Greenville Independent School District

Greenville Independent School District (Greenville ISD or GISD) is a public school district based in Greenville, Texas, United States.

Greenville Independent School District
Address
4004 Moulton
Greenville
, Texas, 75401-5103
United States
District information
TypeIndependent school district
GradesPre-K–12[1]
SuperintendentDemetrus Liggins[2]
School boardDistrict 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]
Schools10[1]
NCES District ID4821720[4]
Students and staff
Enrollment5,477[4]
Teachers399.58[4]
Student–teacher ratio13.71[4]
Other information
Websitewww.greenvilleisd.com

In 2009, the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.[5]

Travis Elementary School was a 1987-88 National Blue Ribbon School.[6]

Schools

Secondary schools:

Elementary schools:

  • Bowie Elementary School
  • Carver Elementary School
  • Crockett Elementary School
  • Lamar Elementary School
  • Travis Elementary School

Pre-K

  • L. P. Waters Early Childhood Center

Forensic audit

In December 2017, the Texas Association of School Business Officials found problems with the school district's finances.[7] Residents urged the school board to do a forensic audit,[8] but Superintendent Demetrus Liggins initially did not think a forensic audit was necessary.[9] In early 2018, the school board hired an investigator to perform a forensic audit.[10]

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".[11] 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".[12][13][14] 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".[15] The Texas Attorney General's office was asked to investigate the matter.[12][14] As of June 2018, the Attorney General will not release information about the audit until its investigation is complete.[16]

Tax swap and drop

In July 2018, the district ran a phone survey to gauge public opinion about tax swap and drop.[17] 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.[18] 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).[19]

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. [20]

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.[21] After the district apologized, the legal challenge was rescinded.[22]

References
  1. "About Greenville ISD / Welcome to GISD". www.greenvilleisd.com. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  2. "Superintendent of Schools / Office of the Superintendent". www.greenvilleisd.com. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  3. "School Board / Board of Trustees". www.greenvilleisd.com. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  4. "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Greenville Isd". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  5. "2009 Accountability Rating System". Texas Education Agency. Archived from the original on 2015-10-25.
  6. Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Schools Recognized 1982-1983 Through 1999-2002 (PDF) Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Hairgrove, Travis (2017-12-01). "State board reviews GISD budget". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  8. Hairgrove, Travis (2017-12-22). "GISD urged to conduct forensic audit". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  9. Hairgrove, Travis (2017-12-05). "GISD Board discusses possibility of forensic audit". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  10. Hairgrove, Travis (2018-02-09). "Scope of audit outlined at forum". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  11. Hairgrove, Travis (2018-04-11). "No proof of payment found for large portion of GISD bond funds". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  12. Hairgrove, Travis (2018-04-17). "Attorney General's office asked to investigate GISD". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  13. Cokely, Kevin (2018-04-16). "Millions in Spending at Greenville ISD Questioned". NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  14. Miller, Steve (2018-04-18). "Hunt County DA asks AG for help investigating Greenville ISD finances". The Texas Monitor. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  15. Hairgrove, Travis (2018-04-14). "GISD Board directs Liggins to report alleged misappropriations to law enforcement". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  16. Hairgrove, Travis (2018-06-27). "AG won't release audit info on GISD". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  17. Choi, Hojun (2018-08-01). "Greenville ISD phone survey wraps up with 229 responses". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  18. Choi, Hojun (2018-10-21). "Taxes lower without swap than with it". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  19. Kuykendall, Kristal (2018-08-14). "GISD sets tax swap and drop vote for Nov. 6". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  20. "GISD board canvasses 'Swap and Drop' election results". Herald-Banner. 2018-11-17. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  21. Choi, Hojun (2018-11-01). "GISD facing lawsuit over 'censoring' swap opponents". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
  22. Kuykendall, Kristal (2018-11-02). "GISD Facebook conflict resolved as Joneses opt to forego legal action". Herald-Banner. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
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