Mt. Pisgah Meeting

Thanks to everyone who came to the community meeting at Mt. Pisgah last night.  It was a well-organized and I hope informative session for everyone who came.  I also appreciated the folks who stayed after the meeting to talk with me.

Dictionaries…..

I want to personally thank both the Camden and West Wateree Rotary Clubs for their yearly donation of dictionaries for every third grader in Kershaw County.  In this era of technology, the inportance and usefulness of dictionaries has been somewhat lost, unfortunately.  But what I have found interesting and positive is how excited the students are about the dictionaries.  (I still have the Webster’s Student Dictionary my parents gave me for Christmas in 1964.)  Thanks to the Rotarians for this and all the other projects they do to support our schools and our students.

State Superintendent’s Writing Awards

I was extremely pleased to hear about our district’s winners for this year’s State Superintendent’s Writing Awards:

5^th Grade Winner –          Catelyn Elyard, Lugoff Elementary School

8^th Grade Winner –           Michael McNamee, Lugoff-Elgin Middle School

These students will be recognized at a ceremony in Columbia in May.  Congratulations to them and to all the teachers that nurtured their talent in writing.  Great job !

Doby’s Mill Redistricting Meeting

I appreciate everyone who turned out for last evening’s redistricting meeting at Doby’s Mill.  As was the case at Blaney this past Monday, the discussion was extremely beneficial.  I will provide the School Board with a summary of these two meetings at its workshop on February 16, although no final decisions will be made that evening.

United Way Dinner

I was extremely proud to be at the Kershaw County United Way Volunteer Recognition Dinner this past Wednesday evening to see Brennan Stevens from Camden High School receive an award for her school for the money it raised for the United Way this past fall.  This was done as part of a campaign done with Lugoff-Elgin High School in conjunction with the rivalry football game between the two schools.  I am really proud of what both schools did to make this happen, and also want to commend Ward Yount, the student body president at LEHS for his leadership with this project.

It was also wonderful to see longtime Camden resident Dr. Paul Joseph, Sr. honored for his many volunteer endeavors and the Brown family for their years of work with 130+ foster children.

Impressive…..

When I was over at Pine Tree Hill yesterday, I stopped by Mr. Moses Lee’s PE class to watch the students learn how to square dance.  The kids were doing a great job and having a very good time.  Mr. Lee is a wonderful PE teacher and a darn good dance teacher to boot!

While I was over at Midway Elementary this morning, I was truly impressed by the number of books that have been read over the past couple of weeks in the 4K class.  I understand the goal is 17,000 books by the end of the year.  The class is off to a fantastic start!

Tuesday…..

I enjoyed reading to students at Mt. Pisgah yesterday morning as part of “Celebrity Reader Day,” although I don’t know how I qualified.  I read to both kindergarten and fifth grade students.  I got a big kick out of reading a “Big Book” with the kindergartners and and “Amelia Bedelia” book with the fifth graders.  (If you’ve never read one of these, they’re hilarious.)  Nice thing to do on a gloomy, rainy day.

It was also great to have the new Teacher Cadet class from Camden High at last night’s Board meeting….Good to see that program starting up again.  My thanks to Meredith Kirkland for her work with this program.

Blaney Redistricting Meeting

Thanks to everyone who came to the Blaney redistricting meeting last evening.  Good discussion and good questions and good feedback!  Another meeting on the West Wateree redistricting will be held on Thursday evening at 6:30 at Doby’s Mill.

Sacks Of Love

There’s a wonderful article by Gina Smith in this morning’s State newspaper about backpack programs that provide food for students when school is not in session.  Such programs have been essential during this very difficult economic time.  The article included our local “Sacks of Love” program, which is supported by many of our local churches and through the leadership of the Kershaw County Baptist Association.  Iam deeply grateful to the many members of our community who have made this program a reality.

Definitely A School To Watch

I was pleased to learn from Dan Matthews, Principal at Lugoff-Elgin Middle School, that the school had been recertified as a “School to Watch.”  This makes LEMS the first school in South Carolina to receive this designation and then to be recertified.  Outstanding job