TheState.com: Education

Richland 2 school board gets peek at new offices

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:39 EST

An executive with the M.B. Kahn Construction Co. unveiled an ambitious proposal Tuesday night for a new Richland 2 student education center that would encompass far more than administration offices.

Rick Ott, senior executive vice president with Kahn, told the Richland 2 board the building, still in preliminary planning stages, could include bridge programs to help Richland 2 students earn college credits, centralize and expand some career and technology education (CATE) programs and house administrative personnel.

“We are looking at 16 different sites,” he told the board. He emphasized his team was still gathering data on the needs of the district before finalizing the proposal and a timetable.

The board awarded Kahn a $500,000 design-build contract last year to come up with a plan for a new district office or an expansion of the current facility on Brookfield Road, which is overcrowded.

That decision generated some controversy because funds to build the new facility would come from money left over from a $308 million school construction bond referendum passed by voters in 2008.

Two Richland 1 schools to make up time while others are off

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:07 EST

Monday is a scheduled student holiday and district professional development day for Richland 1 teachers and other employees, but students at two schools will be in classes that day.

Brennen Elementary and Eau Claire High will make up instructional time they missed earlier in the school year. Classes were canceled at Brennen Elementary Sept. 26 because of a power outage, while Eau Claire High students missed a day of school Nov. 21 when classes were canceled because of a bomb threat.

Regular schedules for all Richland 1 schools will resume Tuesday.

SC historian killed in bus-car collision

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:39 EST

A notable South Carolina historian was killed Monday in a collision between a Mercedes and a Richland 1 school bus.

Constance Ashton Myers, 85, traveled across South Carolina in the 1970s to record interviews with leaders in the women’s suffrage movement of the early 20th century. The Constance Ashton Myers Oral History Archive is housed at the USC South Caroliniana Library.

“She was truly a trailblazer with new ways of thinking of how we can tell the story of folks who have been left out of the narrative,” said Belinda Gergel, a Columbia city councilwoman and retired Columbia College history professor. “She was out there getting this history and getting it recorded and piecing it together in a format that subsequent scholars could use.”

Cecil Myers, Constance Myers’ 88-year-old husband, was driving their Mercedes on Atlas Road around 4:30 p.m. Monday when he crossed the center line and hit a Richland District 1 school bus head-on, said Jennifer Timmons, Columbia Police Department spokeswoman. Both were wearing seat belts.0

Myers died at the scene. Her husband was taken to Palmetto Health Richland hospital, where he remained hospitalized Tuesday.

Panel: Education progress stagnant, change needed

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:48 EST

A panel of S.C. leaders says the state’s education system needs dramatic improvement to successfully compete economically.

The message came Monday from the Education Oversight Committee’s report titled “A Wake-Up Call for South Carolina.”

It shows the state is falling behind on its benchmarks and won’t meet the group’s 2020 goals.

The 18-member committee of business, legislative and education leaders is tasked with evaluating the state’s progress toward meeting accountability goals. It re-set the goals two years ago after legislators revamped the state’s end-of-school-year tests.

A key indicator of success is reading ability. Last year, results on nationally standardized tests showed nearly 40 percent of fourth-graders and 30 percent of eighth-graders could not read on grade level.

Money crunch may force changes at SC State

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 02:17 EST

Students at South Carolina State University could find fewer courses and larger classes this fall as school officials cope with the latest financial squeeze.

Those changes are designed to “right-size” a campus with declining enrollment, said school president George Cooper.

School officials on Tuesday stunned even board members when they revealed that instead of the $2.5 million surplus expected by June 30, they will have a $3.5 million deficit. They attributed the shortfall mostly to spring enrollment falling by 350 students.

And, to top off a tumultuous week, Cooper announced on Friday that he had fired several school officials but wouldn’t say who or why.

Meanwhile, Cooper says he is taking steps to cut costs.

SC State has new police boss; still mum on firings

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:12 EST

South Carolina State University has named an interim police chief, but still hasn't announced what happened to the man who used to hold the position.

School officials announced Saturday that university assistant police chief Kenneth "MAC" McCaster will lead the police department until a new chief can be chosen.

