Greenwood Public School District (Mississippi)

The Greenwood Public School District was a public school district based in Greenwood, Mississippi, United States.

Effective July 1, 2019 the Greenwood and the Leflore County School District consolidated into the Greenwood-Leflore School District.[1]

History

In 1993, white parents in the Greenwood district made plans to look for majority white private schools after the district leadership proposed having a centralized middle school for all students.[2]

David Jordan, a member of the Mississippi Senate, criticized the upcoming Greenwood-Leflore merger since the Leflore district's performance in state tests was worse than that of the Greenwood district; their respective grades from the Mississippi Department of Education circa 2016-2017 were F and C.[3] Circa 2016 the rating of the Greenwood district was D. Unlike most state-mandated school district consolidations, in which a larger district absorbs a smaller district, in this instance two districts of roughly equal size are merging; in 2016 the Greenwood district had 2,846 students while the Leflore district had 2,405 students. Adam Ganucheau and Zachary Oren Smith of Mississippi Today described both districts as being "large".[4]

Schools

  • Greenwood High School (Grades 9-12)
  • Greenwood Middle School (Grades 7-8)
  • Bankston Elementary (Grades K-6)
  • Davis Elementary (Grades K-6)
  • Threadgill Elementary (Grades K-6)
  • Threadgill Primary School (Greenwood). It opened in 1935 as W.C. Williams Elementary School.[5] Enrollment was 400 in 2015.[6] In 2015 the closure of the school was proposed.[7] On May 22, 2015, the school board voted to close it,[6] but in 2017 it reopened for grades Pre-Kindergarten-1.[8] By 2019 the school adopted its current name.[5]

Demographics

Around 1988 Greenwood High School was almost split evenly between black and white students. In 1998 it was 92% black. Greenwood Junior High School was 97% black. Many white students were instead going to the private school Pillow Academy.[9]

The district had 2,846 students in 2016,[4] and 2,634 in the 2018-2019 school year.[10]

2006-07 school year

There were a total of 3,110 students enrolled in the Greenwood Public School District during the 2006-2007 school year. The gender makeup of the district was 51% female and 49% male. The racial makeup of the district was 91.64% African American, 7.43% White, 0.48% Hispanic, and 0.45% Asian.[11] All of the district's students were eligible to receive free or price-subsidized lunch.[12]

Previous school years

School Year Enrollment Gender Makeup Racial Makeup
Female Male Asian African
American 		Hispanic Native
American 		White
2005-06[11] 3,152 50% 50% 0.48% 91.18% 0.48% – 7.87%
2004-05[11] 3,211 49% 51% 0.47% 89.97% 0.34% – 9.22%
2003-04[11] 3,422 49% 51% 0.29% 88.84% 0.15% 0.06% 10.67%
2002-03[13] 3,486 50% 50% 0.29% 88.73% 0.20% – 10.79%

Accountability statistics

2006-07[14] 2005-06[15] 2004-05[16] 2003-04[17] 2002-03[18]
District Accreditation Status Accredited Accredited Accredited Accredited Accredited
School Performance Classifications
Level 5 (Superior Performing) Schools 1 1 0 2 1
Level 4 (Exemplary) Schools 0 1 1 2 0
Level 3 (Successful) Schools 4 4 4 1 2
Level 2 (Under Performing) Schools 1 0 1 1 2
Level 1 (Low Performing) Schools 0 0 0 0 1
Not Assigned 0 0 0 0 0

School uniforms

Students at all schools are required to wear school uniforms.[19] The policy was established in the 2009-2010 school year.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ "School District Consolidation in Mississippi Archived 2017-07-02 at the Wayback Machine." Mississippi Professional Educators. December 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2017. Page 2 (PDF p. 3/6).
  2. ^ Fava, Al (April 20, 1993). "Winona Academy a possible route of escape for students". Greenwood Commonwealth. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com. - See clipping
  3. ^ "Lt. Governor Willing To Listen On Greenwood-Leflore Merger". Delta Daily News. Archived from the original on September 17, 2018. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  4. ^ a b Ganucheau, Adam; Zachary Oren Smith (April 25, 2016). "School vote in Jackson hits Greenwood hard". Mississippi Today. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Eric, Gerard (June 1, 2019). "District begins work on repairs". Greenwood Commonwealth. Retrieved March 12, 2022. [...]Threadgill Primary (then still known as W.C. Williams Elementary)[...]
  6. ^ a b "W.C. Williams Elementary will close". Washington Times. Associated Press. May 22, 2015. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  7. ^ Stole, Bryn; Kalich, Tim (May 19, 2015). "W. C. Williams Elementary may close". The Greenwood Commonwealth. pp. 1, 12. - Clipping of first and of second page at Newspapers.com. Alternate URL of an Associated Press release at the Washington Times website.
  8. ^ "United States v. Greenwood Pub. Sch. Dist". Casetext. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  9. ^ Rubin, Richard. "Should the Mississippi Files Have Been Re-opened? No, because." The New York Times. August 30, 1998. Retrieved on March 25, 2012.
  10. ^ Kennedy, Mike (July 8, 2019). "Merger creates new school district in Mississippi". American School and University Magazine. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d "Mississippi Assessment and Accountability Reporting System". Office of Research and Statistics, Mississippi Department of Education. Archived from the original on March 23, 2007.
  12. ^ "2006-07 State, District, and School Enrollment by Race/Gender with Poverty Data" (XLS). Mississippi Department of Education. January 16, 2008. Retrieved May 18, 2008. [dead link‍]
  13. ^ "Mississippi Report Card for 2002-2003". Office of Educational Accountability, Mississippi Department of Education. September 2, 2004. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2007.
  14. ^ "2007 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 13, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
  15. ^ "2006 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 6, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 17, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  16. ^ "2005 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 9, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 13, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  17. ^ "2004 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 26, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  18. ^ "2003 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. November 21, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 11, 2006. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  19. ^ "Student Dress Code Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine." Greenwood Public School District. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.
  20. ^ "Home Archived 2007-02-10 at the Wayback Machine." Greenwood Public School District. Retrieved on August 10, 2010.

Further reading