Southland Academy

Southland Academy is a private, co-educational, non-sectarian Christian college preparatory day school in Americus, Georgia, United States. It enrolls over 600 students in grades K through 12, covering ages 4 through 19.[2] It was founded in 1967 as a segregation academy.[3][4]

Southland Academy
Location
Americus, Georgia, United States
Coordinates32°04′25″N 84°11′39″W
Information
TypePrivate
Established1966
HeadmasterTy Kinslow
Number of students533[1]
Campus size55 acres (22 ha)
Color(s)Black, gold, and white
Team nameRaiders
Websitesouthlandacademy.org

History

Southland Academy was founded in 1966 as a private school in response to the desegregation of Georgia public schools.[5][6] In 1979 the public school board (6 of 7 members of which sent their children to Southland) declared many of the district's buses, books and materials to be "surplus", then sold them to Southland at low prices. The effect of this caused financial hardships for the public schools, thereby promoting the academy.[6] The first classes began in the old Anthony School building on Anthony Drive. In 1970, Southland moved to its current location at 123 Southland Road. It was reported in 1979 that most white parents in the area sent their children to Southland rather than the local public school system, which at the time was 80% black and the subject of boycotts and criticism over alleged neglect and underfunding.[7] One businessman said he would "dig ditches" to earn money to pay tuition at Southland Academy and avoid sending his children to racially integrated public school.[8]

As of the mid 1980s, the Sumter County School District board was all white. School superintendent Ronnie Satterfield and several other board members sent their children to Southland Academy instead of the predominantly black public schools.[9] US president Jimmy Carter referred to the situation as a "disgrace to our state."[10]

Melvin T. Kinslow, the school's headmaster from 1971 to 1996, in May 2008 attacked suggestions in the local press that Southland was in any way a "segregated" school, noting that it "has a very diverse population with students attending or having attended from Korea, India, China, Germany and France... Southland has black students who have graduated, and others who will graduate in the near future."[11]

Demographics

In 1985, Sumter County was 43% black, but not a single black student was enrolled in Southland Academy.[12]

Southland's racial demographics do not reflect the ethnic makeup of the town of Americus, which is 39.1% White and 58.3% African American, according to the 2000 Census.[13]

As of 2006, Southland Academy's student population is 1% African American, 1% Hispanic, 2% American Indian, and 96% Caucasian.[14] In the 2015–16 school year, 3 of 510 students were black. In the 2017-2018 year, this number had not changed.[1]

Campus

The campus comprises 55 acres (22 ha). The main buildings are a 4K building (which combines both 3K and 4K) and a 5K building (which combines both 5K and 1st grade), the elementary building (which includes the main office), junior high (which also includes the cafeteria) and the high school building. Furthermore, the Charles F. Crisp Media and Technology Center has holds two computer labs along with a library. There is also the Jane L. Comer Music Room, the Melvin T. Kinslow gymnatorium, and a lower-school gymnasium. The upper-school gymnasium, which also has a lobby and stage section, doubles as a space for graduation ceremonies and the like. The campus also includes several playing fields - including a football field, a practice football field, and a softball field, among others. There are two playgrounds, one for regular children and a smaller one for the 3K and 4K grades.

Accreditation

The school is accredited by Southern Association of Independent Schools, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Georgia Accrediting Association, and is a member of the Georgia Independent Schools Association (GISA).

Athletics

Southland Academy has an active athletic program in the GISA in the AAA region. Sports include football, baseball, softball, basketball, wrestling, cross-country running, track and field, golf, swimming, tennis, girls' soccer, and cheerleading. Male teams are called the Southland Raiders; female teams are the Lady Raiders. In 2016, the school added a clay target shooting team.

