The Indianola School District is a former public

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

based in Indianola,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

(

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

). In July 2014, it was merged into the

Sunflower County Consolidated School District The Sunflower County Consolidated School District (SCCSD), formerly the Sunflower County School District (SCSD), is a public school district with its headquarters in Indianola, Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta. The district serves all of Sunf ...

History

Isabel Lee was the school district's first African-American board member.Moye, J. Todd. ''Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1945-1986''.

UNC Press Books The University of North Carolina Press (or UNC Press), founded in 1922, is a university press that is part of the University of North Carolina. It was the first university press founded in the Southern United States. It is a member of the Asso ...

, 2004
180
Retrieved from

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on March 2, 2011. , . After the U.S. v. Indianola Municipal School District court case ruled in favor of the federal government on a Friday, the White townspeople almost immediately established

Indianola Academy The Indianola Academy is a K-12 private school in Indianola, Mississippi founded as a segregation academy. Indianola Academy comprises an elementary school, a middle school, and a college preparatory high school. Indianola Academy is a 501(c)(3 ...

, with classes beginning on a Monday. Plans to establish a

segregation academy 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. ...

had been in the running prior to the court case. Isabel Lee, then the sole African-American on the board, recalled that no White students showed up at Gentry High School on that Monday. By 1985, over 90% of the pupils and most of the teachers in the school district were African-American.Moye, J. Todd. ''Let the People Decide: Black Freedom and White Resistance Movements in Sunflower County, Mississippi, 1945-1986''.

, 2004
179
Retrieved from

on March 2, 2011. , . In 2009 the State of Mississippi took over the school district because it had insufficient funds, and was therefore unable to meet payroll. In February 2012 the

Mississippi Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...

voted 43-4 to pass Senate Bill 2330, to consolidate the Indianola School District, the Drew School District, and the

Sunflower County School District The Sunflower County Consolidated School District (SCCSD), formerly the Sunflower County School District (SCSD), is a public school district with its headquarters in Indianola, Mississippi in the Mississippi Delta. The district serves all of Sunf ...

into one school district. The bill went to the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected fo ...

. In May 2012

Governor of Mississippi A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

Phil Bryant Dewey Phillip Bryant (born December 9, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 64th governor of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 31st lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 2008 to 2012 and 4 ...

signed the bill into law, requiring all three districts to consolidate.Wright, Chance.
Bryant signs school merger
." ''

The Bolivar Commercial ''The Bolivar Commercial'' was a newspaper in Cleveland, Mississippi from 1916 to 2020. It was owned by Walls Newspapers. Amid large revenue losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, ''Commercial'' owner Lee Walls in April 2020 announced that ...

''. Retrieved on June 13, 2012. SB2330 stipulates that if a county has three school districts all under conservatorship by the Mississippi Department of Education will have them consolidated into one school district serving the entire county. For the 2012-2013 school year Indianola School District will remain a separate school district.Doyle, Rory.
Drew, Ruleville prepare to merge
." ''

Bolivar Commercial ''The Bolivar Commercial'' was a newspaper in Cleveland, Mississippi from 1916 to 2020. It was owned by Walls Newspapers. Amid large revenue losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, ''Commercial'' owner Lee Walls in April 2020 announced that ...

''. Retrieved on August 30, 2012. In July 2014, the Indianola School District was merged into the

Schools

Zoned secondary schools:Schools
." Indianola School District. Retrieved on August 17, 2010. * Gentry High School (10-12) *Robert L. Merritt Junior High School (7-9) Zoned primary schools: *Carver Elementary School (3-6) *Lockard Elementary School (K-2)

Indianola Career and Technical Center Indianola may refer to: Places in the United States * Indianola, California (disambiguation) ** Indianola (Eureka), California * Indianola, Florida * Indianola, Georgia * Indianola, Illinois * Indianola, Iowa * Indianola, Kansas, a former settl ...

and Indianola Academic Achievement Academy, 10-12 schools, were also a part of the district. In the mid-2000s the schools (aside from Gentry) were Lockard Elementary School, Carver Lower Elementary School, Carver Upper Elementary School, Robert L. Merritt Middle School, and Pennington Jr. High School.

Demographics

As of 1996 9 of 10 students in the Indianola School District were African-American. Most of the White students who attend Indianola public schools transfer to private schools by junior high school. In 2012 Sarah Carr of ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' said "While there's some modest racial integration at Indianola's public elementary schools, by high school all but a few white students have departed."Carr, Sarah.
In Southern Towns, 'Segregation Academies' Are Still Going Strong
" ''

''. December 13, 2012. Retrieved on March 29, 2013.

2006-07 school year

There were a total of 2,589 students enrolled in the Indianola School District during the 2006-2007 school year. The gender makeup of the district was 49% female and 51% male. The racial makeup of the district was 95.21% African American, 3.59% White, 0.97% Hispanic, 0.23% Asian. 84.8% of the district's students were eligible to receive free lunch.

Previous school years

Accountability statistics

References

External links

*
Map of Sunflower County School Districts from 2010

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

{{Defunct school districts in Mississippi Education in Sunflower County, Mississippi Former school districts in Mississippi School districts disestablished in 2014