Greenville Independent School District Explained

Greenville Independent School District
Address:4004 Moulton
Postalcode:-->
Zipcode:75401-5103
Grades:Pre-K12[1]
Superintendent:Dr. Joe Lopez[2]
Deputy Superintendent:-->
School Board:District 1 Anne Haynes
District 2 Trena Stafford
District 3 Kim Butcher
District 4 Tish Woodruff
District 5 John C. Kelso
District 6 Slack Brown
District 7 Roger Livingston[3]
Accreditation:-->
Schools:10
Enrollment:5,477
Teachers:399.58
Ratio:13.71
Colours:-->

Greenville Independent School District (Greenville ISD or GISD) is a public school district based in Greenville, Texas, United States. Since March 2024, Dr. Joe Lopez is the superintendent.[4]

In 2009, the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.[5] As of the school year 2021-2022, its accountability rating is C, on the scale of A-F.[6] It has 5320 students of which 16.4% are African American, 2,498 are Hispanic and 1574 are White.[7]

Travis Elementary School was a 1987-88 National Blue Ribbon School.[8]

Schools

Secondary schools:

Elementary schools:

Pre-K

Forensic audit

In December 2017, the Texas Association of School Business Officials found problems with the school district's finances.[9] Residents urged the school board to do a forensic audit,[10] but Superintendent Demetrus Liggins initially did not think a forensic audit was necessary.[11] In early 2018, the school board hired an investigator to perform a forensic audit.[12]

In April 2018, the investigator announced that he could not find proof of payment for "$54 million out of the $72 million bond approved by voters in May 2014".[13] According to the investigator, "former GISD officials engaged in cronyism, misappropriation of payroll assets, misconduct to include mismanagement and abuse of position, and theft by gift of tax payer monies".[14] [15] [16] Days later, the school district board directed the superintendent to "report all alleged acts of misappropriation, whether outlined in the forensic audit or not, to the appropriate law enforcement".[17] The Texas Attorney General's office was asked to investigate the matter.[14] [16] As of June 2018, the Attorney General will not release information about the audit until its investigation is complete.[18]

Tax swap and drop

In July 2018, the district ran a phone survey to gauge public opinion about tax swap and drop.[19] The survey included benefits of the proposal, but it did not mention that taxes would be lower without it. In October 2018, the district updated its website to include this extra information.[20] In August 2018, the district school board proposed a tax swap and drop measure, to be approved by voters in the 2018 midterm election (November 6, 2018).[21]

The proposal was narrowly approved, with 4,161 (52.39%) people voting in favor of it and 3,776 (47.61%) people voting against it.[22]

First Amendment lawsuit

In October 2018, the district was facing a lawsuit for allegedly violating First Amendment rights of residents. The district deleted comments on its Facebook page that were unfavorable to the district, including comments by a former school board member.[23] After the district apologized, the legal challenge was rescinded.[24]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Greenville ISD / Welcome to GISD. www.greenvilleisd.com. 2018-12-31.
  2. Web site: GISD's lone finalist for superintendent brings years of educational leadership experience. www.heraldbanner.com . 2024-05-16.
  3. Web site: School Board / Board of Trustees. www.greenvilleisd.com . 2018-12-31.
  4. Web site: 2024-03-06 . GISD's lone finalist for superintendent brings years of educational leadership experience . 2024-05-16 . Herald-Banner . en.
  5. Web site: 2009 Accountability Rating System . Texas Education Agency . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151025190535/http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/account/2009/index.html . 2015-10-25 .
  6. Web site: 2015-12-08 . Greenville ISD . 2024-05-16 . Texas Public Schools . en.
  7. Web site: 2015-12-08 . Greenville ISD . 2024-05-16 . Texas Public Schools . en.
  8. https://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF)
  9. Web site: State board reviews GISD budget. Hairgrove. Travis. 2017-12-01. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  10. Web site: GISD urged to conduct forensic audit. Hairgrove. Travis. 2017-12-22. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  11. Web site: GISD Board discusses possibility of forensic audit. Hairgrove. Travis. 2017-12-05. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  12. Web site: Scope of audit outlined at forum. Hairgrove. Travis. 2018-02-09. Herald-Banner. 2018-12-31.
  13. Web site: No proof of payment found for large portion of GISD bond funds. Hairgrove. Travis. 2018-04-11. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  14. Web site: Attorney General's office asked to investigate GISD. Hairgrove. Travis. 2018-04-17. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  15. Web site: Millions in Spending at Greenville ISD Questioned. Cokely. Kevin. 2018-04-16. NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth . 2018-12-31.
  16. Web site: Hunt County DA asks AG for help investigating Greenville ISD finances. Miller. Steve. 2018-04-18. The Texas Monitor . 2018-12-31.
  17. Web site: GISD Board directs Liggins to report alleged misappropriations to law enforcement. Hairgrove. Travis. 2018-04-14. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  18. Web site: AG won’t release audit info on GISD. Hairgrove. Travis. 2018-06-27. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  19. Web site: Greenville ISD phone survey wraps up with 229 responses. Choi. Hojun. 2018-08-01. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  20. Web site: Taxes lower without swap than with it. Choi. Hojun. 2018-10-21. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  21. Web site: GISD sets tax swap and drop vote for Nov. 6. Kuykendall. Kristal. 2018-08-14. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  22. Web site: GISD board canvasses 'Swap and Drop' election results. 2018-11-17. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  23. Web site: GISD facing lawsuit over ‘censoring’ swap opponents. Choi. Hojun. 2018-11-01. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.
  24. Web site: GISD Facebook conflict resolved as Joneses opt to forego legal action. Kuykendall. Kristal. 2018-11-02. Herald-Banner . 2018-12-31.