[3] In 1968, when the Gould School District started a night program at the Cummins Unit, an Arkansas Department of Correction prison.
Many White parents protested the decision; some threatened to take legal action and some said that they would never send their children to Gould schools.
Alan Minor, the president of the Gould school board, said that it had no choice because the Arkansas State Board of Education withheld $200,000 ($447398 when adjusted for inflation) in bond revenues since the state believed that the Gould district was promoting segregation.
Sharon Streett, the Arkansas Department of Education's chief legal counsel, said that the state does not want to be perceived to be promoting racial segregation.
Minor said that he did not expect for very many additional White students to be enrolled in the fall of 1991, because he heard some parents state that they would move.
Laurent argued that merging with Dumas was preferable to merging with the Star City School District, because Gould was 9 miles (14 km) from Dumas, while the distance between Gould and Star City is at or over 18 miles (29 km).
Laurent argued that the closer proximity would make it easier for Gould parents to be involved in their children's education.
[6] Luke Gordy, a state board of education member from Van Buren, also opposed the merger out of concerns with the racial makeup.
[2] Wash Coleman and Albert Rash opened the first school for black students in a former saw mill cabin.