TheState.com: Education

Clemson search committee seeks input from faculty, students on what’s needed in next president

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:42 EDT

Members of the committee in charge of finding the right person to be Clemson University’s next president spent Monday and Tuesday hearing from constituent groups across campus, some of whom told trustees Tuesday that the new leader must work to overcome a growing sense of cynicism felt by some faculty toward the administration.

None of the speakers at a forum on the presidential search at the Madren Center on Tuesday aimed criticism at current President Jim Barker, who announced in April that he plans to step down when the Board of Trustees names a successor.

“I’d recommend you seek a carbon copy of Jim,” Robert Geist, a computer science professor, told the committee.

Parker Rhoden, student body vice president, said Barker has had a very open relationship with students, and he hopes the next president will be as approachable.

But others said they have been disappointed in the response of the administration, particularly on levels below the president, to faculty input on strategic planning and other issues.

Clemson student diagnosed with tuberculosis

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 07:21 EDT

A Clemson University student has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and state health officials are contacting about 35 other students who have been in close contact with the sick student so they can be tested, according to a statement from the university.

“The TB screening tests are precautionary because a student is being treated after exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Most of the individuals who are being contacted shared a classroom with the infected person during the spring semester,” the statement says.

The student diagnosed with TB is no longer on campus, according to the statement.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control is conducting the investigation and may contact more students or staff members if warranted, the statement says.

“Clemson University’s Redfern Health Center is working to assist the public health officials as needed. Students who have not been contacted by DHEC but who have questions can call Judy Leroy at Redfern Health Center at 864-656-4635,” the statement says

Clemson presidential search committee seeking input

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:07 EDT

Members of the committee in charge of finding the right person to be Clemson University's next president spent Monday and Tuesday hearing from constituent groups across campus, some of whom told trustees Tuesday that the new leader must work to overcome a growing sense of cynicism felt by some faculty toward the administration.

“I'd recommend you seek a carbon copy of Jim,” Robert Geist, a computer science professor, told the committee.

Parker Rhoden, student body vice president, said Barker has had a very open relationship with students, and he hopes the next president will be as approachable.

But others said they have been disappointed in the response of the administration, particularly on levels below the president, to faculty input on strategic planning and other issues.

Lexington-Richland 5 board gives itself big pay raise

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:18 EDT

Lexington-Richland 5 school board members are giving themselves a pay increase that more than doubles their current yearly salary, making them among the highest-paid in the state.

The board approved a new salary of $9,600 late Monday, raising it from the $3,750 stipend that its members were paid for at least 30 years, according to research by the district’s financial officer.

Board chairman Robert Gantt described the raise Tuesday as “an attempt to bring it up to date.”

Lexington-Richland 5 is the only board in Lexington County that pays a salary to its school board members.

Neighboring Richland County boards pay salaries, with Richland 1 paying up to $6,750 a year. Richland 2, the Midlands’ largest school district, pays the same as Lexington-Richland 5, according to the S.C. School Boards Association.

Heathwood campers immerse themselves in the great outdoors

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:13 EDT

First days at summer camp can be challenging. Just ask Morgan Schmidt.

The 7-year-old struggled to get the hang of paddling at a whitewater kayaking camp.

“I was running into a lot of stuff,” Morgan said.

But on the second day, she paddled alongside 11 other children in bright orange, yellow, red and blue canoes on the pond at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School.

The campers played games on water more often seen on playgrounds. Instead of running, they paddled to tag each other, dodge balls and follow along with what “Simon says.”

For CrossRoads Middle staff, caring for school grounds is a year-round labor of love

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:36 EDT

It could quite possibly be one of the most visited gardens in the area, a few hundred people walking its grounds each day for most of the year.

Black bamboo outlines a pond where lily pads lazily float, sheltering minnows and perhaps a frog or two. Another part of the grounds houses the fragrant flowers of a dwarf magnolia tree and sizable bunches of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other garden vegetables, which hang heavily from their vines in early summer.

With hundreds of species of plants and even the occasional rabbit, it’s not hard to see why these grounds are a welcome distraction for its frequent visitors — even if they’re hurriedly traveling to their next class as they walk through.

