The Sunflower County Consolidated School District (SCCSD), formerly the Sunflower County School District (SCSD), is a 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 ...

with its headquarters in

Indianola, Mississippi Indianola is a U.S. city in Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta. The population was 10,683 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Sunflower County. History In 1891, Minnie M. Cox was appointed postmaster of Indianola, b ...

in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

. The district serves all of Sunflower County. Prior to the merger with the Indianola School District, the SCSD served much of the county, including the cities of Ruleville and Moorhead, the towns of

Sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a large annual forb of the genus ''Helianthus'' grown as a crop for its edible oily seeds. Apart from cooking oil production, it is also used as livestock forage (as a meal or a silage plant), as ...

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, and Doddsville as well as the Sunflower County portion of

Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...

. As of July 1, 2012, the

Drew 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 unincorpora ...

and Indianola School District were consolidated into the Sunflower County district. The former Drew school district's attendance boundary included Drew,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and the employee residences of the

Mississippi State Penitentiary Mississippi State Penitentiary (MSP), also known as Parchman Farm, is a maximum-security prison farm located in unincorporated Sunflower County, Mississippi, in the Mississippi Delta region. Occupying about of land,unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

.Drew School District Audited Financial Statements For the Year Ended June 30, 2005
"
PDF
Office of the State Auditor, State of Mississippi. 12 (18/82). Retrieved on July 20, 2010. The current school district was created in 2014.

History

In 1968 the district had 4,100 "colored" students and about 1,000 white students. At that time the district had a "freedom of choice" system. During that year, the superintendent of the school system stated his opposition to a proposed rapid integration, arguing that doing so would cause white people to leave the school district. During that year, a local branch of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. ...

(NAACP) asked the district to replace two school principals because the branch believed that they were not qualified educationally and mentally. The district said that it would consider the matter. In 1986 a petition to merge the

with the Sunflower County district circulated. In 2002 two of the district's schools had no licensed librarians. During that year a Mississippi state commission said that the district had violated accreditation standards in 2001 by not having those librarians. In 2003 the district had faced a budget deficit for the third time in a row. Judy Rhodes, the executive assistant to the state superintendent of education, said in a Board of Education meeting in

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

said that "Of all the districts we're working with right now, Sunflower is the one with the most serious situation." In 2010 State of Mississippi officials said that the management of the district should be taken over by the state government because of the existence of allegations of sexual misconduct and misuse of federal funds. On April 19, 2010, the

Mississippi Department of Education The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is the state education agency of Mississippi. It is headquartered in the former Central High School Building at 359 North West Street in Jackson. The State Superintendent of Education is Carey M. Wr ...

took control of the school district. In February 2012 the Mississippi Senate voted 43–4 to pass Senate Bill 2330, to consolidate the Sunflower County School District, the Drew School District, and the Indianola School District 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 ...

. Later that month, the State Board of Education approved the consolidation of the Drew School District and the Sunflower County School District, and when Senate Bill 2330 was approved, Indianola School District was added. In May 2012 Governor of Mississippi

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. SB2330 stipulates that if a county has three school districts all under conservatorship by the Mississippi Department of Education, they will be consolidated into one school district serving the entire county.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.

Schools

Schools in the district include:

High schools 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 ...

: *

Thomas E. Edwards, Sr. High School Thomas E. Edwards, Sr. High School, formerly Ruleville Central High School (RCHS), is a public high school located in Ruleville, Mississippi, United States. It is a part of the Sunflower County Consolidated School District and had 381 students enr ...

(formerly Ruleville Central High School) (Grades 9-12; Ruleville) * Gentry High School (Grades 10–12;

Indianola 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 settleme ...

)

K-8 schools K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * AMD K8, the internal designation for the ...

: *Moorhead Central School (Grades 6–8; Moorhead) - Formerly Moorhead Middle School, renamed and converted into a K-8 in 2018

Middle schools A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

: *Drew Hunter Middle School (Grades 6–8; Drew) *Robert L. Merritt Junior High School (Indianola) *Ruleville Middle School (Grades 6–8; Ruleville) Elementary schools: *Carver Lower Elementary School (Indianola) *A. W. James Elementary School (Grades K-5; Drew) *Lockard Elementary School (Indianola) *Ruleville Central Elementary School (Grades K-5; Ruleville) Pre-Kindergarten *James C. Rosser Early Learning Center (Moorhead), formerly Rosser Elementary School (Grades K-5) Alternative schools: *Indianola Career and Technical Center *Indianola Academic Achievement Center (IAAC) (Indianola) - K-12 As a result of the 2012 merger with

, A. W. James Elementary School and the

Drew Hunter High School Drew High School was a public high school located in Drew, Mississippi. It was a part of the Drew School District. The school district's attendance boundary included Drew, Rome, and the employee residences of the Mississippi State Penitentiary (P ...

became a part of the district. The high school division of Drew Hunter closed, with high school students rezoned to Ruleville Central. The secondary school is now named Drew Hunter Middle School with grades 6–8. As of 2014 Indianola schools are now a part of the new district.

Former schools

*East Sunflower Elementary School (Grades K-5;

) - Closed in 2022 *Inverness School (Grades K-8;

) - Closed in 2022

District offices

Currently its headquarters are in the Main Central Office in

and it has a separate North Office in Drew. The North Office is the former

headquarters. Previously its headquarters were in the Sunflower County Courthouse in Indianola, and it had the educational services building along

U.S. Route 49 U.S. Route 49 (US 49) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Piggott, Arkansas, at an intersection with US Route 62/ Highway 1/ Highway 139 (US 62/AR 1/AR 139). Its southern terminus is ...

West in Indianola.

Demographics

the SCCSD had 4,200 students and 120 teachers. In comparison, in 1987 the pre-consolidation SCSD district had 2,600 students.

2006-07 school year

There were a total of 1,792 students enrolled in the Sunflower County 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 95.42% African American, 2.29% White, 2.06% Hispanic, and 0.22% Asian. 89.6% of the district's students were eligible to receive free lunch.

Previous school years

Accountability statistics

School uniforms

All students in the district are required to wear

school uniform A school uniform is a uniform worn by students primarily for a school or otherwise an educational institution.They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries. An example of a uniform would be requiring button-down shir ...

s.Student Handbook 2010—2011
"
Archive
Sunflower County School District. 54 (54/64). Retrieved on February 28, 2011.

References

External links

* * * (2003-2008)
Sunflower County School District
-

Sunflower County School District School Improvement Grant ProposalArchive
{{Indianola, Mississippi Education in Sunflower County, Mississippi School districts in Mississippi School districts established in 2014