The news release from the university did not announce what happened to former police chief Michael Bartley

University President George Cooper announced Friday that the school fired several officials, but did not say who they were. School officials did not respond to questions about whether Bartley was one of the officials let go.

Cooper released a statement saying he decided to make the changes after an internal investigation into policies and practices, but gave no details.

Advocates fight for high school cabinetmaking program

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:24 EST

A Columbia businessman who served as an unpaid adviser to the cabinetmaking program at Richland Northeast High School has received national support for retaining the industrial arts program, but acknowledged he holds out little hope that the district will relent and restore the program.

“We’ve asked the hard questions,” said Jim McGrew, owner of James McGrew Cabinetmakers in downtown Columbia. McGrew plans to make one more appeal before the Richland 2 school board Tuesday night. McGrew has asked for a meeting with Richland Northeast principal Sabrina Suber, who is moving to dismantle the school’s woodworking and auto repair programs to make way for health sciences and culinary arts programs. Suber has said the new programs will generate more student interest and prepare students for jobs in growing industries.

Richland Northeast’s two shop instructors were informed in mid-January that their positions will be eliminated, although the school board has yet to approve the $1.5 million necessary to retrofit school space for the two new programs.

Will Sampson, editor of Cabinetmaker+FDM, a magazine for professional woodworkers, has been monitoring the outcome of the Richland 2 cabinetmaking program. He said it follows a pattern nationwide, in which public schools are abandoning traditional vocational programs that would prepare teenagers for manufacturing jobs.

“Sadly, they continue to move away from them,” said Sampson, who was unsuccessful in retaining the high school woodworking program in his own Connecticut community. “I hear from folks all across the country and, by and large, there seems to be a bias in the public school toward training kids for college programs and no awareness of the availability of profitable high-paying jobs in the industrial sector, particularly woodworking.”

College notes: USC honors its first African-American professor

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:20 EST

USC honors its first African-American professor

The University of South Carolina last week celebrated the career of Richard T. Greener, the first black professor at the school, who taught from 1873 to 1877.

It was unheard of to have an African-American professor in a Southern university during that post-Civil War period, and it was decades before another black professor was appointed to USC’s faculty. In addition to teaching philosophy, Greener was a librarian and helped catalog USC’s library’s holdings, left in disarray by the Civil War.

Associate history professor Bobby Donaldson spoke about Greener at a symposium in the Museum of Education at USC’s Wardlaw College.

North Charleston opens computer lab for residents

S.C. & Ga. at impasse over Jasper port

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:11 EST

Gov. Nikki Haley met privately Friday with Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal to discuss a troubled $5 billion port project in Jasper County, but their session failed to resolve an impasse between the states that threatens to kill the ambitious proposal.

Haley and Deal quickly left the two-hour meeting and did not make themselves available to the media. Ports officials said they were instructed not to discuss the meeting, held at a locked office building in this city along the Georgia-South Carolina border.

But Georgia governor’s office spokesman Brian Robinson later characterized the meeting as “productive” and said the two sides would meet again.

The two states have been working on a joint port in Jasper County, just downriver from the established port of Savannah. They jointly own about 1,500 acres in South Carolina, and each has spent more than $3 million already.

Plans for the new port hit a wall two months ago when the S.C. Ports Authority voted to withhold funding for the Jasper project until Georgia meets certain demands.

Judge denies another effort to stop Chapin High renovation

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 19:32 EST

Opponents lost a third attempt Friday to block renovations of Chapin High by seeking to protect a stream slated to be covered for sewer lines and other features.

Administrative Law Judge Ralph Anderson III rejected contentions from a group that includes school board member Kim Murphy that filling in more than 700 feet of the stream would pollute creeks into which it flows.

Work on the $45.9 million in school improvements is under way in an area apart from the stream while both sides await a state Supreme Court ruling expected to settle the battle.

Heathwood Hall planting seeds of change

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:34 EST

It may be early February, but 10th-grade biology students at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School already have their hands in the dirt, planting trays of dill and peppers that will be ready in early spring.