Landscaping projects at CrossRoads Middle School are one of the reasons it’s a winner of this year’s Lexington-Richland 5’s Good School-Keeping Award. School officials say much of the work on the grounds is credited to facilities supervisor Arturo Romero and his staff. Romero often works late into the afternoon, donates some of the materials and takes initiative to go beyond the requirements of maintaining the school grounds to create areas that add beauty and outdoor learning opportunities for students.

“When I started working here in 1991 … we didn’t have any plants, flowers or anything around,” Romero said. “So, we asked the PTO to give us money to do some improvements, and this is what we have now.”

SC review finds ‘questionable’ stats, other ills in S.C. First Steps

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:17 EDT

S.C. First Steps uses “questionable statistics” to show it helps children succeed in school, over- and underfunded various county partnerships and has poor participation by its governing board, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

The Legislative Audit Council report, done at lawmakers’ request, points to areas that need improvement at First Steps, which distributes public money and grants to early childhood-development groups in 46 counties. The nonprofit, which spent $41 million in the 2011-’12 budget year, already is working on the areas cited, its leaders responded.

An example of an error already corrected is an accounting mistake that led to overpayments of as much as $21,626 to 32 partnerships and underpayments of as much as $54,245 to 14 other groups in the 2012-’13 budget year, said S.C. First Steps director Susan DeVenney.

In the 2011-’12 budget year, 21 county First Steps partnerships also spent more on overhead than is permissible, exceeding the 8 percent limit of expenses set. But the report and DeVenney both said the state does not define overhead costs adequately.

The report also criticized First Steps for claiming success in preparing children for school based on trends that it is not responsible for. At the same time, however, the report said state law makes it difficult to measure whether efforts aimed at preparing children for school – including those by First Steps – are working.

Lexington County schools addressing security concerns in various ways

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:30 EDT

Lexington County schools are adding security for elementary classrooms in different ways.

Officials in Lexington-Richland 5 are looking at bringing school resource officers on board in the coming year for each of its 12 elementary schools and opening at least two substations for deputies on or near the facilities.

Meanwhile, Lexington 1 is hiring off-duty deputies and police officers to drop in daily on its 16 elementary schools in Gilbert, Lexington, Oak Grove, Pelion and Red Bank.

And Lexington 2 is mulling ideas to provide a police presence in its nine schools in Cayce, Pine Ridge South Congaree, Springdale and West Columbia.

The mixed approach comes after local law enforcement leaders urged better security for the youngest students, following December’s school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., that killed 26, including 20 students.

Richland County conflicted over putting cops in elementary schools

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:30 EDT

INSIDE

Richland 1 plans to assign a resource officer to each of its elementary schools, a move endorsed by Sheriff Leon Lott as a strategy that “keeps crazies from coming in” to harm students.

But school officials say they may not have $1.6 million to hire 14 new officers by the start of the school year, and their overture to Richland County Council for partial funding has been met with uncertainty.

The mass murder six months ago of 26 people – 20 of them students – at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., has heightened the need among some officials to address the issue.

“School resource officers need to be in all the schools. Elementary schools are no different,” said Lott, who said he began staffing schools with the specially trained officers when elected in 1996.

USC raising tuition 3.15%

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:41 EDT

The University of South Carolina again is raising tuition and fees at the lowest rate since 1999 even as the school’s state funding dwindles.

Students will pay 3.15 percent more on average to attend the state’s flagship university in 2013-14 after a vote by the USC board of trustees on Monday.

This is the second consecutive increase at that rate and comes just below the ceiling requested by state Senate Finance Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, in a letter to S.C. college presidents.

USC’s in-state tuition and fees will rise by $328 a year, or 3.13 percent, to $10,816. That’s about the same hike as last year, which was the smallest increase since 1999. Out-of-state rates will increase by $884 a year to $28,528. The 3.2 percent hike is the smallest in 14 years.

The average cost for in-state students is projected at about $4,800 factoring in average scholarships amounts they receive, USC chief financial officer Ed Walton said.

Relationships tense during Brochu’s era

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:28 EDT

Barely a year after the Richland 2 school board chose Katie Brochu as its new superintendent, there were signs this would not be a harmonious or lengthy marriage.

