“One act of stupidity and we have paid for it ever since. The story of Greenville would have been very different if the school had never opened. I’ve been watching two generations of families and kids, and all the resegregation. Now every white family that can afford it sends their kids there.” Bob Boyd on the state of the school systems in Greenville 2016, Delta Democrat Times.[2]
The school was established as a segregation academy[3] in response to the racial integration of the local public schools in 1969,[1] with its first classes beginning in September 1970.[4] In 1971, the school joined the Mississippi Private Schools Association, which had been created to help segregation academies organize school athletics and file legal documents to qualify for tax-deductible status with the IRS.[5]
In its first year, Washington School had a total of 23 staff members and 323 students. Classes were originally held in the current elementary building. Enrollment in 2016 was 700 students with the average size of a graduating class being around 60 students. As of 2016, the school's students are 98% Caucasian,[2] but Washington County is over 72% African American and the Greenville metro area is over 85% African American .[6][7]
(*) O'Bannon High is in an unincorporated area adjacent to Greenville and is not in the city limits. (**) The main campus is not in Greenville, but Greenville is within its service area Winterville site is north of, and not inside, the Greenville city limits
