SC State superintendent: What’s next in Richland One’s teacher upheaval | Opinion

Disappointment. Disbelief. Outrage. Sadness.

I have heard these sentiments loud and clear in the many conversations I have had with Richland One parents, teachers, administrators, and community leaders over the past few days.

This is far more than simply a professional question for me as State Superintendent. As a Richland One taxpayer, it is also personal.

The seemingly sudden shift of several teachers between schools has raised hard questions in our community about the district’s personnel practices, communication, and leadership.

In acknowledging this fact, I am in no way minimizing the strong headwinds district leaders both here and across the state face as they work to find teachers, nurses, counselors, bus drivers, and more. Serving as an administrator in a large district, in which many competing needs must be balanced, is without question a difficult challenge.

This challenge however, does not relieve the responsibility of leadership to approach decision-making with the highest level of compassion and consideration for the teachers, students, and parents who feel the impacts of these decisions deeply in their daily reality.

A school isn’t just a building a student walks into every day. It is an intentional and deeply interconnected community of students, families, educators, staff, and volunteers. And when poorly communicated decisions disrupt this ecosystem, trust is broken and ultimately, it is students who suffer.

Perhaps the greatest long-term concern is the self-defeating message that has been sent to both current and potential teachers. We may have temporarily filled classrooms but permanently lost educators, at a time we can least afford to do so.

But relitigating what has already happened won’t solve the problem. So where do we go from here?

One of the many challenges of education governance in South Carolina is that with multiple and sometimes competing authorities, there is rarely a straight line or simple answer to “Who can fix things?”

I will start with my own role as State Superintendent. Teaching contracts are between the local district and individual teachers. Under state law, the State Department of Education (SCDE) and State Board of Education (SBE) facilitate the adjudication of contract disputes, and the SBE is required to suspend or revoke a teacher’s certification upon a school board filing a complaint and establishing conclusive evidence of a breached contract.

State law does, however, give my office the authority to inquire into district finances. Accordingly, the SCDE placed Richland One on “fiscal watch” in December 2022, and the district remains on fiscal watch to this day.

Both the Governor and I may also request that the Office of the Inspector General investigate if presented credible evidence of potential malfeasance. Additionally, recently revised state law also allows for the State Superintendent to take over both districts and individual schools for very specific definitions of academic underperformance.

Your representatives on the Richland County legislative delegation also have multiple levers of power which they might pull, including following the example of districts across the state whose delegations have made the admittedly tough decision to consolidate multiple districts into a single county-wide district. Of note, in this year’s state budget, the General Assembly provided funds for the SCDE to facilitate these types of consolidation.

Perhaps the greatest focus of power in these situations is the local school board. These boards approve annual budgets, set district policies, hire and fire the local superintendent, and in some local jurisdictions, even have the authority to raise taxes. Making your voice heard at meetings is vital, with of course the community’s ultimate recourse being the ballot box.

Finally, I believe this is a golden chance for our community to unite to turn an obstacle into opportunity. These are our schools, which means they are our responsibility. And our students both in Richland One and across South Carolina have never needed our parents, business, civic, and faith communities more.

Over the last few months, SCDE staff have worked to establish a Department-wide volunteer program to serve local students and educators, connecting our team with the front lines of South Carolina’s educational mission. This week, I have asked my staff to accelerate our timeline for deploying this initiative, and I invite you to join us in this vital work.

Whether it is donating supplies; sitting in the lunchroom so teachers can take their planning period; serving as a reading buddy, mentor, volunteer, or substitute; or even just writing a note of encouragement, our teachers in every school in Richland One need to know that our community loves them and values the work they do.

Hope is a powerful idea, woven tightly into our South Carolina DNA. Hope is a confident expectation that the future can be better if we come together to make it so; our students and educators have never needed it more. I believe hope for education across our state can start right here in Richland One if we each answer the call and determine together not to waste this opportunity to make that dream for a hope-filled education future a reality.