Brochu, who is leaving the district three years after she was hired as an energetic budget hawk, drew complaints that she was changing the Richland 2 culture too fast and too furiously. There were grumblings about declining SAT scores, the thousands of dollars she spent on professional development through the Schlechty Center, her lack of community presence, and her alleged disdain for the district’s distinctive academic magnet and choice programs, a claim she long denied.

Perhaps most damaging of all, Brochu did not pay homage to the legacy of the man she replaced. Steve Hefner, who retired after 16 years as district chief to try his hand as an education consultant and now heads Lexington-Richland 5, is credited with establishing programs that lifted the academic profile of Richland 2 statewide.

At a called school board meeting Thursday night, Brochu asked to be released from her contract, which now pays her about $223,000 a year, effective July 1, to pursue other professional opportunities. Deborah Hamm, the district’s chief information officer and a 39-year education veteran, was named interim superintendent.

Reaction to Brochu’s departure was swift.

Richland 1 school removed from list of state’s worst-performing

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:09 EDT

Eight schools statewide including one in Richland County improved enough in the 2011-2012 school year to be removed from a list of the state's worst-performing schools for the upcoming school year, according to the S.C. Department of Education.

W.A. Perry Middle School's performance rating used by the state to determine the quality of schools improved enough to be removed from the Palmetto Priority program.

The school is one of three Richland 1 schools in the Palmetto Priority program -- which started as an alternative to the state taking over failing schools. Schools in the program receive help from review panels and additional financial support, said Jay Ragley, state education department spokesman.

Richland 1's Heyward Gibbes and C.A. Johnson High School remain on the list.

No other schools in Richland or Lexington counties are in the program.

S.C. charter schools to hold info expo in Columbia Tuesday

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:39 EDT

Several charter schools will hold an information expo Tuesday for interested students, according to the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina.

The expo is 6 - 8 p.m. Tuesday, at the Embassy Suites at 200 Stoneridge Drive.

Several schools are registered to attend, including Palmetto State E-cademy, S.C. Connections Academy, S.C. Whitmore School, Provost Academy South Carolina, S.C. Virtual Charter School, and Cyber Academy of S.C.

Charter schools are public schools meant to be innovative alternatives to traditional public schools.

For more information, visit sccharterschools.org.

People and achievements, June 17

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 00:46 EDT

SCHOOLS

GILBERT HIGH SCHOOL TEAM WORKS TEAM MEMBERS Ben Bussey, Matt Hall, Dalton Holzheimer and Ben Kyzer won first place in the Team Works competition at the SkillsUSA South Carolina Conference.

LEXINGTON-RICHLAND 5 STAFFER Jennifer Felkel has been awarded the South Carolina Public Health Association’s 2013 Public Health Social Work Award.

ROUND TOP ELEMENTARY SCHOOL is one of three South Carolina schools to be named a National Schools of Character for its commitment to character education and fostering a positive environment for social and academic learning.

LEXINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS Jacob Almond, Benjamin Brandes , Macy Cope, Madison Haynes, Andy Hu, Elizabeth Jordan, Estelle McKee, Luke Mondeel , David Robertson, Ian Streit and Sophia Washburn have been recognized by the Duke University Talent Identification Program for their performance on the SAT.

Fight against Common Core flares in South Carolina

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 23:25 EDT

South Carolina Tea Party groups — warning of an overreaching federal government and massive privacy invasions — are joining calls nationwide to derail education standards called Common Core.

“It doesn’t matter if I like them. It doesn’t matter if you like them or if they like them. We can’t do anything about it,” said Linda Ensor of Summerville, who organized several Tea Party groups to travel to Columbia Wednesday to urge the state Board of Education to rethink its 2010 adoption of Common Core.

South Carolina voluntarily adopted Common Core — K-12 education standards in math, reading and language arts. The standards outline what students should know and know how to do at every grade level.

“When you remove the political argument, and you actually look at the standards themselves, they’re described sometimes as fewer, deeper and clearer,” said Allison Jacques, a University of South Carolina education department administrator who specializes in education standards and related tests.