“Believe it or not guys,” says science teacher, Jim Morris “together you’ve planted almost 100 seed trays.”

Students file out of the classroom and take a spiral staircase down to the school’s Robert Clark Greenhouse, where they will be filling more plastic trays with dirt and making tiny indentations in the soil — all part of the effort to get ready for Heathwood Hall’s April 12 spring plant sale.

Both the sale and the greenhouse lessons are part of a larger “green” initiative at the private school, called School Environmental Education, or SEED.

“The school has always had a deep commitment to environmental education,” said Morris, SEED’s co-director. “But it’s been each individual teacher doing their own project. SEED was created to be an umbrella group to pull all of these activities together.”

Democrats accuse schools chief of truancy

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:30 EST

A political knife fight is on between the state’s Republican schools chief, Mick Zais, and some Democratic lawmakers.

State Sen. Phil Leventis, D-Sumter, and two fellow Democrats bashed Zais, a Newberry Republican, Thursday for missing 35 days of work between January 2011, when Zais took office, and Nov. 21. The missed days were 29 days of personal time and six sick days.

“At a time when teachers are being asked to do more with less ... this is a great concern,” Leventis said during a news conference, flanked by fellow Democratic state Sens. Brad Hutto of Orangeburg County and Vincent Sheheen of Kershaw County.

Leventis learned of Zais’ absences from an open records request he filed with the state Department of Education.

Added Hutto: “If a teacher didn’t show up for work 35 days – it wouldn’t even take that many – they would be fired. But our superintendent somehow thinks he’s beyond those rules.”

Bill advances to make youth licenses dependent on school status

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:24 EST

A Senate subcommittee advanced a requirement Thursday that high schoolers stay in school to get/keep their driver’s licenses.

Those who drop out would lose their license until their 18th birthday.

Exemptions would be made for students who enroll in the military or in a high school diploma equivalency program such as the GED and students who must work to support their families.

“It’s an incentive to keep students in school,” said Rep. Tom Young, R-Aiken, who sponsored the bill and ushered it through the House of Representatives last session.

About 20 other states have a similar law on the books, Young added.

SC House panel won’t require USC, Clemson play each other

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:35 EST

The S.C. Legislature will not require USC and Clemson to face off annually in football.

A House subcommittee Wednesday shot down the idea of requiring the teams to play each other every year, saying it is unnecessary government intervention.

“These matters should be handled by the universities and trustees,” said state Rep. Lester Branham, D-Florence, chairman of the subcommittee that voted 7-0 to reject the idea.

State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Lexington, introduced the proposal because of growing fear that recent expansions and realignments by the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences could one day mean the two teams would not meet -- as they have done for the past 103 consecutive years. It is the second, oldest rivalry in college football history.

“This is important to the state,” Ballentine said during the meeting. “It is something the Palmetto State could be proud of, should be proud of.”

GALLERY: In our schools | February 6

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:37 EST

Highlights of some of the happenings at Midlands schools. Email school submissions and photographs to dkujawa@thestate.com
Photographs courtesy of districts

Errors reported in Charleston test scoring

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:47 EST

First-graders in Charleston County received inaccurate scores on their literacy tests last fall because of errors in scoring the exam.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports ( http://bit.ly/xwczzA) that the test was given to about 3,200 first-graders in the district.

Jean Fleming is the marketing director for the company that developed the tests and said she wasn't able to estimate how many tests were affected.

District officials say all the scores have been corrected. The scores are used to determine which students need to be in a program that helps its weakest readers.

The district says some students may have initially been in the program who didn't need it, but students are evaluated throughout the year.

SC State remembers 3 killed in Orangeburg Massacre

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:12 EST

Friends and family are returning to South Carolina State University to remember three men killed and 27 injured after being shot by police at the school during a civil rights protest.

Wednesday marks the 44th anniversary of the incident known as the Orangeburg Massacre. SC State alum Thomas Kennerly is scheduled to speak. He was among the injured.

A silent march and candlelight ceremony are also scheduled.

On Feb. 8, 1968, state troopers and police opened fire on a group of students who were protesting a segregated bowling alley after a tense standoff. None of the officers were injured.

