Bayou Academy

Last updated
Bayou Academy
Location
Bayou Academy
1291 Crosby Road
Cleveland, Mississippi 38732
Coordinates 33°45′43″N90°45′47″W / 33.762°N 90.763°W / 33.762; -90.763
Information
Type Private
Established1964 [1]
Head of SchoolWill Reed [1]
Faculty30.5 (on FTE basis) [2]
GradesPre-Kindergarten to 12
Enrollment350
Student to teacher ratio7.1 [2]
Color(s) Royal Blue, and White [3]
  
Athletics conferenceMAIS Div. AAA District 1 [3]
MascotColts [3]
RivalsLee Academy, Indianola Academy
Accreditation MAIS [3]
AffiliationNon-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.

Contents

History

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]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Staff Directory | Bayou Academy". www.bayouacademy.net.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bayou Academy". National Center for Education Statistics . Retrieved 2008-02-12. Total enrollment: 254
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Bayou Academy". Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2008-02-12.
  4. Thornton, Mary (1983-04-21). "A Legacy of Legal Segregation Returns to Haunt a Small Town". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  5. "Board seeks return of school". Clarksdale, Mississippi: Clarksdale Press Register. November 29, 1983. Retrieved 15 July 2020 via Newspapers.com.
  6. Jason Sokol (14 August 2007). There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights, 1945-1975. Random House Digital, Inc. p. 170. ISBN   978-0-307-27550-9 . Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  7. Hartfield, Charles. "Abandoned School Set Ablaze: Fraternity Fundraiser Jeopardized". Archived from the original on February 1, 2017.
  8. Warren, Anthony (February 1, 2022). "School principal charged with attempted child exploitation". WLBT. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  9. "Bayou Academy". Private School Universe Survey. U.S. Department of Education.