Bayou Academy | |
---|---|
Location | |
Coordinates | 33°45′43″N90°45′47″W / 33.762°N 90.763°W |
Information | |
Type | Private |
Established | 1964 [1] |
Head of School | Will Reed [1] |
Faculty | 30.5 (on FTE basis) [2] |
Grades | Pre-Kindergarten to 12 |
Enrollment | 350 |
Student to teacher ratio | 7.1 [2] |
Color(s) | Royal Blue, and White [3] |
Athletics conference | MAIS Div. AAA District 1 [3] |
Mascot | Colts [3] |
Rivals | Lee Academy, Indianola Academy |
Accreditation | MAIS [3] |
Affiliation | Non-sectarian [2] |
Website | www.bayouacademy.net |
Bayou Academy is a non-profit school located in unincorporated Bolivar County, Mississippi, near the City of Cleveland on Highway 8. The school serves about 500 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12. The school is accredited by the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools.
Bayou Academy was founded in 1964 as a segregation academy. [4] In 1966, the all-white school board sold Skene Attendance Center to a white group called Skene Civic Improvement Society, Inc. for $1.00. The property was then leased to Bolivar Academy, achieving a transfer of public property to the segregationist group. [5] After the United States Supreme Court decided Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education in 1969, ordering the desegregation of public schools in the South, the all-white Bayou Academy doubled its enrollment for the 1970 school year. [6] In 2009, the old Skene school building burned to the ground. [7]
In 2021 the former elementary school principal was arrested for placing a camera in the girls locker room. [8]
Of the 372 students who attended in the 2011–2012 school year, 99 percent were white. [9]
Bolivar County is a county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale and Cleveland. The county is named in honor of Simón Bolívar, early 19th-century leader of the liberation of several South American territories from Spain.
Mound Bayou is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,533 at the 2010 census, down from 2,102 in 2000. It was founded as an independent black community in 1887 by former slaves led by Isaiah Montgomery. Mound Bayou Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Drew is a city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,927 at the 2010 census. Drew is in the vicinity of several plantations and the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a Mississippi Department of Corrections prison for men. It is noted for being the site of several racist murders, including the lynching of Joe Pullen in 1923 and of Emmett Till in 1955.
Jackson Academy is a private school in Jackson, Mississippi founded by Loyal M. Bearrs in 1959. Bearrs claimed he established the school to teach using an accelerated phonics program he developed, but the school remained completely racially segregated until 1986, even forgoing tax exemption in 1970 to avoid having to accept Black students.
Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend desegregated public schools. They were founded between 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, and 1976, when the court ruled similarly about private schools.
Benton Academy is an independent, co-educational college preparatory school in Benton, Mississippi. It is a member of the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. It was founded as a segregation academy in 1969, and still did not enroll a single black student as of 2010. The school is located in Yazoo County, Mississippi.
The West Bolivar Consolidated School District is a public school district based in Rosedale, Mississippi (USA).
The North Bolivar Consolidated School District, formerly the North Bolivar School District is a public school district located in northern Bolivar County in the state of Mississippi. It is headquartered in Mound Bayou with an office in Shelby.
The Mound Bayou Public School District was a public school district with its headquarters in Mound Bayou, Mississippi (USA).
The Shaw School District was a public school district based in Shaw, Mississippi (USA). The district served the Bolivar County portion of the city; the small portion of the city that lies in Sunflower County was and is served by the Sunflower County School District. On July 1, 2014, the Shaw School District was consolidated into the West Bolivar Consolidated School District.
The Drew School District was a public school district based in Drew, Mississippi. The school district's attendance boundary included Drew, Rome, and the employee residences of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman), located in an unincorporated area. In July 2014, it was merged into the Sunflower County Consolidated School District.
The Indianola School District is a former public school district based in Indianola, Mississippi (USA). In July 2014, it was merged into the Sunflower County Consolidated School District.
The Clarksdale Municipal School District (CMSD) is a public school district based in Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.
Coahoma Early College High School (CECHS), formerly Coahoma Agricultural High School (CAHS), is a public secondary school in unincorporated Coahoma County, Mississippi, with a Clarksdale postal address. The school is designated as a part of the Coahoma Agricultural High School District, and operated by Coahoma Community College. Previously it was, as of 2000, one of three independently functioning agricultural high schools in the state of Mississippi. The school has its own facilities, instructional and administrative personnel, and student programs. It shares library facilities with the college.
John F. Kennedy Memorial High School was a public secondary school in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, United States, serving grades 7–12. At the end of its life it was in the North Bolivar Consolidated School District, and was formerly in the Mound Bayou Public School District.
Claiborne Academy is a private, non-profit, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade school located in unincorporated Claiborne Parish, Louisiana, between Haynesville and Homer. It was founded in 1969 as a segregation academy. Their nickname is the Rebels, the school newspaper is the Rebel Yell, and their school symbol is the Confederate battle flag.
The Mississippi Delta region has had the most segregated schools—and for the longest time—of any part of the United States. As recently as the 2016–2017 school year, East Side High School in Cleveland, Mississippi, was practically all black: 359 of 360 students were African-American.
Ray Brooks School was a K-12 school in unincorporated Bolivar County, Mississippi, near Benoit. In September 2015 it had 214 students. Its namesake was its first principal, Ray Brooks; it was originally known as the Nugent Center School, and until 2014 was the only school of the Benoit School District, which served Benoit and Scott. From 2014 until 2020, it was a part of the West Bolivar Consolidated School District. Ray Brooks School closed in 2020.
Lee Academy is a grade 7–12 private school in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The school opened in 1970 as a segregation academy, with an initial enrollment of 654 students. In 1970, when Clarksdale submitted to integration, the public schools closed for an "integration break". When they reopened after a one-day hiatus, nearly all of the white students transferred to Lee or other segregation academies.
Shaw High School, formerly McEvans Warriors K-12 School, is a public 7-12 school in Shaw, Mississippi. It is a part of the West Bolivar Consolidated School District.
Total enrollment: 254