On Monday, February 5, the Clarendon County School Board of Trustees met at the Summerton Resource Center for their regularly scheduled monthly meeting. After the meeting was called to order and quorum was established, the agenda was approved along with the minutes from the January 8 meeting. Public comments were opened and none were made. The board then approved several overnight field trip requests, including the Manning High School wrestling team’s trip to the state championships and a student council trip.
The Board of Trustees recognized several teachers for earning their national board certification. Those teachers were Tracey English, Denise Jones, and Carla Laney of Manning Early Childhood Center and Ryan Joyner of Manning Junior High School.
Tracey Brown of Manning High School was also presented with a plaque in recognition of her earning the 2022-2023 College Board AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award. This award recognizes schools that are closing the gender gap and expanding young women’s access to computer science coursework in AP Computer Science Principles and AP Computer Science.
Next, the Office of Finance presented their monthly budget report. For December 2023, the general fund collected from local sources $1,572,631.19, with the year to date at $3,103,205.44. The total collected from the state for December was $2,298,548.74, with year to date at $13,091,465.05. The total collected in the month of December is $3,871,179.93 and the year to date is $16,194,678.49. The board had the opportunity to look through the expenditures for December, with $3,777,551.40 expended in December and year to date at $20,454,578.04. After this report, a motion was made and carried to approve the budget calendar for the fiscal year of 2024-2025.
The Office of Personnel reported their completion of the Affordable Care Act reporting along with the Office of Human Resources. The office also spoke about their efforts on retaining and recruiting educators. As the school district moves into the recruiting season, they’re encouraged by the anticipated retention rate. Very few educators have indicated on their letters of intent that they would not be returning for the 2024-2025 school year. At this point, the school district has three certified openings and is actively recruiting to fill those positions. The Office of Personnel will also be hosting a Clarendon County Recruitment Fair on March 9 at the F.E. DuBose Center from 9 to 11 a.m. The personnel office also held practice support sessions for current employees who were seeking certification or adding any additional areas of certification to their licensure. 22 individuals participated those sessions.
Lastly, the Office of Student Instruction presented updates in two parts. First, Director of Early Childhood and Elementary Education, Dr. Erica Murdaugh gave an update on where the district is with the accreditation process. Murdaugh stated that she has been “trying to paint a picture” for the accreditation agnecy on who CCSD is as a newly established system. The office has been drafting narratives that support the evidence submitted and those narratives are related to the following topics: Culture of Learning, Leadership for Learning, Engagement in Learning and Growth in Learning. There are three other areas that the office has to record on, including student performance analysis, learning environments, and stakeholder feedback.
The stakeholder feedback was represented on the CCSD website. Notification was given for parents and community members to complete a survey. Also, students and teachers at all levels were encouraged to complete a survey. Learning Environments Administrators are encouraged to be in classrooms at least 80% of the time and they will input their observations and data into the system, reporting on learning environment and student performance. All these data sources create a picture of where CCSD is for the accreditation agency. Murdaugh went on to explain that historically, accreditation was “a pass or fail kind of thing” but this is a longer, more comprehensive process. The agency will use the information shared with them to help CCSD create a plan for continuous improvement over the next five years.
Dr. Tyneshia Eaddy, Director of Secondary Education, presented the second part of the Office of Student Instruction update. Eaddy explained that she and the CCSD Superintendent, Dr. Shawn Johnson, have been visiting the secondary schools for a documentation audit. They’ve met with each principal and are in the process of sending follow-up letters to those administrators regarding the audit. The audit is for accountability purposes and Eaddy plans to “go back around” in March and April as well.
After the presentation from the Offices of Superintendent, the board went into executive session. The agenda listed the following as topics of discussion: Recommendations/Reports on Employee Matters, Request for Release of Student, Superintendent Evaluation, and Legal Advice.
The Board of Trustees spent around an hour in executive session. Once the meeting was in open session again, the board discussed a few items that were resolved in the closed meeting. The release of student was approved as the student’s parent is a teacher in another district and they will be attending that district. The board then made and carried a motion to allow the superintendent to make an agreement with Thompson Turner, a construction company, for the construction of the new Walker Gamble Elementary School. There was no action taken, however, on the superintendent evaluation.
Before adjournment, board member Ceth Land took a moment to honor the late Summerton mayor, Tony Junious. “I would just like to publicly announce my sorrow on the loss of Mayor Tony Junious. He was a member of this board and did a great job doing that. And it’s fitting that we’re here in Summerton tonight where he was the mayor. He will be sorely missed by Summerton and missed by many people throughout the county.”
