Greenville County School District

Greenville County School District
Location
301 E. Camperdown Way, Greenville, South Carolina United States
District information
Grades	K-12
Established	August 23, 1951
Superintendent	W. Burke Royster
Schools	101
Budget	$536.7 million
Students and staff
Students	~57,000
Teachers	~5,000 teachers
Staff	9,800 employees
Other information
Website	www.greenville.k12.sc.us

Greenville County School District (GCSD) is a run public school district in Greenville County, South Carolina (USA). It is the largest school district in the state of South Carolina and the 44th largest in the US. Greenville CSD also takes students from some areas of Spartanburg and Laurens counties. Led by Superintendent of Schools W Burke Royster, GCSD serves over 76,000 students and employs 9,800 people spread across 84 schools and 17 specialty and early education centers. GCSD has an operating budget of $536.7 million for the 2014 - 2015 school year. GCSD has 13 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 9 Newsweek's Best High Schools, 21 Carolina First Palmetto's Finest Schools, 48 Red Carpet Schools, and 29 National PTA Schools of Excellence. GCSD is the State leader in school choice, featuring schools of various sizes in urban, suburban and rural settings, and magnet academies offering specialized studies in areas such as communications arts, languages, the arts, and science and mathematics. About 15% of their 72,000 students take advantage of school choice to match their needs and interests.

History

At the end of World War II, Greenville County had 86 school districts. The smallest was a one-room school; the two largest, Parker and Greenville City, served two-thirds of the student population.

On August 23, 1951 the Greenville County Board of Education, chaired by J. B. League, established the School District of Greenville County and appointed nine trustees, with A. D. Asbury as chair. Dr. William F. Loggins was the first superintendent. An educational program of greater equality began to emerge, mainly by consolidating smaller schools.

Public schools desegregation

In 1963, the local NAACP filed suit in the federal district court, for the children of A. J. Whittenberg and five other blacks to attend all-white schools. They were represented by Willie Smith and Matthew Perry, while the district was represented by its attorney E. P. (Ted) Riley. On April 14, after a federal judge gave the school board thirty days to reconsider, Superintendent Marion T. Anderson announced that fifty-five black students would be transferred to sixteen white schools in 1964.

Integration did not go smoothly and in May 1968 the state supreme court declared freedom of choice plans unacceptable. Opposition organizations were formed including Citizens for Freedom of Choice, Citizens to Prevent Busing, and Concerned Black Parents, chaired by H. L. Sullivan. In February 1970, most all-black schools were closed. 60% of the black and 10% of the white students were reassigned. 75% of the busing involved black students.^[1]

Educational structure

GCSD students attend schools based primarily on the geographic location of their homes. Schools of a lower level 'feed into' a certain school of the next highest level, meaning that students leaving the lower level schools attend the higher level school. Exceptions to the feeder system are students wishing to enroll in the magnet schools programs offered in 12 schools,^[2] or those who participate in the International Baccalaureate, which is offered in its three levels at four clusters over the county.^[3] Parents of students may also request transfers out of their students' assigned schools for various reasons (such as to take classes unique to a particular school).

According to 2016 data, Greenville CSD graduation rate was at an all-time high of 86.8%, which was a 20% increase since 2012.

According to 2017 data, the Greenville CSD student count went down as many parents have been moving their students to Spartanburg District 5.

In the news

In 2006, 21% of the 22,850 AP exams completed in South Carolina were taken by Greenville County students. The percentage of exams qualifying for college credit increased from 43% to 48% (2,192 of 4,568 exams).

The school district has also established a foundation that has successfully raised funds for student programs.

In 2005, six Greenville County elementary schools and two middle schools were identified in a study released by the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC) as reducing the achievement gap for at least one historically underachieving student group.^[4]

See also

• List of school districts in South Carolina
• Bill Workman, former school board member
• School Board Members

Notes

1. ^ Greenville, A. V. Huff Jr., Conclusion: The Emergence of Modern Greenville
2. ^ Magnet
3. ^ IB
4. ^ Achievement gap EOC

References

Greenville CSD Fast Facts, retrieved April 2017

External links

• Greenville CSD homepage