Inside Schools
A quick news break for employees
Recent KCSD Honors
Midway Elementary teacher Dr. Lisa Stockdale was chosen to present at the National Council of Teachers of English annual convention. She is part of a panel talking about "Early Childhood Writing: Current Issues in Teaching and Learning."
Doby's Mill Elementary has received an Arts Curricular Innovation grant from the SC Department of Education.
North Central High volleyball coach Andy Johnson was selected by his peers as the 2015-16 Region IV-AA Volleyball Coach of The Year.
North Central Middle teacher Angie Smith was inducted in the Newberry College Athletic Hall of Fame. Mrs. Smith was a star softball player for the Lady Indians from 1996-99. She was the first Newberry player to earn All-South Atlantic Conference honors in softball.
Even Dr. Morgan Loves Chicken Rings
Chicken rings and conversations with four-year-old students at Wateree Elementary; could a Superintendent have a better job?
Multiplication is Fun
Lugoff Elementary third graders Kyle Anderson and Jamiyan Blair use cubes to build understanding of multiplication.
Ancient Egypt Comes Alive
Sixth grade students at Camden Middle recently participated in a cross-curriculum unit on Ancient Egypt. The culmination of this unit was Mummy Day where students traveled to four stations to virtually mummify a pharaoh, create clay amulets, design 3-D pyramids and even mummify hot dogs!
Golden Apple Award honorees for October
The Kershaw County Teacher Forum’s Golden Apple program honors employees who are doing outstanding jobs.
Golden Apple Award honorees for October 2015:
ATEC: Jerry Taylor & David Weaver
Baron DeKalb Elementary: Emily Baccamo & Carol Clayton
Bethune Elementary: Kimberly Smith & Debra Christmas
Blaney Elementary: Kayla Ross & Amy Blizzard
Camden Elementary: Cleo Rowell & Darlene Cantey
Camden High: Clarice Thomas & Cindy Goodrich
Camden Middle: Joe Bowers & Allison Stephens
Continuous Learning Center: Misty Mathis
Doby’s Mill Elementary: Janice Poston & Vonda Romanyszyn
Jackson: Melissa Threat & Jennifer White
Lugoff Elementary: Jessica Newman & Robin Reeves
Lugoff-Elgin High: Katianne Rickwood & Lawrence Harris
Lugoff-Elgin Middle: Bonita Hunter & Elaine Dorsey
Midway Elementary: Cheryl Hayes, April Garbade & Mil Beebe
Mt. Pisgah Elementary: Ada Blackmon & April Mangum
North Central High: Renee Mitchell & Terry Phillips
North Central Middle: Angie Smith & Betty Adamson
Pine Tree Hill Elementary: E.J. Bringer & Correen Bowers
Stover Middle: Mornique Dozier, Kathryn Faz, Craig Jelks, & Thomas Hoosier
Wateree Elementary: Michele Williams & Shannon Wadford
David Weaver (ATEC) and Mil Beebe (Midway Elementary) were the winners of the district drawing to receive $20 gift certificates from Fatz Café.
Q and A with Dr. Morgan and Staff
Questions for this column are questions of general interest submitted each month in Superintendent's Cabinet meetings.
Is it possible to have PD for technology that is a little bit less "One size fits all"? The philosophy of the Professional Development Office supports the notion that professional learning should be based on teachers' needs. Having said that, this is the first year we have had Lead Technology Instructors (LTIs) in every school. In order to get started with this process, we have standardized the curriculum. This will allow the LTIs to develop a sense of the instructional technology strengths and needs of their faculty. As the initiative moves forward, instruction will be tailored to better meet the individual needs of teachers.
The district EdTech challenge site has erroneous information such as it is self-paced and you must complete an e-portfolio. If it is self-paced, why do we have mandatory training and if we do not have to complete an e-portfolio, why does it state this on the site? The EdTech Challenge website is a resource for the LTIs and teachers to use to supplement the professional learning being presented to teachers. It is not meant to be the curriculum. Teachers are free to explore the site to enhance their learning or to pursue extra help. If the LTI in your school is presenting the website as the complete curriculum, please let Derek Berry know.
What are the qualifications for CLC placement? How many students are currently enrolled there? Students have been assigned to CLC based on their intensive social/emotional needs which impact their learning. There aren't any qualifications as students are referred by parents or school administrators. Placement decisions are made through conversation with the parent, administrative team and clinical psychologist at CLC.
