Multi-Million Dollar Grant Received

Today, the school district and a number of other community partners announced that Kershaw County had received a four-year $5.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education under the “Safe Schools/Healthy Students” initiative.  The grant will enable the community to implement a variety of programs to prevent and address gang participation.  The most unique aspect of the grant is that it truly focuses on prevention, beginning with the preschool years.  It also reinstates some excellent and effective programs that were lost during the past year because of state budget cuts.  The impetus for writing this grant was the tragic death in a gang-related shooting in December of 2007.  At the time, our community struggled with how to turn this tragedy into something positive.  Through the determination and hard work of many people, we are truly moving in this direction.

Great News Today!!!

At 1:00 p.m. today at the Alpha Center, a news conference will be held to announce the awarding of a multi-million dollar four-year federal grant to Kershaw County.  Details will follow, but suffice it to say that this grant will have tremendous positive impact on our community.

Two Outstanding Educators

Two outstanding educators who served Kershaw County long and well passed away over the past several days.

Francis Addy Snelgrove passed away on July 2.  During his distinguished career, Mr. Snelgrove served as principal at Camden High School and superintendent of the newly unified Kershaw County School District.  I can only begin to imagine the challenges he faced as he led the district as it was merged together. 

Ms. Becky M. Brown passed away on July 4.  She worked for our district for over 30 years in several capacties.  She was the district’s “Teacher of the Year” in 1982.  Ms. Brown also served as an adjunct professor and supervisor of student teachers at the University of South Carolina. 

Both of these outstanding educators leave a legacy of excellence and service to young people and the community as a whole.

Makes You Proud!!!

A member of my family had a medical emergency this weekend, and we had to go over to Kershaw Health.  A tremendous number of the staff there got their training at ATEC.  I was truly impressed by the work I saw these folks doing.  An outstanding level of professionalism.  It made me extremely proud of the job our district is doing at ATEC.

July 7 Board Meeting

Happy Fourth of July!  I just wanted to remind folks that the School Board meeting scheduled for Tuesday, July 7 will be held at noon at the district office.  Please note the change in the normal time.

CHS Sports Complex

I just swung by the construction site for the new Camden High School Sports Complex.  It’s really taking shape!   It’s going to be a very exciting occasion for Camden High School to have this new facility on line.  For the most part, Camden High’s outdoor athletic programs have always taken place off site.  It will be a great asset to the school to truly have so much “at home.”

Welcome!

Today, Ms. Gail Wages will start as the new principal at Wateree Elementary School.  Ms. Wages comes to us from Beaufort County, where she also served as an elementary principal.  I know that Gail is going to do a great job.  I also know she will find this to be a very welcoming community, as I have.  I also want to express my particular appreciation to Ms. Lindsay Christofaro for the excellent work she has done as interim principal over the past several months.

Hard Work At North Central

I was up at North Central High School this morning, and was pleased to see a number of young men in the fitness center hard at work on conditioning for the upcoming football season.  I was extremely impressed with their work ethic and enthusiasm.  From my own experience in athletics, I know that success during the season is built and earned by hard work in the off-season.  I was really pleased with what I saw this morning.

Great Article!

There is a great article by Ashley Lewis on the front page of this morning’s Chronicle-Independent about our 2009 Teacher of the Year, Melody Johnson.  The article really captures her energy and passion for her work.  A must read!

Kudos…..

As we look back on the past year and the unprecedented challenges we have faced and met, I have to commend the work our principals, who have worked above and beyond the call to keep things moving forward in spite of the budget situation and all its accompanying distractions.  I hope our community understands the tremendous work our principals have done under some very trying circumstances.