The West Tallahatchie School District (WTSD) 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 the Charles M. George Facility for Educational Services in

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

Tallahatchie County Tallahatchie County is a county in the U.S. state of Mississippi. At the 2020 census, the population was 12,715. Its county seats are Charleston and Sumner. Tallahatchie County is located in the Mississippi Delta region, divided by the Tall ...

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., ...

), adjacent to

Sumner Sumner may refer to: Places Antarctica * Mount Sumner, a mountain in the Rare Range, Antarctica * Sumner Glacier, southern Graham Land, Antarctica Australia * Sumner, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane New Zealand * Sumner, New Zealand, seaside sub ...

. In addition to Sumner, the district also serves the communities of Tutwiler,

Webb Webb most often refers to James Webb Space Telescope which is named after James E. Webb, second Administrator of NASA. It may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Webb Glacier (South Georgia) * Webb Glacier (Victoria Land) *Webb Névé, Victoria ...

, and Glendora. Additionally it includes

unincorporated areas 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 ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Philipp Philipp is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: "Philipp" has also been a shortened version of Philippson, a German surname especially prevalent amongst German Jews and Dutch Jews. Surname * Adolf Philipp (1864� ...

, and Vance. The parts of the Mintner City area in Tallahatchie County are in the West Tallahatchie district.

History

In 1993 most classrooms were not air conditioned.
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Newspapers.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

. In 1997 the district got little money from local taxation, and it reported that it had a shortage of qualified teachers. Superintendent Reggie Barnes asked area housing authorities to build affordable housing next to

West Tallahatchie High School West Tallahatchie High School (WTHS) is a public high school in unincorporated Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, near Webb. A part of the West Tallahatchie School District, its nickname is "West Tally". In addition to Webb, the district also ser ...

so area teachers had affordable housing.
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. In 1999 there were two schools in the district, and both received intercom systems and were given a $1,071,000 renovation. In 2022,

received an award from GreatSchools.org as a College Success-Gold Honoree for its success in preparing its students for life and enrollment in both two-year and four-year colleges and universities, respectively.

Schools

(7-12) – In an unincorporated area near Webb. * R. H. Bearden Elementary School (K-6) – Previously the "West District School", or West District Middle School.
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. ; Former schools: * Black Bayou Elementary School ( Glendora) – Served Kindergarten through grade 6 for southern portions of the school district.
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. Cathy Hayden of ''

The Clarion Ledger ''The Clarion Ledger'' is an American daily newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi. It is the second-oldest company in the state of Mississippi, and is one of the few newspapers in the nation that continues to circulate statewide. It is an operating d ...

'' described the facility, adjacent to a radio antenna and with little signage that indicated its purpose, as "small". In 1989 the state awarded funding to have a computer lab built. In 1997 it had 210 students and eight teachers. Due to the expense of operating the school and because its students were unable to access programs available to students going to school in Sumner due to geographic distance, district leadership that year began proposing closing Black Bayou Elementary.
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. The district decided to close the school in 1998.
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. By 2004 it became a head start center of the organization Institute for Community Services (ICS). * Brazil Consolidated School – It was previously a part of the Brazil Consolidated School District. Brazil formerly had its own school, with the final building built for $50,000 in 1936.
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. In the 1940s the district made plans to build an expansion. The previous Brazil school was destroyed by a fire. Due to under enrollment, as the school had 40 students registered in 1965, it was closed that year. That year the school district put it up for sale.
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. * East District Elementary School – Grades 3-4 * Hopson Bayou Elementary School ( Tutwiler) - Served Kindergarten through grade 6. It closed as a zoned school in 1993 and became an alternative school for troubled youth. In 1997 the district closed the Hopson Bayou campus and moved the alternative school to the former Sumner Elementary. * Philipp Consolidated School (Philipp) – By 1957 the property was for sale * Sumner Elementary School (Sumner) – Served Kindergarten through grade 2 for Sumner and Webb. By spring 1997 it became a kindergarten through grade 1 school. In 1997 it had 203 students. It closed in 1997 with all students transferred to Bearden School, and the district moved the alternative school to the former Sumner Elementary.

Demographics

As of November 1997, 99% of the students were black and 1% was white. As of that time, 92% qualified for buying lunches at reduced or no expense. In 1999 there were 1,500 students.

2007-08 school year

There were a total of 947 students enrolled in the West Tallahatchie School District during the 2007–2008 school year. The gender makeup of the district was 53% female and 47% male. The racial makeup of the district was 99.89% African American and 0.11% Hispanic.

Previous school years

Student achievement

In 1997 the graduation rate was 86%. The class of 1999 was the only class of the 1990s decade to graduate 100% of the seniors that enrolled.

Accountability statistics

Other facilities

The Charles M. George Facility for Educational Services, the headquarters of WTSD, was dedicated on July 23, 1995. Charles M. George, the headquarters' namesake, was a principal and a superintendent of the district. As per the Mississippi Critical Teacher Shortage Act of 1998, a duplex was built for $200,000 next to West Tallahatchie High School. Priority was for district teachers but people not employed by the district are welcome to rent. In 2015 Monique Harrison-Henderson of ''

The Hechinger Report Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school, graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a Private university, private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served ...

'' stated "In the end, instead of being an exciting recruitment tool, the duplex has been filled in recent years by people with no direct ties to the school system."

References

External links

West Tallahatchie School District
(Archive)
R.H. Bearden Elementary School
{{Education in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi Education in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi School districts in Mississippi