Orangeburg County School District: Plans created to improve 8 schools

The underperforming schools are:

• Hunter-Kinard-Tyler Elementary – below average

• Marshall Elementary School – below average

• Mellichamp Elementary School – unsatisfactory

• Vance-Providence Elementary – below average

• Edisto High School – unsatisfactory

• Lake Marion High School – unsatisfactory

• North Middle/High School – below average

• Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School – unsatisfactory

The school report cards are based on South Carolina’s education accountability system. They are required for all elementary, middle and high schools, which receive overall ratings based on a 100-point scale.

The eight schools represent 27 percent of the district’s 31 schools.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Bernard Frost said 65 percent of the district’s schools would have to be below average or unsatisfactory for the district to be considered underperforming.

“We will not get there,” Frost told OCSD trustees last week. “I am claiming we will not get to an underperforming district.”

The district is doing a number of things to improve the schools as part of the turnaround and improvement plan, Frost said.

The steps include:

• Providing academic support for students

• Providing professional development for teachers and principals

• Providing credit and attendance recovery opportunities, student intervention and remediation

• Providing testing and exam workshops

• Promoting dual enrollment for college and career readiness

“I hope we are going to be very intentional about our plans and that we are going to monitor them and do follow-ups,” OCSD Vice Chair Dr. Debora Brunson said. She stressed the importance of consistently monitoring the improvement plans and ensuring they are being implemented as intended.

“I am very pleased with the progress that we are making,” she said.

Trustee Betty Pelzer noted there are 23 schools in the district that are not underperforming and stressed the importance of focusing on all schools lest currently successful schools fall by the wayside.

“We have to focus on all 31 schools,” Pelzer said.

Dr. Wanda McMichael, district director of testing and accountability, noted some schools are very close to becoming underperforming and that nothing can be taken for granted.

The district and board are required to work with the principals of underperforming schools to inform parents of the ratings and the steps being taken to improve performance.

OCSD Superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster noted 50 percent of the district’s schools were underperforming last year, compared to this year’s 27 percent.

“Instruction takes time,” Foster said. “It is a building block, so I see us going in that direction. I think it is coming and I think we just need to stay vigilant.”

Trustees voted to accept the schools’ continuous improvement plans. Dr. Sylvia Bruce-Stephens abstained.

The turnaround plans will now be submitted to the S.C. Department of Education for review and approval.

Once approved by the SCDE, the plans must be posted on the district’s and schools’ websites. The SCDE will also continue to monitor the plan and students’ progress.

Foster and the board are required to submit annual updates to the state department regarding the implementation of the plans.