An FBI investigation led to charges against nine troopers, but a jury of 10 whites and two blacks acquitted them. Federal agents refused to reopen the case in 2007.

Fair taking applications for ‘Ride of Your Life’ college scholarships

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:56 EST

The S.C. State Fair is accepting applications for the 2012 Ride of Your Life Scholarship Program.

The fair will award $6,000 scholarships to 50 students statewide. The scholarships will be distributed in $1,500 increments for up to four years. Applicants are judged on overall performance and school involvement, need and communications skills.

Applications are available in public and private school guidance offices and can be downloaded at www.scstatefair.org by clicking the scholarship program link. Applications must be postmarked by March 16.

Other details: Lauren Guignard, (803) 799-3387, ext. 15.

Bud Light’s rescue dog fetches USC’s ad prize

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:45 EST

Weego the rescue dog won this year’s Cocky Award for best Super Bowl commercial as deemed by students in USC’s “Super Bowl Advertising” classes.

In the 60-second spot (click to watch/hide), whenever his name is called, Weego races off to the refrigerator, ice bucket or cooler to fetch the caller some Bud Light — by the bottle as needed, by the six-pack if the situation calls for it, or even by rolling a keg to his master.

Yes, America’s love affair with its dogs and beer remained intact this Super Bowl weekend, and earned its creators an invitation to Columbia to collect its prize in the ninth annual Super Ad Poll conducted by the university.

“Bud Light found a clever way to reinforce its slogan, ‘Here we go,’” said Bonnie Drewniany, USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications professor, who has studied Super Bowl advertising for 20 years and taught the class nine years. “Weego tugged at viewers’ hearts and told the important story of helping rescue dogs.”

Titled “Here, Weego, Bud Light,” the winning ad bested M&Ms’ “Ms. Brown” and Doritos’ “Man’s Best Friend” commercials, which finished second and third, respectively, in the USC poll.

Explosion rocks SC State lab

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:29 EST

A chemical explosion Monday afternoon in a laboratory at S.C. State University’s Leroy Davis science building injured several people, according to the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety.

The explosion was small and limited to one room in the science building, said Capt. Mike Adams of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety. There was no secondary fire, he said. However, firefighters had to go through a decontamination process because of hazardous materials, Adams said.

University spokesperson Erica S. Taylor confirmed five people were taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injures, according to the Orangeburg Times and Democrat newspaper. Emergency personnel were on the scene late Monday afternoon.

The explosion happened around 4:30 p.m. The cause is under investigation, Adams said.

USC student’s death under investigation

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:02 EST

Officials are awaiting autopsy and toxicology reports to determine why a USC junior died early Saturday morning.

Zachary Payne Robinson, 21, of Greenville died at 1:20 a.m. at a Columbia hospital, after roommates found him having trouble breathing in his bedroom in a Pickens Street apartment, according to a Columbia Police Department report. Foul play is not suspected.

Robinson’s roommates drove him to the hospital and a doctor reported that Robinson was in cardiac arrest when he arrived at the emergency room, the report said.

Robinson was majoring in civil engineering. He belonged to Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, according to his obituary in the Greenville News.

Student’s car hit 90 mph before crash

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:43 EST

The driver of a Dodge Charger was traveling 90 mph on George Rogers Boulevard last month before he and three others were killed in a fiery crash.

Brian M. McGrath, 22, was driving too fast for conditions when he lost control of his Charger just before 5 a.m. Jan. 18, according to a Columbia Police Department accident investigation report. Speed was a contributing factor in the crash, the report said.

Rain also may have been a contributing factor, said Jennifer Timmons, Columbia Police spokeswoman.

McGrath was driving south on George Rogers Boulevard from downtown and lost control as he approached a sharp curve going toward Williams-Brice Stadium.

Police could not determine which lane McGrath was driving in before he lost control because there were no skid marks, Timmons said.

SC State to use savings to cover budget shortfall

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:30 EST

South Carolina State University officials decided today to rely largely on savings along with surpluses from various projects to avoid red ink.