There have been 70 students served at CLC this year. There are 45 attending daily as of today but this number fluctuates. For example, two high school students have graduated this year due to the instruction and credit recovery services offered to them at CLC. Some students have returned to their home schools after improvements made through therapy and counseling. Services are provided by the district's mental health counselors, who are based at CLC, to students of all ages throughout the district at the request of the administrators, counselors, and parents. There are currently 64 students being served by the staff at CLC at our elementary, middle, and high schools.
Can some schools require teachers to work 7.5 hour days and others require them to work 8 hour days? According to Board Policy GCMD, “The Board expects teachers to assume reasonable duties over and above their regular teaching responsibilities in order to provide students with the most comprehensive program possible.” Policy GCL addresses the hourly requirements by saying, “Teachers shall be on duty a minimum of 7.5 hours each school day. Principals/director shall prepare teachers' time schedules and may designate extra duty assignments to teachers. On some days teachers will be expected to remain on duty longer than 7.5 hours for staff meetings or supervision of students as assigned by the principal.”
Are other schools in the state using additional tracks other than College Prep and Honors/AP in English (a tech prep track, for instance)? The state of South Carolina has been in a continual cycle of curriculum standards revision for more than a dozen years. Within this review process, curriculum standards and programs of study are constantly revised to provide for students to be college and career ready upon graduation. In order to meet this requirement, nearly all school districts across the state have moved to offering pathway to success courses that are either College Preparatory or Honors/Advanced Placement. Courses previously known as “Tech Prep” have either been incorporated into current courses or are in the process of being discontinued.
In regard to the requirement of SLOs, is there any plan to stop using block scheduling and move to a traditional full-year schedule in the high schools in order to improve the possibility of student growth? The current modified 4 X 4 block schedule used in our school system allows for teachers to have adequate time to plan and teach students. The number of minutes teachers teach during block scheduling is the same number of minutes in a traditional schedule. Teachers should expect equivalent growth from students whether it is a semester long course or a yearlong course.
Why are complaints by disgruntled parents entertained at the District Office even if the parent has not talked to the teacher? If a parent has an issue with the teacher, shouldn't he or she go to the teacher first, the building administrator next, and then the district office? Yes, parents who call the district office are reminded of using this process.
What are the approved forms of parent contact? The school district does not have an approved list of methods of parent contact but recognizes that face-to-face contact is always the best way. If that is not available, making a telephone call or sending an email are the two most commonly used. Others may use a texting program such as Remind Me. Many teachers ask parents at the beginning of the year for their preferred method of communication. Teachers also need to keep assignments up-to-date on their websites and grades updated in PowerTeacher as additional ways to improve communication with parents.
Why do we have to make up the flood days if the governor declared SC a state of emergency? The Governor declaring a state of emergency is a separate issue from a local school district making the decision to modify its schedule because of inclement weather. By state law, all school districts have to have three days on their calendars that will be used as make up days. If a school district misses an additional three days, those can be waived by the local school board. After that, if a school district loses three more days, it can petition the state school board to waive those.
Why have we had Internet issues recently? Recently, AT&T has seen an increase in network outages involving their core fiber infrastructure due to cables damaged by the floods, and construction repairs brought on by the flooding. Over the last month, as a district, we have experienced several outages to our Internet circuit and our wide area network circuit, that were directly related to these issues.
When our Internet circuit goes down, the entire district loses access to the Internet, but can still access Intranet software packages such as CSI, Destiny and PowerSchool. When our district wide area network circuit goes down, the entire district loses access to our Intranet software packages. Two of our last three outages involved both circuits being cut. Two of those cuts impacted a wide area of AT&T customers, including several other school districts.
We have been told by AT&T officials that this could be a more common occurrence as contractors dig trenches without having properly identified underground cables, including AT&T fiber. Recent fiber cuts have occurred near the USC campus, and twenty feet underground at a location between Lugoff and Columbia.
Please be assured that we do everything in our power to provide consistent Internet and Intranet connections for all our sites, and when that connection is down, we do everything we can to insure it is reported and repaired as quickly as possible.
Why doesn’t Camden Middle School have a fulltime computer technician? None of our middle schools have fulltime computer technicians like our high schools that have a one-to-one initiative with take home devices. In addition, we have not fully restored all of the program cuts from the economic downturn so we are still working to address needs across the school district.
Kershaw County School District
Nestled in the heart of the Palmetto State, KCSD is home to over 10,300 students and more than 1,200 employees.
Email: maryanne.byrd@kcsdschools.net
Website: www.kershaw.k12.sc.us
Location: 2029 W Dekalb St, Camden, SC
Phone: (803) 432-8416
Facebook: facebook.com/KershawCountySchoolDistrict
Twitter: @kcsdschools