Kudos To Four Schools!

In the mail today, I received copies letters from the South Carolina Department of Education to Pine Tree Hill, Jackson, Bethune, and Midway Elementary Schools praising the way in which each school had administered the PASS tests in May based on unnannounced visits by members of the SCDE staff.  Kudos to all four schools!

Vetoes On Education Funding Overridden

Yesterday, the South Carolina General Assembly voted to override all of the Governor’s vetoes of education funding.  Therefore, this evening, staff will recommend that the School Board adopt an FY 2011-12 budget that eliminates all employee furloughs and restores the clerical positions that had been proposed for elimination.

Governor Vetoes Education Funding

Following is an article from The State the Governor’s vetoes of education funding.  The General Assembly will take up these vetoes today.

http://www.thestate.com/2011/06/29/1878724/house-plans-to-take-up-sc-govs.html

 

The Same Discussions and Challenges/Go Gamecocks!

I’ve been traveling in the midwest for the past several days, and as I have read the local papers, I see communities in this part of the country having the same discussions and facing the same challenges concerning education as we are in South Carolina and in Kershaw County.  If anything, the situations I’ve seen over the past week are even more difficult than what we have been facing over the past three years. 

It was great fun last night seeing people in a restuarant in Chicago cheering for Forrest Koumas in the College World Series.

HVAC

The especially hot weather of the past several days makes the HVAC replacement work going on at Camden High and Lugoff-Elgin High all the more important.  The systems in both schools are original 1992 equipment and are well past their day.  The new systems being installed will more effectively and efficiently heat and cool these buildings, even in more extreme circumstances as we are experiencing this week.  Both new systems will also lower our energy costs.  My thanks to the summer staffs of both schools for their flexibility while this work is going on.

Monday Morning

Really nice article in this morning’s Chronicle-Independent about recent Camden High School graduate Ashleigh Hough, who will be traveling to Joplin, Missouri in a few days to bring supplies to victims of May’s tornadoes there. 

I also want to express my appreciation to Camden Bone and Joint for its sponsorship of a golf tournament this coming Thursday to support the athletic training programs at our three high schools.  Just another example of our community’s strong support of our schools and our youn people.

PBIS Program To Be Highlighted At National Meeting

Kevin Rhodes, Director of our “Safe Schools/Healthy Students” grant has been invited to present on Kershaw County’s PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) efforts and results at the next “Safe Schools/Healthy Students” national meeting in July.  This will be the second time Kevin has been invited to give such a presentation, the last time being regarding our Substance Abuse Intervention efforts.  It’s almost unheard of for a project in only its second year to be invited to give these kinds of presentations, a testimony to the outstanding work that Kevin and our grant partners are doing.

School Tools

The School District is again partnering with the United Way on the “School Tools” campaign, which each year provides almost 2,0o0 deserving students with school supplies.  I know it seems early to be working on this, but to have everything readu for the start of the school year in August takes some time.

If you would like to make a contribution, donations can be dropped off at any First Citizen’s Bank Branch in Kershaw County or mailed to P.O. Box 737, Camden, SC 29021.  Please make checks payable to “School Tools.” 

Special thanks to Dennis Stuber and the folks at First Citizens for working with us on this project!

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Another KCSD Teacher Honored!!!

Great news to hear that Camden Middle School teacher Valerie Willis has been named South Carolina’s Outstanding Earth Science teacher by the National Association of Geoscience Educators.  She has also been selected as the recipient of the organization’s Southeastern Regional award.  A very richly deserved honor!

State Budget Process

The link below is an article from this morning’s State about the status of the state budget process.  The KCSD budget for 2011-12 is in a holding pattern until the General Assembly adopts a budget. 

http://thestate.com/2011/06/16/1860744/haley-105-million-should-go-for.html