The plan was approved by a panel of five trustees after a look at unspecified job cuts was dropped.

The move is designed to cover an estimated $3.5 million deficit that school leaders attribute largely to less tuition coming in, after enrollment at the Orangeburg school declined by 350 students this spring.

Read more in Tuesday’s edition of The State.

Making Cinderella prom dreams come true

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:22 EST

The S.C. Bar Young Lawyers Division hopes to give more Midlands high school students a memorable trip to the prom this year and is looking to the community for help.

The Young Lawyers Division is sponsoring its annual Cinderella Project, which provides gently worn formal, bridesmaid and prom dresses for young women who can’t afford buy a gown for their high school proms.

The project is also being held in Aiken, Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood and Orangeburg.

Clean dresses in all sizes, as well as evening bags, jewelry, shoes and other accessories, are needed. Donations are being accepted through Feb. 24 and can be dropped off at any of the following Columbia-area locations:

• Junior League of Columbia Headquarters, 2926 Devine St., Columbia

People and achievements in your community, Feb. 6

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:20 EST

SCHOOLS

RICHLAND 2 STUDENTS were selected for the South Carolina All-State Orchestra: Sydney Kale, Blythewood Middle; Crystal Lee, Dent Middle; Ebony Patton, E.L. Wright Middle; Hayley Belton, JulieAnne Bennet (2nd chair), Hunter Durham, Sydney Larson, RJ McDowell (2nd chair), Carlton McCormic (2nd chair) and Tom Timms, Blythewood High; Michael Halbook, Daniel Murray and Bianca Walker, Ridge View High; Mark Allen, Briana Bell, Sarah Fishburne, Sydney Johnson, DJ Lee, Karen Lee, Sarah Lee, Martin Li, Christine Nixon, Courtney Noh, Zach Patton, Katie Peffen, David Qu, Keeana Ross, Sarah Smith and Miosha York, Spring Valley High School.

GILBERT PRIMARY SCHOOL received $1,000 from the Rotary Club of Lexington for the Gilbert Imagination Library Program.

AINSLEY SMITH and MYCKENZIE HORTON of Blythewood Middle won first and third place, respectively, in a regional poetry contest.

KELLY MILL MIDDLE and BLYTHEWOOD HIGH schools are finalists for the Palmetto’s Finest School Award.

S.C. State faces $4 million deficit

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:44 EST

South Carolina State University board members were stunned this week to learn about a projected $4 million budget shortfall, a deficit so severe that one trustee said the school was on life support.

Joe Pearman, interim vice president for finance and facilities, told the Board of Trustees’ Finance Committee Thursday about the projected shortfall. University leaders had hoped to have a $2.5 million surplus by June 30, the end of the school’s fiscal year. Instead it will fall short about $4 million.

Pearman told committee members that he expected a shortfall of about $3 million, which he attributed largely to the school’s drop in tuition revenue from declining student enrollment. It also would have to cover a $750,000 shortfall from the school’s dining hall.

The Finance Committee and university President George Cooper will meet again at 10 a.m. Monday to continue discussing plans to deal with the shortfall. The full board will meet Feb. 16.

In a presentation to the committee, board member Maurice Washington said enrollment dropped from 4,933 students in June 2008 to 4,362 students in June 2011.

South Carolina State considers budget cuts

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:27 EST

South Carolina State University is considering budget cuts to make up for an estimated shortfall of almost $4 million.

Trustee Maurice Washington says the Orangeburg school faces a serious situation.

Washington said during a committee meeting on Thursday that revenues through Jan. 24 were down about $8.5 million. The school expects to bring in an additional $5.5 million by the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Washington says that would leave the school facing a nearly $4 million shortfall.

He blames most of the shortfall on a decline in enrollment. The school has about 500 fewer students than expected.

More teaching jobs available in the Midlands

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:13 EST

For the first time in three years, job prospects are improving for Midlands teachers.

A few dozen new positions are likely with the opening of three schools in Lexington 1, Richland 2 and Lexington-Richland 5.

That’s on top of the usual range of 75-200 available jobs created by retirements and other vacancies in each of the eight public school districts in Richland, Lexington and Kershaw counties.

