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Thomas E. Edwards, Sr. High School, formerly Ruleville Central High School (RCHS), is a public high school located in Ruleville, Mississippi, United States. It is a part of the Sunflower County Consolidated School District and had 381 students enrolled in Nov. 2012.

The school serves communities of Sunflower County, including the cities of Drew, Moorhead, Ruleville, and the Sunflower County portion of Shaw; the towns of Doddsville, Inverness, and Sunflower; and several unincorporated communities including Rome, and the employee residences of nearby Mississippi State Penitentiary. The principal is Eric Lakes.

History

Ruleville Central High School was originally named Ruleville Colored School. In the early 1930s, noted Mississippi artist Bailey Magnet created bas-relief sculptures for the school.

The city of Ruleville was home to civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. After her death in 1977, an overflow memorial service accommodating people who could not attend the primary memorial service at a church was held at Ruleville Central, with over 1,500 people in attendance. Andrew Young, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, spoke at the RCHS service.

In 1998, a tornado caused extensive damage to classrooms and the gymnasium, with 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water flooding. Principal Jimmy Smith estimated $1 million as a "conservative" estimate of damage, and Mayor Harvey Springer added that looters had entered the school.

Dorothy Burton served as principal from circa 1999 to her retirement in spring 2002.

Noah Ingram, a student at RCHS, rushed for a state-record 506 yards and six touchdowns during a Sept. 2000 football game against Gentry High School.

In Sept. 2006, tragedy struck the school when one of its students, Robert Cassidy, was paralyzed from the chest down on the opening kickoff of a football game against Gentry High School. Cassidy's injuries garnered an outpouring of support from the community.

On July 1, 2012, nearby Drew School District was consolidated into the Sunflower County School District. As a result, the Sunflower County School District's attendance boundary expanded, and the high school division of Drew Hunter High School was closed, with its high school students rezoned to Ruleville Central.

Notable teaching staff include former Olympic basketball player Lusia Harris. As well, veteran teacher Cordina Barber was the recipient of a Shine-A-Light award from Black Entertainment Television in recognition of her work with the schools' Parent Teacher Student Association to organize a two-day student boycott in March 2010 to draw attention to the school's conditions.

In 2018 the district announced that the school will be renamed for Thomas Edwards, after a previous superintendent. Every member of the board voted for the rename. However community members filed lawsuits against the school district to try to force the name to be changed back.

References

• Excerpt of: Mills, Kay This Little Light of Mine. In: Barnwell, Marion (editor) A Place Called Mississippi: Collected Narratives. University Press of Mississippi, 1997. ISBN 1617033391, 9781617033391.
• Nash, Jere and Andy Taggart. Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2008. University Press of Mississippi, June 1, 2007. ISBN 1604733578, 9781604733570.

Notes

1. ^ "Thomas E. Edwards, Sr. High School". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
2. ^ "MHSAA School Directory". Mississippi High School Activities Association. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
3. "Mississippi High School Enrollment Numbers Released". Lincoln County School District. November 15, 2012.
4. "Drew School District Audited Financial Statements For the Year Ended June 30, 2005." (PDF) Office of the State Auditor, State of Mississippi. 12 (18/82). Retrieved on July 20, 2010. Since Drew School District was merged into the Sunflower County district, and Drew was re-assigned to Ruleville Central High (now Edwards High), all communities listed here were moved to Ruleville Central.
5. "Sunflower County School District Reference Map." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 18, 2011. This reflects the former Sunflower County School District (pre-merger), which only had one high school: Ruleville Central High (now Edwards High).
6. Black, Patti Carr (1998). Art in Mississippi, 1790-1980. Mississippi Historical Society. ISBN 9781578060849.
7. Barnwell, p. 226
8. Nash and Taggart, p. 85.
9. ^ "Tornado rips through Miss. town." Associated Press at The News and Courier. p. 1A, continued on 6A. Retrieved from Google News (1 of 68) on March 23, 2013.
10. "Ruleville Central High School principal to retire at end of June". Enterprise-Tocsin. Indianola, Mississippi. 2002-02-07. p. A8. - Clipping from Newspapers.com.
11. White, Carolyn (Sep 12, 2000). "Coaches remain stunned after 74-71 game". USA TODAY.
12. Walker, Rod (Dec 18, 2012). "Paralyzed in 2006 football game, Ruleville's Cassidy earns degree from Delta State". Clarion-Ledger.
13. ^ Amy, Jeff. "Mississippi to return Okolona schools to local control; district merger ends Drew High School." Associated Press at The Republic. May 17, 2012. Retrieved on June 12, 2012.
14. "Home." (Archive) Drew Hunter Middle School. Retrieved on October 9, 2013. "After two successful academic years, the high school portion of the school merged with Ruleville Central High School and Drew High School became Drew Hunter Middle School."
15. Brown, Marquita (July 5, 2010). "BET honors Mississippi Delta teacher as role model". Clarionledger.
16. Thomas, Recardo (2018-12-20). "RCHS to be renamed in honor of Thomas Edwards". Enterprise Tocsin. Retrieved 2020-05-06.
17. "Sunflower School District Lawsuit". Delta News TV. 2019-08-26. Retrieved 2020-05-06.

Further reading

• Chico Harlan, "Graduating, But to What? Poor Students in the Deep South Who Successfully Navigate Traumas at Home and Dysfunction at School Find Few Opportunities Afterward," Washington Post, October 17, 2015.

External links

• Thomas E. Edwards, Sr. High School
  • Ruleville Central High School at the Wayback Machine (archive index)
• Ruleville Central High School - Old official website hosted on Tripod.com

• Schools in Sunflower County, Mississippi
• Public high schools in Mississippi