April 19, Clarendon County District 3 School Board met. During the meeting, newly elected board members were sworn in. Reverend Carnell Hampton swore in George Frierson, and Superintendent Connie Dennis swore in Ellis Evans. Immediately following, board members unanimously re-elected Jason Newsome as School Board Chairman and elected Frierson as Vice Chairman. Dennis swore in Newsome and Frierson for their elected positions.
Laura Fleming spoke about the financial positioning for the district. “We are where we need to be at this time,” Fleming said of the current year’s budget. She did request funding to provide a new bus for athletic travel and field trips. An opportunity has arisen to allow for a low-cost purchase of a used bus, and funding currently exists in this year’s budget. The board approved the request, pending having the bus checked by a certified mechanic.
Next year’s budget, however, isn’t balanced, as Fleming pointed out in the first reading of the 2018-2019 budget. With a need for three more teachers, as well as increases in pay and retirement contributions for certified and non-certified employees, a large deficit currently exists. Fleming is continuing to seek ways to lessen the deficit.
John Jackson discussed the Abbeville Capital Improvement Project. The board approved moving forward with entering into a contract to install new security measures at East Clarendon, which will greatly improve security for the property, staff and children enrolled.
A first reading occurred regarding new policies, including EF-R, IKA-R, IKE, JFABF, JH-R and KDB. Following this, after discussion, the board approved the 2018-2019 school calendar.
The board approved to move forward with the East Clarendon High School Athletic Hall of Fame. ECMHS Athletic Director Scott Cook discussed the need to recognize not only exceptional players, but also those who have supported the teams and team efforts of East Clarendon. The initial induction would include a larger number, but in the future, they expect around five additions to the Hall of Fame annually.
Principal Jason Cook provided a strategic plan update for ECMHS, discussing the updating of the five-year plan. ECMHS outperformed the state in all subjects in the EOC exams. With the ACT, they were a touch below the average. Their graduation rate in 2017 was 91.4%. The math intervention program has increased math scores at ECMHS. An after-school program is planned for two days per week for four weeks for ELA students who need the assistance.
Principal Allen Kirby discussed how Walker Gamble Elementary outperformed the state in ELA, math, science and social studies and spoke of an increase in parent satisfaction in his strategic plan update. He then discussed an intervention plan for students struggling in specific subjects.
Dennis mentioned further intervention programs for struggling students in her district strategic plan update.
Dennis opened an information only discussion regarding new policies GCC-R and GDC-R which will allow school staff the opportunity to donate sick leave days to employees with long term absence needs, followed by information regarding a $10,000 supplemental grant district 3 has received. She then gave an update on the Parents as Teachers program, which had an 84.62% growth rate, exceeding the 65% growth rate necessary to remain in compliance with the program.