The standards are high quality and more rigorous than past state expectations, she said. “The reverse would be to water down expectations or expect less from our students.”

USC likely to announce tuition hikes Monday

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:06 EDT

Four of South Carolina’s public colleges and universities are increasing in-state tuition for 2013-14, and the University of South Carolina could announce its rates for the coming year as early as Monday.

Among in-state tuition increases announced so far, The Citadel has the smallest, at 3 percent, with Winthrop at 3.1 percent, and College of Charleston and Lander University at 3.16 and 3.15 percent, respectively. Coastal Carolina University has said it will not raise in-state tuition.

The University of South Carolina’s board of trustees will consider Monday rates for Columbia and its seven regional campuses. USC last year raised tuition 3.15 percent, on par with other state-funded institutions — and its smallest tuition increase since 1999.

USC President Harris Pastides said at last year’s board meeting that future tuition increases would be “this low or lower.”

Two years ago, as South Carolinians were struggling to recover from the economic downturn, state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee that allocates funds to all 12 public four-year institutions, challenged schools to keep tuition hikes below 3.95 percent.

New Winthrop president making campus her home

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:48 EDT

Winthrop University’s 10th president and “first dude” are settling in their new home in Rock Hill this weekend, in preparation for Jayne Marie Comstock to start on July 1.

On Friday morning, the incoming Winthrop president Comstock and her husband, Larry Williamson, had help with the heavy lifting from members of the university’s Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.

Local moving company Two Men and A Truck brought down the couple’s belongings from their home in Washington, D.C., where Comstock has been serving as director of the Executive Leadership Group for the American Council on Education.

Earlier this month, the couple moved in some items from their home in Florida.

Some of their furniture in D.C. was left behind with former Butler University students who are just starting their careers in the nation’s capital. Comstock served as Butler’s provost and vice president for academic affairs before taking a sabbatical to work at the American Council on Education.

School-choice debate looms in budget talks

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 11:11 EDT

A debate over how much private school “choice” S.C. taxpayers should subsidize looms as lawmakers work to adopt a budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The S.C. House and Senate differ over whether private or public 4-year-old kindergarten providers should benefit most from an expansion of the state’s 4K program for at-risk children.

They also disagree on a plan to give tax breaks for donations made for private-school scholarships that are made available to children with disabilities or living in poverty.

A panel of three state senators and three representatives – two Republicans and one Democrat from each chamber – will meet Friday in an effort to resolve differences between the two chambers’ spending plans.

The General Assembly returns to the State House Tuesday with hopes of passing the spending plan next week. If they fail, the state government could face a shutdown.

Richland 2 schools chief leaving post

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:27 EDT

The Richland 2 school board released superintendent Katie Brochu from the one year remaining in her contract Thursday night at a special meeting, granting her request to step down effective July 1.

“I am excited to begin the next chapter in my life and equally excited to follow the next chapter of the Richland 2 story,” Brochu said in a prepared statement released by the district. “I want to thank the entire Richland School District Two community for their dedication and support.”

Debbie Hamm, the district’s chief information officer, will serve as interim superintendent.

Brochu has been superintendent of the Midlands’ largest school district since July 2010. Her current contract would have expired in June 2014.

Efforts to reach Brochu after Thursday’s announcement were unsuccessful. But her decision to step down follows a year in which critics and some board members had raised concerns about several issues, among them the direction of the district and the cost of professional training Brochu had instituted for teachers and administrators.

SC Supreme Court rules for former Lexington-Richland 5 board member

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:03 EDT

A group of Lexington-Richland 5 residents lost its bid to prevent a one-time board member from initiating legal challenges to decisions she opposed while on the school board.

The group’s effort ended when the S.C. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that it failed to show how its members were affected adversely by what former board member Kim Murphy did.

That decision overturned a 2-year-old ban stopping Murphy from launching challenges while she was a board member.

Both sides claimed victory after the ruling.

“They haven’t silenced me,” Murphy said Thursday.

SC Humanist group complains about 5th grade graduation location

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:51 EDT

A humanist group is complaining that a 5th-grade graduation was held at North Greenville University.

