Bayou Academy
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Bayou Academy is a non-profit school located in unincorporated
Bolivar County, Mississippi Bolivar County ( ), officially the County of Bolivar, is a county located on the western border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,985. Its county seats are Rosedale and Cleveland. The county is name ...
, near the City of Cleveland on Highway 8. The school serves about 500 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten through 12. The school is accredited by the
Midsouth Association of Independent Schools The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) is a consortium of schools in Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas. It is responsible for accreditation of its member private schools as well as governing athletic competition for i ...
.


History

Bayou Academy was founded in 1964 as a
segregation academy Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend Racial segregation in the United States, desegregated public schools. They ...
. In 1966, the all-white school board sold Skene Attendance Center to a white group called Skene Civic Improvement Society, Inc. for $1.00. The property was then leased to Bolivar Academy, achieving a transfer of public property to the segregationist group. After the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
decided '' Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education'' in 1969, ordering the desegregation of public schools in the South, the all-white Bayou Academy doubled its enrollment for the 1970 school year. In 2009, the old Skene school building burned to the ground. In 2021 the former elementary school principal was arrested for placing a camera in the girls locker room. Of the 372 students who attended in the 2011–2012 school year, 99 percent were white.


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Bayou Academy
Schools in Bolivar County, Mississippi Educational institutions established in 1964 Private K–12 schools in Mississippi Segregation academies in Mississippi 1964 establishments in Mississippi {{Mississippi-school-stub