McGehee School District

McGehee School District
Location
409 Oak Street
McGehee, Arkansas 71654
United States
District information
GradesPK–12
AccreditationAdvancED
Schools2[1]
NCES District ID0509630[1]
Students and staff
Students1,188[1]
Teachers98.14 (on FTE basis)[1]
Staff211.14 (on FTE basis)[1]
Student–teacher ratio12.11[1]
Athletic conference3A Region 6 (Football)
3A Region 8 (Basketball)
District mascotOwl
Colors  Red
  White
Other information
Websitewww.mcgeheeschools.org

McGehee School District is a public school district headquartered in McGehee, Arkansas.[2] The school district encompasses 499.14 square miles (1,292.8 km2) of land,[citation needed] in Drew and Desha counties.

History

In July 1993 the Desha-Drew School District dissolved, with portions going to the McGehee School District and the other going to Dumas Public Schools.[3]

In 2004 the Arkansas Legislature approved a law that forced school districts with fewer than 350 students to consolidate with other districts.[4][5] On July 1, 2004, the Arkansas City School District and the Delta Special School District were subsumed into the McGehee district.[3]

In 2011 an African-American student sued the district for forcing her to share valedictorian status with a white student who had a lower grade point average (GPA).[6] The students both had one B grade, and otherwise all A grades, but the white student had 1.5 more regular course credits, which due to course weighting resulted in her lower GPA. The case was dismissed in US District Court in 2013, which found that the school acted according to its published policy that in determining class rank, "a student with a greater number of courses will not be penalized."[7]

Attendance area

In Desha County, the district includes: McGehee, Arkansas City, Reed, Watson, and that county's portion of Tillar.[8] It also includes the unincorporated area of Rohwer,[9] and Rosedale.[citation needed] The district also extends into Drew County, where it includes that county's portion of Tillar.[10]

Schools

The schools are McGehee Elementary School (prekindergarten through grade 6), McGehee Jr. High School (grades 7 through 8), and McGehee High School (grades 9 through 12). The schools and the district are accredited by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) and AdvancED.

Previously the middle school division was called Conner Junior High School. After the acquisition of the Delta Special School District, the McGehee district continued to operate Delta Elementary School and Delta High School. After the acquisition of the Arkansas City School District, it operated the Arkansas City campus as a K-6 school.[11] By October 2005 the district no longer operated the Arkansas City facility, and the Delta campus became elementary only.[12] The Delta campus housed the district's Alternative Learning Environment (ALE) program.[13] By October 2006 the Delta campus was no longer in operation.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Mcgehee School District". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  2. ^ "Home Archived 2011-07-30 at the Wayback Machine." McGehee School District. Retrieved on July 27, 2011. "409 Oak Street/P. O. Box 767 McGehee, Arkansas 71654 USA"
  3. ^ a b "Consolidation/Annexations of LEA's (1983-2010)[usurped]." () Arkansas Department of Education. Retrieved on March 6, 2011.
  4. ^ "Dumas inherits Gould district’s deficit Archived July 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine." Arkansas News. May 11, 2005. Retrieved on March 7, 2011.
  5. ^ "The MHS Alumni Café." McGehee School District. Retrieved on July 27, 2011. "FYI... The Delta Special (Desha Central) and Arkansas City School Districts Consolidated with the McGehee School District as a result of a state mandate in 2004-2005."
  6. ^ Elkin, Ali (July 26, 2011). "Valedictorian sues school: Was she snubbed because of race?". CNN. Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved July 27, 2011.
  7. ^ Blad, Evie (April 2, 2013). "Co-valedictorian sees suit over race dismissed". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Retrieved July 2, 2017.
  8. ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Desha County, AR" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved March 11, 2023. - Text list - 2010 map
  9. ^ "General Highway Map Desha County, Arkansas" (PDF). Arkansas Department of Transportation. Retrieved March 2, 2021. - See Rohwer on the map. Compare with the U.S. Census school district maps.
  10. ^ "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Drew County, AR" (PDF). U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved March 11, 2023. - Text list - 2010 map
  11. ^ "Campuses." McGehee School District. August 28, 2004. Retrieved on July 28, 2011.
  12. ^ "Campuses." McGehee School District. October 18, 2005. Retrieved on July 28, 2011.
  13. ^ "Technology Plan Submission Form School Years 2006-2009 Archived 2012-03-28 at the Wayback Machine." McGehee School District. 2 of 43. Retrieved on July 28, 2011.
  14. ^ Campuses." McGehee School District. October 15, 2006. Retrieved on July 28, 2011.

Further reading

Maps of the district and/or predecessor districts: