001I said bye April. So >> good afternoon. >> I now call to order the regular meeting of the Georgetown County School District Board of Education being held this Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at 5:30 p.m. in the boardroom here. Uh thank you all for being here this afternoon. At this time, I would like to invite Mr. Daryl Stanley, principal of Planville Digital Emergency School, to introduce our guest, Jace Busby, before Jace leads us in pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. So, Jace can lead us in a pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence. Mr. Stanley, good evening. Good evening, Chairman Moore, Vice Chairman Walker, distinguished members of Georgetown County School Board, also Dr. Giles. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Jace Busby. Jace is a bright and respectful fifth grader at Plannersville Digital
002Emerging School where he proudly serves as a school ambassador and delivers our morning announcements each day. He's a son of Milton and Brittany Busby and he is honored to represent his school and lead us in the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence this evening. Chairman Moore, distinguished board members of the Georgetown County School District and Dr. Jiles. It is my pleasure to present to you Jace Busby. >> Please stand for the pledge of allegiance and moment of silence. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for the moment of silence. >> Thank you. You may be seated. >> Thank you. >> Good job. >> Yeah. Thank you.
003>> Good job. >> Thank you, young fell. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Bos Busby. Job well done. >> We will now move to the public comments. This is a time set aside for members of the public to address the board. Speakers are reminded that the comments should be limited to 3 minutes and the public comment portion of the meeting is limited to 30 minutes in total. The board will now hear complaint the board will not the board will not hear complaints about specific school personnels or students in this setting. All comments must remain civil and respectful. Anyone violating these guidelines may be asked to leave the meeting. And we have Mr. Jesse Walker, concerned citizen. >> Good evening. >> Um to the members of the board and Dr. Jiles. I am Jesse Walker. Y'all
004know me. Remember me? Yay. and I'm here on behalf of Joytown High School Alumni Association. As you all know, our mission is to keep the spirit of Joytown High alive and give back to today's students through scholarship. For years, we can could only award one scholarship. But thanks to the growth of our alumni fundraiser Tailgate, we now proudly a have awarded this past year five scholarships to five students in the amount of $1,000 per student deserving student. And that kind of support really makes a difference. Um, we are here to request our traditional when our request for to host our traditional KO tailgate on campus during Friday's football game that wasn't approved. It was still in the board hand making that decision. So, we respected those concerns and we adjusted our plans and proposed moving
005the event to Saturday during the day to reduce some of the complaints and nature of the tailgate around Friday night. And please note that we are not tied to calling it a tailgate. What matter is the purpose for raising funds for our scholarship drive. Without this event, our scholarship drive will be taking a big hit and our students will lose out. Just last year or the year before, one of the parents had approached me and really thanked me for the association with that scholarship because it helped her decorate the college dorm and that's what it's all about. We respectfully ask for your approval to move forward with our plans that we have in place for our Saturday event. Could we are committed to this event being positive? We are making sure it's well organized and
006it's something that Georgetown High School can be proud of. Thank you for your time and your consideration. And I've also put it in writing my request for each one of you all to um take this under consideration. So if I may give you this request or leave it with the secretary. How do you all want to do it? But I want to make sure you get it. >> Thank you. Thank you. Special thank you. Thank you very much. I like being special. >> A very special like he doesn't have a big enough ego. You're your attitude. >> Thank you ma'am. >> Thank you Mr. and welcome to our board. >> Thank you. >> And thank you Miss Johnson. Thank you. >> Okay. Again, thank you all for your time and consideration, and I hope you
007all say yes to our Saturday event. >> Thank you very much, Miss Walker. >> The minutes from August 19th, 2025 meeting have been approve have been provided to the board. May I have a motion to approve the minutes as presented? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. I >> motion's car. The agenda for this afternoon has been provided. May I have a motion to adopt the agenda as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor, please. Any discussions? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposers? Thank you very much. The motion carried. We will now move to our information items. No action is required on these items, but they are being presented for the board's review. Uh, first up we have Mr. Scott Batton on
008our 2627 district calendar. >> Good evening. Uh, Chairman Moore, Vice Chair Walker, uh, board members, Dr. Guiles, administration, and guests. I come for you tonight to present the proposed calendar for the 26 27 2728 school year as developed by the calendar committee. District policy requires a calendar committee to develop two years of calendars in early fall for the board of education's review and approval. This year's calendar committee is made up of a combination of parents, business owners, community members, elected official, classified and certified employees, as well as school and district administration representing all attendance areas and school levels. When developing the school calendar, the first thing the committee looked at is the reviewing the South Carolina department or South Carolina state regulations for developing the school calendar. Um, you have a copy of the uh
009regulations. I'm not going to go over that directly, but I'll go over the highlights as we go through this. Um, after we look at the regulations, you'll understand that the calendar kind of the regulations write the calendar um that that looks at what it is. So, we have to have 180 days for students. So within the school year we have to have 180 days. And so what we've done is you have 90 days in the first semester, 90 days in the second semester. That is then broken down again 45 days first 9 weeks 45 days second nine weeks for that 90 days and then you have the same thing for third nine weeks and fourth nine weeks 45 and 45 to get to 90. Um the other thing that they require within the regulations is
01018 190 days for teachers. Um and so that is 10 extra days. And so what they do is in the regulations and this has been um um updated July 9th, 2025. Uh used to be 3 days and and used to be 4 days prior. So now they have 4 days prior to school designated for professional development and staff development. Um also two days at the beginning of the school year for teacher preparation. So that's a total of six days and we'll look at that calendar here in a second there. the four additional days to make up the the days from the uh for the 190 for the teachers, those need to be used throughout the rest of the year and we put those in the second semester. So there's 10 total days reaching 190 days.
011We're also required to include three potential weather days in the calendar. As we know last year we used those and some asked for forgiveness on some. Um we also um are allowed to have three half days for students. This is usually done at the end of the first semester, end of the second semester deal with exams and also grades. So those are some of the regulations that that we look at within there. Other things within the regulation deal with when we have to make up days, but they don't necessarily deal with the calendar as presented tonight. Um, in the meetings, the calendar committee meetings, we looked at the regulations and spent the remainder of the time discussing pros and cons of different drafts as well as answering questions and sharing concerns from the group. Um,
012after our meetings and discussion, the committee uh unanimously approved or not approved, agreed to propose the following draft modified year- round calendars for the 2627 and the 2728 school year. Um, and so a quick like a brief review of the calendars for the 2627. As you can see, starting the teachers would come back, the 190 teachers would come back July 27th. So you have the six days from the 27th to August 3rd. The red days on the calendar are either the beginning of a the school year, the end of the school year or beginning of a 9 weeks, end of a 9 weeks. So students would start back on the 26 27 calendar, August 4th, which is a Tuesday. The blue that you see are the days that we are school is closed due to
013a holiday um on there. Now, some people noticed that on the calendar committee noticed that we didn't have all of the holidays. Well, some of the holidays aren't listed because they're already within an existing break. So, we did not list all of those in the middle section that you see there. There were too many to to list in there. So, we did not list those. Those are just the ones listed in the middle. Um, you'll also see with the modified yearline calendar, the October there is that week that we have used. Then you have a week at November for Thanksgiving break, two weeks at uh winter break. Then you have in February you have the weekl long also the uh mid- winter break. Then you have spring break and then obviously you have Memorial Day
014to finish up the year. So the first semester would start on the 4th of August. The first nine weeks would end October 6th. The first semester second nine weeks would end December 22nd. That would be a half day for students. the second semester, third nine weeks would start January 7th, which is a Thursday. March 18th would be the end of the third nine weeks. And then May uh 28th would be the end of the school year, end of the fourth nine weeks. So school would be out before Memorial Day. And those last two days would be half days. Also on the calendar, you'll see that we have um yellow highlighted outlined with a a a slash through it. Those are what we have is the early dismissal staff development days. Those were developed and put
015in um those students would go half day but staff would stay the entire day not just teachers but staff for professional development and staff development on those days for the remainder of that time. So those were built into the calendar as you can see they are built periodically through th those areas so they can get professional development during each of those uh nine weeks those quarters. Um, in the middle section you'll see the holidays listed, the potential weather days for the 26 27. You have October 12th, which is the first of the the Monday of uh the fall break. And then you have the other two days are February 18th and February 19th. Those are the Thursday, Friday of the um mid winter break. And we learned from last year and also the board's um
