West Bolivar Consolidated School District

The West Bolivar Consolidated School District is a public school district based in Rosedale, Mississippi (USA).

West Bolivar Consolidated School District
Address
909 Highway 8 Rosedale , Mississippi, 38769 United States
District information
Type	Public
Grades	K–12[1]
NCES District ID	2800185[1]
Students and staff
Students	1,015[1]
Teachers	82.17[1]
Staff	91.39[1]
Student–teacher ratio	12.35[1]
Other information
Website	www.wbcsdk12.org

It serves sections of Bolivar County. In addition to Rosedale, the district also serves the towns of Gunnison, Beulah, and Pace in western Bolivar County and Benoit and the section of Shaw in southern Bolivar County. It also serves unincorporated areas of Scott, Skene,^[2] and Symonds.^[3]

History

In 1925, 9-year-old Martha Lum was denied admission to Rosedale Consolidated High School (now West Bolivar High School) because she was Chinese American. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Mississippi's right to exclude her in Lum v. Rice. That decision was overturned by the holding in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Beginning in 1986 Benoit School District students did not attend Ray Brooks School (previously Nugent Center School, a.k.a. Benoit High School), but instead West Bolivar High School. However high school classes at Ray Brooks resumed in 2000.^[4] Linda Coleman, a Democratic member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from Mound Bayou, stated that the costs of transporting children to West Bolivar from Benoit were too high.^[5]

In 2012 the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill that required five school districts in Bolivar County to consolidate into two larger ones.^[5] On July 1, 2014, the Benoit School District, Shaw School District, and West Bolivar School District consolidated into the West Bolivar Consolidated School District.^[6] The former three districts were abolished under the law with a new one formed.^[7]

In 2017 there were at least 19 people applying to be the district's superintendent.^[8]

Governance

The board has two members from the Rosedale area, two members from the Shaw area, and one from the Benoit area.^[9]

Schools

7-12 schools

• Shaw High School (Shaw)
• West Bolivar High School (Rosedale)

PK-6

• McEvans Elementary School (Shaw)
• West Bolivar Elementary School (Rosedale)

Other

• Joe Barnes Career Technical Center (Rosedale)

Former schools

• PK-12: Ray Brooks School (near Benoit) (closed 2020)
• West Bolivar Middle School (Rosedale)
  • In 2020 the district decided to move West Bolivar High into the West Bolivar Middle building.^[10] at 1213 South Main Street.^[11] West Bolivar High moved to Building B.^[12] Now West Bolivar High is a unified 7-12 school,^[13] at the former middle school campus.^[14][11]

Demographics

2006-07 school year

There were a total of 1,014 students enrolled in the West Bolivar School District during the 2006–2007 school year. The gender makeup of the district was 48% female and 52% male. The racial makeup of the district was 95.86% African American, 3.35% White, and 0.79% Hispanic.^[15] 88.5% of the district's students were eligible to receive free lunch.^[16]

Previous school years

School Year	Enrollment	Gender Makeup		Racial Makeup
		Female	Male	Asian	African American	Hispanic	Native American	White
2005-06[15]	1,056	50%	50%	–	95.93%	0.76%	–	3.31%
2004-05[15]	1,094	48%	52%	0.09%	96.80%	0.64%	–	2.47%
2003-04[15]	1,159	48%	52%	0.09%	97.58%	0.26%	–	2.07%
2002-03[17]	1,162	49%	51%	0.17%	97.16%	0.26%	–	2.41%

Accountability statistics

	2006-07[18]	2005-06[19]	2004-05[20]	2003-04[21]	2002-03[22]
District Accreditation Status	Accredited	Accredited	Accredited	Accredited	Accredited
School Performance Classifications
Level 5 (Superior Performing) Schools	1	0	0	0	0
Level 4 (Exemplary) Schools	1	0	0	1	0
Level 3 (Successful) Schools	1	2	2	1	1
Level 2 (Under Performing) Schools	0	1	1	1	1
Level 1 (Low Performing) Schools	1	0	0	0	1
Not Assigned	0	0	0	0	0

See also

• List of school districts in Mississippi

References

1. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for WEST BOLIVAR CONS SCHOOL DIST". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
2. "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Bolivar County, MS" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
3. "West Bolivar Middle School". West Bolivar Consolidated School District. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
4. "Wilson hopes to break out the shoes'." Franklin County Times. January 10, 2002. Retrieved on July 3, 2017.
5. Wright, Megan (May 12, 2012). "Bill passes to consolidate Delta county's school districts". Mississippi Business Journal. Retrieved July 3, 2017. Coleman noted that West Bolivar and Benoit combined high schools for a time in the 1990s, but said transportation costs were too high.
6. "School District Consolidation in Mississippi Archived 2017-07-02 at the Wayback Machine." Mississippi Professional Educators. December 2016. Retrieved on July 2, 2017. Page 2 (PDF p. 3/6).
7. "Senate Bill 2760 (As Sent to Governor)". Mississippi Legislature. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
8. Caxton, Ben (July 2, 2017). "West Bolivar Has 19 Applications For Superintendent". Delta Daily News. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
9. Davis Betz, Kelsey (March 4, 2020). "Another Delta town will lose its school as district navigates shrinking enrollment, consolidation". Mississippi Today. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
10. Benford, Kelly; Caxton, Ben (March 6, 2020). "West Bolivar to Close Benoit's Ray Brooks School". Delta Daily News. Retrieved May 23, 2021. - MP3 format
11. "West Bolivar High School". West Bolivar Consolidated School District. October 28, 2020. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2021. West Bolivar High School 1213 South Main Street Rosedale, MS 38769
12. "Addendum TwoD West Bolivar Consolidated School District Renovation Projects" (PDF). June 12, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2021. Building B – West Bolivar High School (formally Middle School), 1213 Main St, Rosedale, MS 38769 - Alternate URL
13. "West Bolivar High School 7-12". West Bolivar Consolidated School District. August 19, 2020. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
14. "West Bolivar High School Graduation". West Bolivar Consolidated School District. March 26, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021. West Bolivar High School 1213 Main Street Rosedale, MS 38769
15. "Mississippi Assessment and Accountability Reporting System". Office of Research and Statistics, Mississippi Department of Education. Archived from the original on March 23, 2007.
16. "2006-07 State, District, and School Enrollment by Race/Gender with Poverty Data" (XLS). Mississippi Department of Education. January 16, 2008. Retrieved May 19, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
17. "Mississippi Report Card for 2002-2003". Office of Educational Accountability, Mississippi Department of Education. September 2, 2004. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2007.
18. "2007 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 13, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2007. Retrieved September 15, 2007.
19. "2006 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 6, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 17, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2007.
20. "2005 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 9, 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2007.
21. "2004 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. September 26, 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2007.
22. "2003 Results" (PDF). Mississippi Statewide Accountability System. Mississippi Department of Education. November 21, 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2007. Retrieved June 24, 2007.

Further reading

• Map of Bolivar County School Districts as of 2010 - U.S. Census Bureau
• Legislation from the Mississippi Legislature requiring the Bolivar County school district consolidations
• Ruling from the U.S. Department of Justice about the Bolivar County school district consolidations
• Maps of old and new districts with new board districts

External links

• Official website
• West Bolivar School District at the Wayback Machine (archive index)