The Greenville News reported that the American Humanist Association has sent a letter of complaint to a Taylors elementary school that held graduation at the university, which is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

Attorney Monica Miller with the association says the group sent the letter after two parents of students at Mountain View Elementary School complained about the May 30 ceremony at the university’s chapel in Tigerville.

The parents also complained about two prayers during the ceremony.

Greenville County school spokesman Oby Lyles says the district’s attorneys will respond to the complaint. Lyles says principals are given information on the need to ensure that school activities do not promote religion.

Study finds college pays, even for dropouts

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:36 EDT

It sounds like the worst of all worlds – borrowing money for college, then dropping out and facing the debt without a degree.

But a new study argues that the investment in even a partial college education is still worth it, amounting to average earnings of $100,000 more over a lifetime than for those who merely finish high school. That’s a better investment return on average than stocks and bonds – though of course much lower than the return on college for those who finish.

“It is vastly better to get a college degree,” said Adam Looney, policy director at The Hamilton Project, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank that authored the report. “But I think the evidence says that fears of dropping out, that there are big downside risks to trying it and not finishing it, I think those are overblown. For people who are interested in college, who have ambitions of going and have the ability and qualifications to succeed, I think the evidence suggests it’s an extremely good deal right now.”

The question is pressing because around half of beginning college students now borrow to help pay for college. The latest figures from the Project on Student Debt found two-thirds of the college class of 2011 had debt at graduation, averaging $26,600.

But the bigger concern is those who don’t graduate. Overall, barely half of college students nationally complete within six years, according to data compiled last fall by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center (though three-quarters of students who attend full-time manage to complete within six years). Student debt collection agencies don’t care whether or not you got your diploma.

Prayers at Upstate graduation ceremony draw protests

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:50 EDT

A Taylors elementary school has been sent a cease-and-desist letter after parents complained to a humanist organization that the school’s graduation ceremony was held at a religious-affiliated university.

The American Humanist Association received a complaint from two Mountain View Elementary parents about the fifth-grade graduation ceremony May 30 in North Greenville University’s chapel that included two prayers, said Monica Miller, an association attorney.

Oby Lyles, spokesman for the Greenville County school district, said the district’s attorney was looking into the matter and would prepare a response to the association.

North Greenville University is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. “The school’s actions were clearly unconstitutional,” according to the letter.

“The main problem is that you’ve got school-aged children attending a school-sponsored event that’s supposed to be secular, not only are they confronted with two prayers, but they’re also in a building that’s surrounded by not just symbolism, but with religious, overtly Christian symbolism,” Miller said in an interview.

SC students up 10%, but staffing up 50%? Study would scrutinize school spending

Tue, 11 Jun 2013 23:42 EDT

The number of children in S.C. schools increased by 10.3 percent from 1995 to 2011. But the number of teachers and school administrators increased by 48.1 percent.

That disparity has state schools Superintendent Mick Zais questioning whether S.C. public schools are spending taxpayers’ money wisely.

A $300,000 program analyzing school districts’ non-instructional spending habits, proposed as part of the state budget to take effect July 1, would help districts see how their spending compares to other districts and identify possible savings. The outcome, supporters say, could be more money reaching students and classrooms.

The state Education Oversight Committee, which makes policy recommendations for S.C. schools, has proposed to hire a private firm to evaluate at least three school districts, analyzing how efficiently they spend money on non-instructional expenses, including overhead, personnel, procurement, facilities, transportation and technology.

The program would “encourage school districts to ... find ways to save money,” said state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, who asked the Senate to include the program in the budget.

People and achievements, June 10

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 22:32 EDT

SCHOOLS

WESTWOOD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT KYLA BURWICK has won the top prize at the state level National History Day contest.

DOBY’S MILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL has been named one of 35 schools across the U.S. to be named a 2013 national School of Character finalist.

LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL BAND DIRECTOR JERRY GATCH has been inducted into the S.C. Band Directors Association’s Hall of Fame.

THE LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL ECONOMICS AND FINANCE CHALLENGE TEAMS have won at the S.C. State Economics and Finance Challenge at the Darla Moore School of Business.