016suggestions and and and um advice is to avoid Good Friday and to avoid some of those things. And we also learned last year that we need to do to build in some of those into the second semester because if we use our e-learning days and we are we get to the point where we've missed too many days that allows us to have some in the second semester because it also states in the regulations if you if you miss that time in the first semester. You can't make that up in the second semester because that's not time that you have to have during that time period. So you need to make sure you're making up the semester time in that semester. Um, and so that is the and then you'll see the yellow at the second
017semester in the second column. In January, you'll have a staff development or teacher work day. On the 26th, you'll have a staff development, teacher work day. Students are in session. And then the two yellow days on June 1st and 2nd, same thing. Those are staff development end of the year um, and teacher work days. And so that is the 2627 calendar. And the 2728 calendar is very very similar. It is the teachers would come back on the 26th. We'd start school on the 3. And you can see the the dates very very similar as we go through um with the breaks included in there with the modified year round as we originally talked about when we developed the modified um 3 years ago. So that is kind of the outline of what the committee talked
018about, what they came up with based on the regulations and what we talked about within the um the meeting itself. Um we did discuss the traditional calendar. We discussed the modified calendar. Those things were presented. Um but the calendar committee had talked about um wanting to keep the modified calendar at this point after 3 years of being in this modified calendar. um some of the stumbling blocks of coming to a modified calendar when we first started. I think some of those things from the committee and the people that they've talked to in their communities and their schools, those have things have been overcome. A couple of those things were um daycarees adjusting to the new calendar, going back to that calendar now would have a tough time for adjusting. So, some of the parents that
019we talked to in the committee said those things. Um the the having the week off in October and having the week off in February were very popular. Um they were popular when we well it was mixed when we first started but after that first year um that was one of those things that was very popular. Um having those and continuing to have those. Um there's no perfect calendar. We did talk about some of the things with the modified and the traditional where there were concerns on both sides. So there was discussion for about an hour and 45 minutes um on two different occasions about where we wanted to go and kind of what would they what the thought process is when we go through. Um one of the big things for the modified year- round
020calendar is you finish before winter break for high schools and so come before this in the traditional you have to come back after winter break and have exams. That was very difficult for the teachers and the administrators and the students had talked about that as one of the things that they liked about the modified calendar is that you finish your first semester and you're done. Second semester also ends before Memorial Day. Um so that was another positive that we um people had brought up. So if that's the presentation, is there any any questions that you have? I'm sorry. Just want to check my notes before I went on. >> I have several. Um, included in the committee, how many of the individuals that were a part of that committee have students that are playing sports?
021>> There were four or five that had and and that was one of the we we had that discussion. That discussion was brought up. I as the committee chairperson, I received multiple not a lot, but multiple emails very passionate about the concept of of the sports. We had that conversation. Those parents have made adjustments. They said at first it was rough, but the kids have made adjustments and they um the conversation that we had in the committee was well at the beginning of the school year, you know, they may have missed some of those early summer practices or some of those types of things. During winter break, maybe it's it's um basketball or wrestling, they still had to practice for whatever tournament they were having or whatever things. So, and then in spring break, the
022baseball, softball, those types of things, track, we're still having practices and going through their season. So, they have made adjustments. It's not, we did discuss the the concern of that. It was, it was definitely brought up and we talked about it in in detail in length about that concern going from there. Um, and each particular parent and staff member had their own spin on why they did it, but it always came back to we understand that, but we really don't want to go back to the traditional because we've done this for 3 years. We like how it's set up, those types of things, and and going back to this, and then do we flip-flop, go back and forth, back and forth. So, just the stability, I think, of it. And they're used to those things.