The outlook for hiring, after several years of cutbacks, appears “quasi-normal,” Lexington 2 assistant superintendent Jim Hinton said.

Layoffs and furloughs are a memory unless state revenues — the source of money for most teaching jobs — unexpectedly worsen this spring.

House subcommittee endorses suicide prevention teacher training

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:17 EST

A House education subcommittee Wednesday unanimously endorsed legislation that would require middle and high school teachers and administrators to undergo two hours of training in youth suicide awareness and prevention as part of the five-year teacher recertification process.

The bill — known as the “Jason Flatt Act,” for the 16-year-old Tennessee teen who took his life in July 1997 — already has been passed in six states, including Tennessee, California, Illinois, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.

It now goes to the House Education and Public Works Committee for consideration sometime next week. Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate.

Donna Finley, a spokeswoman for the Jason Foundation, a Tennessee nonprofit established by Jason Flatt’s father, Clark Flatt, said the training would help identify the warning signs of potential youth suicide and ways to help.

“We are not trying to make them counselors,” she said of school teachers and principals, “but to have the tools so they can recognize the signs if a student comes to them.”

Blythewood teacher wins special honor

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:13 EST

It’s Tuesday morning, and about 15 Blythewood Middle School students are focused on creating simple one-line drawings on computers or typepads.

“Remember, at this point, magic is still a big part of Asian cultures,” teacher Jason Yaman hints.

This isn’t art class, but social studies — more specifically, world history from the 1500s to present-day. These seventh-graders are studying British and American Imperialism in the 1800s.

Daunting? Perhaps.

But Yaman is finding ways to make such lessons more accessible.

In our schools

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:47 EST

Highlights of some of the happenings at Midlands schools.

Email school submissions and photographs to dkujawa@thestate.com

Photographs courtesy of districts

Newsreels from USC collection feature Tuskegee Airmen

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:58 EST

If you want to see some actual footage of the Tuskegee Airmen featured in the recent move "Red Tails," go online to the University of South Carolina’s Moving Image Research Collection.

The two-minute black-and-white video shows a crew of Tuskegee Airmen preparing for a bombing mission. The footage was shot by the U.S. Army Air Corps and distributed to Fox Movietone News, a portion of which is owned by the University Libraries.

http://library.sc.edu/mirc/

Beloved nun an institution

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:13 EST

People would expect to see Sister Maria Lovett praying.

But playing kickball?

Indeed, she pitches every school day unless it’s raining. And on those days, she invents a game or pulls out musical instruments.

Anything to keep her 6- and 7-year-old first-graders at St. Joseph Catholic School from growing restless.

“If you sat through a conference, you would need to move your body after awhile,” Lovett said. “That’s important for small children, too.”

It's time again for the USC Super Bowl ad poll

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:53 EST

USC students, faculty and staff will get the chance to vote for their favorite Super Bowl commercial on Sunday.

One hundred students and faculty in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications will gather at WIS-TV for Cocky's Super Ad Poll to watch the game and critique this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials. They’ll use special remote controls to evaluate commercials on likeability, persuasiveness and brand identity.

Here's a link to the poll website.

Follow the deliberations along on Twitter using the hashtag #UofSCAdPoll or following @cockyawards.

Super Bowl ad copywriter is a USC grad

College of Charleston plan boosts space with 9 new buildings

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:13 EST

Science and math have come out winners in the College of Charleston’s 20-year campus building plan.

The college has completed a draft of the campus master plan, including nine new buildings. It would bring the landlocked, downtown campus an additional 863,000 square feet of space without significantly increasing the school’s footprint, said Steve Osborne, executive vice president for business affairs. The plan provides more of a guide for future campus building projects than a hard-and-fast timeline for completing them, he said. And it’s based on keeping undergraduate enrollment at 10,000 or fewer students, something that is important to residents who live in the neighborhoods surrounding the college.

Mike Auerbach, dean of the college’s School of Sciences and Mathematics, said he’s pleased the plan includes three major projects for math and science programs: finishing the third floor of the School of Sciences and Mathematics Building, renovating the Rita Liddy Hollings Science Center and eventually building an additional science facility. “We’ve been able to establish that our needs are critical and have been critical for a long time,” Auerbach said.