College Notebook, June 9

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 18:12 EDT

USC-Beaufort to offer degree in elementary education

The University of South Carolina-Beaufort will offer a bachelor of arts in elementary education starting this fall, the college announced.

The new program makes University of South Carolina-Beaufort one of the only traditional universities in that part of the state to offer an elementary education degree, according to a news release.

The school already offers an early-childhood education program, but that degree only allows students to teach as high as third grade. The new degree would make them eligible to teach second through sixth grade, which the university’s department of education said will make teachers more marketable.

The (Hilton Head) Island Packet

Winthrop trustees give initial OK to 3.1% tuition increase

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:49 EDT

South Carolina students attending Winthrop University in the fall likely will see a 3.1 percent tuition increase over last year’s cost.

The Winthrop Board of Trustees tentatively approved the tuition hike Friday afternoon.

Trustees have postponed approval of the university’s operating budget until state appropriations for public schools clear the S.C. Legislature and Gov. Nikki Haley’s office.

Tuition bills are mailed to Winthrop students on July 1.

Although Winthrop is waiting to approve its operating budget, it’s not likely fall tuition will increase by more than 3.1 percent, said trustee Karl Folkens, who will begin serving as the board’s vice-chairman next month.

Clemson enterprise bill supporters vow another try

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 23:22 EDT

A bill that would allow Clemson University to operate some of its non-academic functions more like a business didn’t make it through the House before the legislative session ended this week, but supporters say they will make another push for it next year.

Critics fear the legislation would create a system that is unaccountable to taxpayers — a fear the university says is unfounded.

The Senate passed the bill on a 37-4 vote on May 9, and it was referred to the Ways and Means Committee five days later. The committee hadn’t taken it up by the time the regular session ended Thursday.

Rep. B.R. Skelton, a retired Clemson professor who sponsored a House version of the bill and is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said the House didn’t have time to get to the bill because it arrived so late in the session.

“I think the Senate did a pretty good job on this version, but we haven’t had a hearing on the House version of the bill, and it’s my understanding that that will be looked at over the summer,” he said.

Adult fight disrupts Charlotte-area kindergarten graduation

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 12:29 EDT

Police were called to River Gate Elementary School in southwest Charlotte on Thursday morning when two adults got into a fight at a kindergarten end-of-the-year ceremony.

No one was seriously injured and no children were involved in the “physical altercation,” said Tahira Stalberte, spokeswoman for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police and the CMS police department responded, she said.

End-of-year student recognition ceremonies are continuing, she said.

2nd SC school employee has contagious tuberculosis

Thu, 06 Jun 2013 10:49 EDT

A second Greenwood County school employee has an active case of tuberculosis in an outbreak that has infected several dozen people, according to state health officials.

The Department of Health and Environmental Control said Wednesday that the second worker at Ninety Six Primary School had been ordered to be confined at home after a chest X-ray showed the person had an active case of tuberculosis and is contagious.

Earlier this week, DHEC director Catherine Templeton said 58 employees and students had a positive skin test for tuberculosis exposure at the school, where students' last day of classes was Tuesday. Of those cases, eight students currently had developed the disease but were not contagious.

On Wednesday, DHEC revised those numbers to 62 positive skin tests and a total of 10 people with tuberculosis.

The original infected person to whom officials traced all of those subsequent cases was a school employee and hasn't cooperated with investigators, Templeton said Tuesday, adding that the person would be quarantined at home until he or she is no longer infectious.

SC House OKs private-school tax credits

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:42 EDT

House lawmakers sent the state budget back to the Senate on Wednesday, drawing battle lines over public vs. private education in next year’s $22.7 billion spending plan.

The House amended the budget to give tax credits to people who donate to private school scholarships. The scholarships would go to disabled students or poor students in failing schools.

State representatives limited the total private-school donations to $10 million and capped the tax credit at 60 percent of a donor’s tax liability – meaning the state potentially could lose $6 million in tax collections in next year’s budget, according to state Rep. Eric Bedingfield, R-Greenville, who sponsored the amendment.

Critics say that money would be better spent on public education, which, they say, the budget underfunds by $598 million because lawmakers did not follow a 36-year-old funding formula for public education.

