Sullivan South High School was a public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

(

grades Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also r ...

9–12) located in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, w ...

, in Sullivan County with a student body of just under nine hundred students. The school was formed in 1980 and closed in 2021, when the building was converted to Sullivan Heights Middle School and its students were reapportioned to

West Ridge High School West Ridge High School is a public high school (grades 9–12) located in Blountville, Tennessee which operates under the administration of Sullivan County Schools. It was founded as a merger of Sullivan South High School, Sullivan North High Scho ...

. Greg Harvey served as principal of Sullivan South between 2003 to 2017, leading the school for 14 years all together. Josh Tate, formerly an assistant principal at Sullivan South High School, served as principal from 2017 until the school's closing. The school was accredited by the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...

and was a member of the

TSSAA The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), along with the affiliated Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association (TMSAA), is an organization which administers junior and senior high school sporting events in Tennessee. The TSSAA ...

. With a graduation rate of 98%, it was well above the state median for high school completion.

History

Sullivan South High School was formed in 1980. It closed in May 2021, becoming the middle school Sullivan Heights, and its student body was consolidated with those of Sullivan North and Sullivan Central High Schools into the new

Academics

Sullivan South operated on a

block schedule Block scheduling or blocking is a type of academic scheduling used in schools in the American K-12 system, in which each pupil has fewer classes per day. It is more common in middle and high schools than in primary schools. Each class is schedu ...

with four 90-minute and one 45-minute year-long classes a day. It offered "accelerated," AP, and technical/vocational courses in mathematics, the sciences, humanities, and technical fields. Many of the academic classes were also offered with Honors variations as well at all four grade levels. Sullivan South also participated in a program with

Northeast State Community College Northeast State Community College is a public community college based in Blountville, Tennessee. It offers technical education and college transfer programs in Blountville and at teaching sites in Elizabethton, Gray, Johnson City, and Kingspo ...

through which many students earned college credit before graduating. Sullivan South also offered a variety of CTE classes including digital art, agriculture education, culinary arts, information technology, health science, cosmetology, welding, and engineering.

Extracurriculars

Drama, visual arts, and music courses were offered. There were multiple of each of these classes offered at different levels ranging from beginner to experienced. Students could take acting or technical theatre, chorus, visual art, and marching and concert band. Sullivan South had an

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

JROTC The Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC -- commonly pronounced "JAY-rotsee") is a federal program sponsored by the United States Armed Forces in high schools and also in some middle schools across the United States and at US military ...

program as well as chapters of

Future Farmers of America National FFA Organization is an American 501(c)(3) youth organization, specifically a career and technical student organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. It was founded in 1925 at Vi ...

and

SkillsUSA SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving more than 395,000 high school, college and middle school students and professional members enrolled in training programs in trade, technical and skilled service occu ...

. The school also had several after-school clubs, including a chapter of the

National Beta Club The National Beta Club (often called "Beta Club" or simply "Beta") is an organization for 4th through 12th grade students in the United States. Its purpose is "to promote the ideals of academic achievement, character, leadership and service among ...

and

Key Club International Key Club International, also called Key Club, is an international service organization for high school students. As a student-led organization, Key Club's goal is to encourage leadership through serving others. Key Club International is the hig ...

. Sports at Sullivan South included football, baseball, soccer, softball, swimming, basketball, volleyball, cheer, and dance.

Notable alumni

Barry Bales Barry Turner Bales (born August 23, 1969 in Kingsport, Tennessee, United States) is an American musician best known as the long time bass player and harmony vocalist for Alison Krauss and Union Station. He has been in the band for around 25 years. ...

, bass player and harmony vocalist for

Alison Krauss and Union Station Alison Krauss & Union Station is an American bluegrass and country band associated with singer Alison Krauss. It was initially composed of Krauss, Jeff White, Mike Harman and John Pennell. Later additions included Tim Stafford, Ron Block, Ada ...

; graduated 1987 *

Matt Mahaffey Matt Mahaffey (born June 9, 1973) is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, and recording engineer best known for his band Self and his composer collective Cake In Space. Personal Mahaffey grew up in Kingsport, Tennesse ...

, lead singer for the 1990s rock band

Self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhood ...

; graduated 1991 *

Hal Lawton Harry (Hal) A Lawton III (born c. 1974) is an American businessman. He is president and chief executive officer at Tractor Supply Company. He is also a member of the retailer’s board of directors. He was the president of Macy's from September 2 ...

, CEO of

Tractor Supply Tractor Supply Company (also known as TSCO or TSC), founded in 1938, is an American retail chain of stores that sells products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, horse, equine and pet care for recreational ...

; graduated 1992 * Dan Wright, former

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

organization; graduated 1996

References

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1980 Public high schools in Tennessee Kingsport, Tennessee Schools in Sullivan County, Tennessee