Class AAA GISA Championships:[15]

Football: 1986-1987, 1991-1992, 1992-1993
Baseball: 1982-1983, 1989-1991, 1994-1995, 2003-2004
Golf: 1980-1988, 1991-1992, 1993-1995, 1997-1998
Boys' basketball: 1973-1974, 1975-1977, 1982-1983
Boys' cross country: 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016
Boys' swimming: 1988-1989, 1991-1992, 1992-1993, 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1997-1998, 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016
Boys' tennis: 1980-1982, 1982-1984
Boys' track and field: 1975-1977, 1980-1984, 1991-1992
Softball: 1976-1977, 1999-2000, 2004-2005, 2006-2007
Girls' basketball: 1979-1980, 1985-1986
Girls' swimming: 1988-1989, 1989-1990, 1990-1991, 1991-1992, 1993-1994, 1994-1995
Girls' track: 1971-1972, 1975-1980, 1989-1990
Wrestling: 2001-2002

[16]

For the first time in five years, Southland Academy's golf team was the 3-AAA region champion in 2009.[17]

Ethos, customs, and discipline

The school states that it aims to provide students with a Christian atmosphere conducive to learning and good citizenship. Activities are said to be designed to enable the student to analyze problems, perform before his peers, and achieve distinction as an individual. Outside the classroom, opportunities are offered in club work, athletics, music, and oratory so as to provide a well-rounded and complete education, according to the school's handbook.

A tradition at the school is the annual pageant at which the Miss Southland Academy Raider, better known as Miss SAR, is crowned. The pageant was started in 1989 by "Mothers of Motivated Students," now part of Southland's parent-teacher organization. Its purpose is to generate funds for the Thomas A. Greene Scholarship Fund, which helps Southland students in financial need. Funds also go to the new Madeline Anne Wildes Scholarship Fund.[18]

All students must sign the Southland Academy Honor Code against cheating, lying, stealing, and plagiarism.

Southland Academy's discipline policy allows corporal punishment by means of paddling for all boys and young men up to and including grade 12, and for girls up to and including grade 5. Either the headmaster or the assistant headmaster is present at all paddlings. The school reserves the right to administer corporal punishment as a first line of punishment for acts of misconduct. In appropriate cases, parents may be notified afterwards.[19]

Other discipline management techniques include after-school detention and Saturday work detail. For serious infractions, the student may be suspended (in-school or out-of-school).

Southland Academy requires students to follow a strict dress code.[20] Random drug testing is carried out on all students in grades 9 through 12.

References
  1. "Private School Universe Survey". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  2. Southland Academy page at greatschools.net.
  3. Wendell Rawls Jr. (October 26, 1979). "Students in Carter's Home County Continue Boycott of Public Schools". The New York Times. p. A16.
  4. King, Wayne (January 28, 1979). "Crumbling School in Plains Mired in Consolidation Drive". The New York Times. p. 24. Retrieved January 2, 2020. That neglect, they contend, forces those who can afford it, mostly whites, to send their children to other schools, mainly Sumter's private Southland Academy, that sprang up to circumvent school integration.
  5. "South Leads the Country In School Desegregation; Some Dramatic Progress Schools Still Segregated", The New York Times, May 9, 1979.
  6. King, Wayne (January 28, 1979). "Crumbling School in Plains Mired in Consolidation Drive". The New York Times. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
  7. "Sumter boycott continues", Rome News-Tribune, October 24, 1979.
  8. Morrison, David (May 16, 1979). "Flaws appear in the picture of school desegregation in Carter county". Atlanta Journal Constition. p. 23.
  9. Bowes, Billy (February 20, 1985). "All white school board stays that way". Detroit Free Press. p. 1A.
  10. Grimm, Fred (March 16, 1984). "Georgia board reigns over shabby schools". Detroit Free Press. p. 7B.
  11. Kinslow, Melvin T. (May 8, 2008). "In defense of private schools". Americus Times-Recorder. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008.
  12. Atkinson, Rick (April 1, 1984). "Segregation Rises Again In Many Southern Schools". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 2, 2020.
  13. Americus city, Georgia - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder Archived February 12, 2020, at Archive.today, U.S. Census Bureau.
  14. Southland Academy page, Local School Directory.
  15. GISA Stats.
  17. "Southland wins region golf title by 6 strokes", Americus Times-Recorder, April 21, 2009.
  18. "Miss SAR Pageant to be held March 21", Americus Times-Recorder, March 11, 2009.
  19. Student handbook, p.9.
  20. Student handbook, p.32.
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