Beecher Community School District

This article is about the district in Michigan. For the district in Illinois, see Beecher Community Unit School District 200U.

Beecher Community School District
Address
1020 W. Coldwater Rd. Flint, Michigan , Genesee, Michigan , 48505 United States
District information
Type	Public school district
Grades	Prekindergarten-12
Superintendent	Jendayi Gardner [1]
Schools	3 [2]
NCES District ID	2604500 [2]
Students and staff
Students	581 (2023-2024) [2]
Teachers	39.03 FTE (2023-2024) [2]
Staff	133.76 FTE (2023-2024) [2]
Student–teacher ratio	14.89 [2]
Other information
Website	www.beecherschools.org

Beecher Community School District is a public school district in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan and in the Genesee Intermediate School District. It serves the census-designated place of Beecher which is just north of Flint. ^[3]

History

Beecher High School was designed by the firm of Lyndon and Smith. ^[4] In 1938, it was included on a list of the finest school buildings in the country by the American Institute of Architects. ^[5]

The high school took heavy damage in the 1953 Flint-Beecher tornado, which killed 116 people in the community. The tornado destroyed the roofs of the gymnasium and auditorium, but school was not in session at the time. ^[6] The parking lot was used by the Salvation Army as a central disaster relief station. ^[7] That August, volunteers rebuilding the neighborhood used the roofless gymnasium for a dance. ^[8]

In 2004, because the district had a $1.8 million deficit and a decline in enrollment of 600 students over five years, the school board closed the Beecher High School building. ^[9] Its students were relocated to the middle school.

As of 2025, $20 million has been raised to renovate and reopen Beecher High School. ^[10]

Schools

Source: ^[11]

School	Address	Notes
Beecher Adult Education Center	1020 W. Coldwater Road, Flint	Located at Ira A. Rutherford, III Building (district administration center).
Beecher High School	6255 Neff Rd., Mount Morris	Serves grades 7 through 12
Dailey Elementary School	6236 Neff Rd., Mount Morris	Serves preschool through 6th grade
Beecher Higher Learning Academy	1020 W. Coldwater Road, Flint	Alternative education options

Notable events

In 1972, high school assistant principal Paul Cabell Jr. committed suicide. He was distraught over recent fighting and racial tension between the school's 350 Black and 650 white students. ^[12]

The district gained national attention on February 29, 2000, when six-year-old Kayla Rolland was shot and killed by a classmate at Buell Elementary School. ^[13] Buell Elementary was closed in 2002 and demolished in 2008. ^[14]

Athletics

Beecher's mascot is the Beecher Buccaneer. ^[15]

Notable graduates

• Carl Banks, linebacker for the New York Giants, Washington Redskins, and Cleveland Browns ^[16]
• Lonnie Young, safety/cornerback for the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals, New York Jets, and San Diego Chargers
• Duane D. Hackney, the most decorated enlisted person in history of the U.S. Air Force
• Courtney Hawkins, wide receiver for Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Pittsburgh Steelers
• Roy Marble, former Iowa Hawkeyes and NBA player
• Monté Morris, point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the NBA, former standout point guard for Iowa State Cyclones, former Mr. Basketball Michigan, winner of 3 Class C MHSAA State Championships

References

1. Beecher Community School District. "Staff directory" . Retrieved February 25, 2025.
2. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Beecher Community School District". National Center for Education Statistics . Institute of Education Sciences.
3. Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget. "Genesee County School Districts" (PDF). Retrieved February 25, 2025.
4. "Architects win award". Detroit Free Press. May 7, 1940. p. 20.
5. "Finest types of U.S. architecture to be pictured". The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, Mich.). September 6, 1938. p. 5.
6. "School records safe, to boys' dismay". Detroit Free Press. June 11, 1953. p. 3.
7. "For tornado relief job Salvation Army wins high praise". Detroit Free Press. June 14, 1953. p. 24.
8. "Mammoth work bee at Flint declared enormous success". The Petoskey Evening News. August 31, 1953. p. 1.
9. Vaughn, Marion (February 12, 2004). "Beecher board defends plan to close school". The Flint Journal. p. A13.
10. Livengood, Chad (February 24, 2025). "20 years after closing, a Flint-area high school is getting a second chance". The Detroit News.
11. Beecher Community Schools. "Schools" . Retrieved February 25, 2025.
12. Smith, Vern E. (October 1972). "Race strife leads black teacher to suicide". Ebony. p. 154.
13. Rosenblatt, Roger (March 13, 2000). "The Killing Of Kayla". Time . Vol. 155, no. 10. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001.
14. Jessmore, Steve (November 17, 2008). "Buell Elementary to be torn down; first-grader Kayla Rolland was killed there in 2000". MLive.
15. "MHSAA High". Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved October 29, 2008.
16. Woodyard, Eric (September 27, 2012). "Past Beecher experiences shape former NFL player Carl Banks into successful businessman". MLive Media Group. Retrieved August 10, 2014.

External links

• Official website