Grand Saline Independent School District

Grand Saline Independent School District
Address
400 Stadium Dr. Grand Saline, Texas, Van Zandt County 75140-1038 United States
Information
Type	Public
Motto	"Changing the World, One Student at a Time"
Superintendent	Mr. Micah Lewis
Grades	Pre-Kindergarten-12
Enrollment	Approximately 1,200 students (2013)
Campuses	4
Color(s)	Black & Orange
Mascot	Indians/Lady Indians
Website	GSISD website

Grand Saline Independent School District is an East Texas public school district based in Grand Saline, Texas (USA). The District eccompasses roughly all of northeastern Van Zandt County and has very small portion in extreme northwestern Smith County. The District operates 4 campuses in 5 buildings and also has owns various other buildings on former school district property. The district has a rating of "Standards Met", the highest rating given by the Texas Education Agency.

Grand Saline's first school was started in 1849 as Grand Saline School with a total pupil population of 378 students on Saline Creek, a Sabine River tributary. Around 1920,all of the local communities consolidated to form Grand Saline Independent School District and the first school opened around 1920 and moved into the city itself at the corner of High and Green Street. Shortly thereafter, the first brick gymnasium ever built in Van Zandt County was built on the same plot of land shared with the high school. In the 1940s, the population of the school began to expand due Grand Saline's economic development the school district built an elementary school for students in 1st through 6th grade on the opposite side of the city on Oleander Street and also built the district's first football stadium, Person's stadium, in honor of A.E. Persons, a wealthy citizen who was an oilman and contributed financially to the district and town. In 1962 Grand Saline's Board of Education and the citizens approved the construction of a new high school, new gymnasium and additions to Person's Stadium. The new high school was finished in 1965. The city of Grand Saline constructed Stadium Drive which was built for access to the new high school. A separate middle school building for grades 7-8 was built in 1980 next door to the high school, and across the street, a weight training facility, track and field set-up, and fieldhouse was built. Renovations would not come again until 1993, when district voters approved a bond issue that built a cafetorium, and added a student commons area in the high school which would connect the gymnasium and the classroom wings and create one building. Additionally, voters approved the construction of Indian Memorial Stadium, a new football stadium with an olympic quality track and field and a seating capacity of 4,500 fans, replacing the old Person's Stadium, which became a practice field. In 1996, GSISD constructed a brand new Intermediate School to house grades 4,5, and 6. In late 1999, due to a steady growth in the district, officials proposed the idea of building a brand new, 7 million dollar, state of the art high school next to the current facility. In the spring of 2000, voters approved the bond issue and construction began in summer of 2002 and was opened for classes in fall of 2004, with the capacity to house 550 students. In addition to much bigger classrooms, the new school houses a gymnasium with 3 basketball courts and seating for 1,200 fans, a new baseball field directly behind the new high school, and a new fine arts auditorium. In 2011, Grand Saline replaced their oldest campus, the elementary school. The new school was built directly on the former Person's stadium and directly across the street from the other 3 campuses. The same year, the district opened an award winning softball complex, replacing the former softball field that was behind the old elementary school.

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