The tax credit would not take effect until Jan. 1, 2014. It automatically would expire in six months – as all budget provisos do – unless the General Assembly votes to reauthorize the tax break.

SC requests SLED investigation of mandated student testing at Sumter High

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:22 EDT

Testing practices observed at Sumter High School earlier this year were some of the worst the state Department of Education has ever seen, a spokesman for the state agency said Wednesday.

In a letter dated Monday, the education department requested the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division conduct a criminal investigation into the local school and its administrators, prompted by what state education officials said they witnessed during the local school's High School Assessment Program testing in April.

As part of its investigation, auditors with the department said they found several significant testing violations, including testing materials not being secured properly at the campus, failure by the school administration to make accommodations for students with disabilities, failure to provide teachers and testing administrators with proper training and an overall poor testing environment for students.

In a written statement released Tuesday, Sumter School District Superintendent Randolph Bynum said the district will continue to look into the matter.

"We were surprised by the report from the State Department because during the follow-up briefing, we never received any inclination of severe concerns. This report does concern me, and the district will review the findings as to what is hearsay and factual and will take appropriate action where applicable," Bynum said.

SLED investigates testing at Sumter High School

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 15:12 EDT

State agents are investigating how Sumter High School conducted a standardized test this spring.

The Item of Sumter reports that the State Law Enforcement Division agreed to investigate the school after the Education Department found problems with the test given in April that students must pass to get a diploma.

State education officials say testing materials for the High School Assessment Program were not secured and students weren’t given the proper environment to take the exam.

Sumter High principal Sterling Harris wrote a letter denying some of the allegations. Harris wrote that teachers and other staff have been unhappy recently and they may have tried to take their anger out on administrators.

Violating testing procedures is a misdemeanor under state law, but teaching credentials can also be revoked.

Richland 1’s Class of 2013 brings home $53 million in scholarships, financial aid

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:57 EDT

Richland 1 announced that Class of 2013 graduates have received nearly $53 million in scholarship offers and financial aid to date.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recognized three Gates Millennium Scholars from Richland 1 — Lindsey Hallingquest and Zhane’ Hibbit of Columbia High, and Tyler Edmond of Richland One Middle College. The competitive Gates Millennium Scholarships will fund the entire cost of students’ college education, including graduate school.

Seven Richland 1 graduates have received National Merit and National Achievement scholarships for academic excellence. Eloisa J. Baez Jones of Dreher High and Hallingquest were awarded National Achievement Scholarships, Allen J. Burnside, John B. Stone and Alessandra M. Tuel, all of Dreher High, and Gray M. Williams and William K. McAdams, both of A.C. Flora High, received National Merit Scholarships.

Bryan Betts

Bulk of 4-K funds to public or private schools in SC?

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:49 EDT

The budget battle at the State House this week won’t be over whether to expand 4-year-old kindergarten but who should get most of that money – public schools or private schools.

The state Senate’s $22.7 billion spending plan includes an extra $26 million to expand 4-year-old kindergarten into 17 additional school districts, where at least 75 percent of students qualify for government-paid health insurance, or free or reduced lunches. In the Midlands, those districts would include Richland 1, Lexington 2, Lexington 3 and Fairfield County.

But S.C. House Republican leaders have another plan. They see the 4-year-old kindergarten idea as a chance to pass tax credits and vouchers for private education.

The Senate plan – blessed by minority party Democrats – would give 85 percent of the money to public school programs with 15 percent going to private school programs.

However, House Republican leaders introduced an amendment – scheduled to be debated Wednesday – that would flip those percentages, giving 85 percent of the money to private schools and 15 percent to public schools. The House plan also would give half of the $26 million to a voucher program for low-income parents to send their 4-year-old children to the preschool program of their choice.

Teacher rolls to easy victory in Richland 1 race

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:18 EDT

Pamela Adams, a Hand Middle School social studies and history teacher, was elected Tuesday night to a seat on the Richland 1 school board, defeating four other candidates in a race that drew sparse turnout.

Adams, a mother of three, led a field of five candidates by a wide margin. She sought the backing of Republicans and Democrats for the non-partisan position and claimed the support of state Sen. John Courson, R-Richland, and former Gov. Jim Hodges, among others.