The college offers science programs that are intense, hands-on and require a lot of laboratory space, he said. And they are growing. For example, the college has about 1,000 biology majors, he said.

Besides the nine new buildings, some of which may be combined, the plan includes eight renovations and eight building expansions. It takes into account that college students learn differently than they did in the past, Osborne said.

Obama nominates North Myrtle Beach resident for federal education post

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:01 EST

Deb Delisle will have to postpone the full-time enjoyment of her North Myrtle Beach home, now that she has been nominated by President Obama as assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education.

“It’s nice being a block from the beach, but I’m excited about the opportunity,” said Delisle, 58, who was nominated Monday along with 16 others for key positions in the Obama administration. Her nomination now goes to the Senate Education Committee and then to the full Senate for confirmation, but Delisle doesn’t know how long the process will take.

“It may take two months, but I’ll be doing paperwork for the next two weeks,” she said. “It’s overwhelming; there’s no stone left unturned.”

Delisle and her husband, Jim Delisle, are both educators who have had their home in Cherry Grove for almost 25 years, but their jobs haven’t allowed them to be there together for a lengthy chunk of time.

Jim Delisle, a retired distinguished professor of education from Kent State University, moved south about three years ago, while Deb Delisle stayed in Ohio to finish a term as state superintendent of public instruction for the Ohio Department of Education. She moved down in July and has been working as an educational consultant, but if confirmed, the two will be headed to Washington, D.C., for an undetermined amount of time.

Services today for former Benedict professor, radio announcer

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:14 EST

Funeral services are being held this afternoon for a former Benedict College professor who was the state’s first black female radio announcer.

Ethel M. Henderson Taylor, who passed away Jan. 21, will be remembered at a 2 p.m. service in Antisdel Chapel on the Benedict College campus.

A S.C. native, Taylor was an English teacher in public schools for 30 years, including in Richland 1, before joining the Benedict College faculty in 1985. She received a bachelor’s in English in 1946 from Benedict and a master’s in education from the University of South Carolina.

She worked for 44 years with WOIC radio before joining WFMV-93.5, where she hosted “Golden Gospel Memories” for 14 years.

Among her many honors, she was named to the S.C. Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2008, the 2009 African American History Calendar and was the first black president of the Midlands chapter of the American Business Women’s Association, which named her Woman of the Year in 1977.

Richland 2 wants feedback on winter break

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:36 EST

Richland 2 students will enjoy a week-long February break this school year, an experiment designed to break up the long period between New Year’s and spring break.

But Richland 2 board members said at Tuesday’s meeting they want to gauge student and parent reaction to the week-long break that begins Feb. 20 before endorsing a similar calendar for next academic year.

Board members said they also would like to determine the impact of the week’s vacation on standardized test scores. Board member Bill Flemming suggested endorsing the calendar for two years, which would allow time to gather the information.

Parents can contact board members or their schools with feedback.

The earliest vote would likely take place in March.

Solving crime, one desk at a time

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:27 EST

There was a bona fide “who dunnit” at Pine Tree Hill Elementary School on Tuesday.

The celebrity suspects included Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Simon Cowell and Tiger Woods.

Their alleged offenses ranged from stealing test answers to overfeeding the classroom fish.

“I blame Kelly Clarkson,” Nasin Briggs stated emphatically as he and some fellow detectives compared two sets of fingerprints.

“They were both a loop,” Nasin added, referring to a specific class of fingerprint.

Improvements under way at two schools

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:34 EST

Construction crews are clearing an area behind Chapin High, the first step in a $45.9 million renovation of the school.

The work doesn’t affect a stream at the center of a dispute yet, Lexington-Richland 5 spokesman Buddy Price said. The state Supreme Court will decide whether it should be filled in or protected.

Meanwhile, the school board is moving ahead with opening a fourth high school in the Spring Hill area in fall 2013. Its members agreed late Monday to hire Edcon Construction to build the campus for $32.6 million.