she said. “I had not planned to work this year. … In June I was praying after Communion and this thought goes through my mind, ’Why don’t you do what I want you to do this year?’ Is that you, Lord? Of course, I said with all my heart, ’Lord, I want to do what you want.’
“The next day Vernell (Bowen, superintendent of schools) calls me and said, ’Will you go interview down in Pine Bluff?’”
Taking the job meant that Beeman would have to commute 138 miles each weekend to her home in Marshall. During the week she stays in the former convent next door to the school.
“I really felt led. I just fell in love with the school. They have been very good to me. This is my first year as principal. The school has such a rich history. … I hope I am here for a while.”
Beeman said the school is reaching a religiously and racially diverse group of students. Twenty percent of the students are Catholic. Eighty percent of the students are black, 18 percent are Hispanic and 2 percent are white.
Nearly all of the students are raised by working parents, single parents or grandparents. Seventy-three percent qualify for free and reduced-price lunch through the National School Lunch Program.
While Beeman would like to have more students, she said the school size ensures each student gets individual attention.
Sister Denise Duplessis, a Daughter of Charity who teaches art and religion to the pre-kindergarten through sixth graders, said, “No one can slide through the cracks here. Nobody.”
“They come here to learn. They come here to learn discipline. They come here to be better Christians.”
This fall, Beeman started a tutoring and art therapy program for four students affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Art therapy is a discipline that combines art and psychology. She is the only educator in Arkansas that is applying these techniques in a school setting. The students create artwork with sand or paint to explain situations in their lives.
“A lot of energy is going into grieving and it blocks their learning,” she said.
She felt obligated to meet with the students herself once a week “to help them catch up to where they need to be (academically).”
The school will continue to place high expectations on all students.
“I am already talking to the fifth and sixth graders about college,” Sister Denise said.
In the past five months, Beeman has created several new programs that she hopes will build interest in the school.
She added an after-school program, making it easier for the working families. A free and reduced-price breakfast through the national School Breakfast Program is served to 35 to 40 students each morning. A summer day camp will begin in June for students and other interested families.
For the first time the school has a Parent Teacher Organization, led by president Yesenia Corpulis, a parishioner and mother of two pre-kindergarteners.
“I think they have great teachers,” she said. “Honestly, my kids have far exceeded my expectations since they have been there. … As long as they keep going with the great education, the students will return and start enrolling again.”
Beeman said she knows she needs to find benefactors to build the school’s coffers. She hopes parents will be able to help her find alumni and create a directory.
“We have a lot of alumni,” she said. “It hasn’t been tapped into.”
The school for the first time has a mascot to build pride. Even though there are no organized sports, the students decided a mascot would be good and voted for the name, the Golden Eagles.
Beeman has also set some large goals for the school. She wants to start a parenting center next year where adults can participate in activities to help them with parenting and computer skills.
She also wants to develop the spirituality of the school more. Currently, students only go to Mass twice a month.
“I would love to see that increase,” she said. “I would like to see more emphasis on Catholic spiritual growth.”
Like all Catholic schools, raising funds for new projects is commonplace. Sister Denise oversees an active recycling program. Students turn in plastic bags and newspapers that can be recycled for cash.
Sister Denise, who arrived in Arkansas in 2006, said she has felt supported by the parents, teachers and students.
“I love this school,” she said. “You feel fulfilled. You feel you are meeting the needs … The children have been hurt because of broken homes, but for the most part they are willing to learn. We teach them to believe in themselves and that they can change the world.”
She praised Beeman for the work she has already done to improve the school.
“She can work miracles here,” Sister Denise said. “She has gotten a lot of the parents involved. … She knows the curriculum for primary school upside down.”
Beeman said she is committed to building on the history started by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1889. She has challenged each class to collect a mile of pennies, or about $800, for a matching grant she is writing. The principal would like to see the teachers and students write and stage a play about the school’s history. An exhibit at the city’s historical museum is also planned.
“I am really walking on holy ground here,” Sister Denise said.
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