Benoit School District
The Benoit School District (BSD) was a public school district serving Benoit, Mississippi (USA). The sole school of the district was the Ray Brooks School (Grades PK-12), in unincorporated Bolivar County.[1]
On July 1, 2014, it consolidated into the West Bolivar Consolidated School District.
History
Beginning in 1986 district students at the high school level did not attend Ray Brooks (previously Nugent Center School, a.k.a. Benoit High School), but instead West Bolivar High School of the West Bolivar School District, in Rosedale. However high school classes at Ray Brooks resumed in 2000.[2] Linda Coleman, a Democrat 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.[3]
In 2012 the Mississippi Legislature passed a bill that required five school districts in Bolivar County to consolidate into two larger ones.[3] On July 1, 2015, the Benoit district consolidated into the West Bolivar Consolidated School District.[4]
Demographics
The school district had 287 students as of 2012. As of that year, of the 152 school districts in the State of Mississippi, Benoit was the smallest K-12 district (meaning the smallest which had all thirteen grade levels) and one of the 20 smallest school districts overall in the state.[5]
Accountability statistics
As of 2012, the district was, on a state seven step accountability rating, given the third lowest, "low performing," due to test scores. As of the same year the school had a 92% graduation rate, which is much higher than the Mississippi state average.[5]
School uniforms
Students were required to wear school uniforms.[6]
References
- Home. Benoit School District. Retrieved on April 19, 2018. "Benoit School District | 1827 Highway 1, Benoit, Mississippi, 38725"
- "Wilson hopes to break out the shoes'." Franklin County Times. January 10, 2002. Retrieved on July 3, 2017.
- Wright, Megan (2012-05-12). "Bill passes to consolidate Delta county's school districts". Mississippi Business Journal. Retrieved 2017-07-03.
Coleman noted that West Bolivar and Benoit combined high schools for a time in the 1990s, but said transportation costs were too high.
- "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).
- Amy, Jeff. "Bill forces merger of Bolivar school districts." Associated Press at the Houston Chronicle. Tuesday March 6, 2012. Retrieved on March 25, 2012. Archived copy at The Mississippi Link
- "Student Hansbook 2011-2012." Benoit School District. 57. Retrieved on March 25, 2012.
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
External links
- Benoit School District at the Wayback Machine (archive index)