“I am overwhelmed by the support of the families in this community. I think everyone has a vision to take our schools from good to great,” said Adams, 37, who won with 57 percent of the vote. “A lot of voters as they came in today said they were excited a teacher is running, someone with current classroom experience.”

Adams, who is married to Richland County Treasurer David Adams, has said she would resign from teaching to devote herself to the work of the school board. She said Tuesday night she would fulfill that pledge. “It doesn’t make good moral and ethnical sense for me to be serving in both capacities,” said Adams, who has been teaching at Hand since 2001.

Adams succeeds the late Barbara Scott, who died in March after serving two separate stints on the Richland 1 school board and a long tenure in between as Richland County clerk of court from 1984 to 2008. She was 75.

SC teacher, administrator growth outpacing student growth, education superintendent says

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:23 EDT

The number of teachers and administrators in South Carolina schools has grown by 48 percent since 1995, while the number of students grew 10 percent, state Superintendent of Education Mick Zais told members of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

But the additional personnel hasn’t improved the education system’s ability to prepare young people for college or jobs at a time when the state is falling short in filling the needs of business and industry, he said.

And it hasn’t resulted in higher test scores or improved graduation rates, he said. “What we do have to show for all that spending and hiring is an expanding education bureaucracy and a huge bill to the taxpayers,” Zais said.

His figures on teachers and administrators includes teacher aides, guidance counselors, librarians, instructional coordinators, coaches and trainers and personnel providing health, psychology, speech, audiology and other social services.

A study by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, which Zais didn’t mention, indicates that South Carolina is tied for third in the nation for the highest total number of public school employees in proportion to its number of students, with 10.3 students per school staff.

Dent Middle principal moving to Lexington 3

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:11 EDT

Dent Middle School principal Randall Gary is now assistant superintendent in Lexington 3.

Gary, an educator for 18 years, assumes his new post July 1.

He will handle personnel and administrative matters for classrooms in Batesburg-Leesville.

Environmental groups want to weigh in on proposed Richland 2 school

Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:23 EDT

The Gills Creek Watershed Association, along with the town of Arcadia Lakes and the Cary Lake Homeowners Association, want to make sure a new Richland 2 elementary school planned on Trenholm Road Extension does not adversely affect the urban stream system and Cary Lake.

“This is a greenspace right now which is helping the water quality that is coming into Cary Lake,” Erich Miarka, program coordinator for the watershed association, said Monday.

Miarka and others have met with school officials to make sure they are aware of the fragility of the 70-mile stream system that meanders through Richland County, Arcadia Lakes, the city of Columbia, Fort Jackson and Cayce.

Richland 2 has an option on the property just off Decker Boulevard, but has not made a formal purchase, said Fred McDaniel, Richland 2’s chief planning officer. The land has been surveyed and the district is doing due diligence on the property.

In a meeting, McDaniel said he reassured the environmental and homeowner representatives that the 24-acre plot the district wants to buy will have no negative impact on the watershed. He said another meeting is planned for next week.

USC tests expanded summer classes

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 00:11 EDT

On a hot morning last week that screamed beach day, more than 25 students sat in a University of South Carolina summer chemistry class, trying to concentrate on a difficult course they needed to pass for their majors.

Getting through lessons in enthalpy and Hess’s Law is a little easier in USC’s newly expanded summer semester.

With two extra weeks to teach, chemistry professor Amy Taylor-Perry could chop daily classes, which had been three-hours long, in half to 90 minutes. One result? Test scores are higher than during traditional semesters – even in a class that includes a number of students who are repeating the class after failing in their first try.

“I keep their attention better when we are not in there for three hours a day. It was tough on them – and tough on me,” Taylor-Perry said. “That allows the students to retain the information better and to have more time to go over material on their own at home.”

This year, for the first time, the state’s flagship university has turned its summer session into a period more like its fall and spring semesters. The redesigned third semester, USC’s former summer school session, gives students more opportunities to take classes so they can graduate in less than four years, or catch up if they are changing majors or taking an internship outside of the summer months.