023Well, that isn't part of it based upon a fabrication. We were told several years ago when this experiment started that this was the trend. Other districts were going to them. Uh there are no other districts in this general area uh specifically that compete with us in athletics for the most part that are moving to this calendar. Uh there are a handful that have adopted this calendar statewide. Okay. Uh there are concerns from that that I'm hearing from educators where we have a a teacher retention issue. We know that we we've openly discussed that. And one of the things are we're having these breaks put in place with the idea of this is a benefit for the teachers. many of the end of quarter uh uh exams, things of that nature are coming back. Their grades
024are due when they get back. Those teachers aren't taking a break. They are going to have to work during those break times to make sure that their grades are in on time because they're required to. Okay? There are a lot of things that are unintended consequences just like the staggered start to the school day that begets transportation issues that begets inequitable teacher time working uh in in on campus. Those are things I don't think that we've addressed frankly by by looking at the calendar. Uh I can tell you I'm not a big fan of it. I I don't see and I I I've not made any uh any secret of that. That's okay. >> Um >> can you show me one metric that suggests that this is a better fit than the traditional count from
025a retention issue of of information or scores or anything else? >> Dr. >> Sure. Um thank you Mr. Ombby. Thank you Mr. Batten and the committee for um a lot of hard work that went in into discussions and to decisions that were made to draft this. I would say that at no time did we say that there would be a metric academically um tied. Our goal at that point was more so to provide the um remediation or services during the break time but moreover to allow the opportunities for um academic support and that was not mandatory but that was optional. Um, so we don't have a tie to being able to say that academics soared or academics went up. But I will say unofficially that we had higher um numbers in summer school this year
026when we did not offer >> academic support days than during times when we did offer academic support days. So again, that's not necessarily a metric tied to the academic test scores that you'll see soon, but that is one metric. Um, we also have pulled unofficially teachers and staff and they have been responsive. Um, certainly we are willing to put out another survey if necessary, if that's the direction of the board to get more information, but we have gotten positive results. Um, thirdly, you mentioned transportation, the fact that it's staggered. We also went to that staggered time, not because of the modified calendar, but it assisted with us being able to cover our routes due to bus driver shortages in certain areas. So, that was not tied to the modified calendar directly. It just happened at
027the same time. >> So, that's that alignment is just coincidental >> and and Dr. Guys, I appreciate that and I understand that. Uh, you know, I don't want to be antagonistic. I'm just looking at it as I I can tell you I I think there was less than transparency around the move to the calendar to begin with. I think that there were things that were said that have not come about that are causing some issues. And certainly, I know it's a a hot topic. I know everybody wants to have an opinion about it. Um I'm just looking at it as a solution in search of a problem. Uh we have not seen any widescale benefits from it. uh and yet I think we've caused unintended you know not certainly not intended uh but some issues
028relating to specifically around sports around uh issues with the make the requirement that the teachers get their grades in which by you know definition necessarily requires them to miss out on that break. they're not really getting the reset break that we intended that it be. >> I I'd have to allow me to look at that the dates when grades are due. >> Sure. >> Because I I don't think that we're asking teachers to work um in that manner. So, let me just double check that to ensure um that the date that the grades are due and the date that Power School rolls over the grades that's in alignment. But I do know um >> the end of semester >> that is definitely beneficial and and um again we can't say that it is the direct
029result but we will see um positive trend data in our endocourse test um that we'll see in a little while and whether that's a direct correlation or indirect >> that that that can be um interpreted but I know that there is data with our end of course test. Now, I would like to talk to um and I'd have no problem posing this question to our coaches. As a former winter coach and and just speaking on my behalf, we worked over the winter break regardless. Um as a basketball coach, as a softball coach, we worked over spring break. Yep. >> Um and and I so I can't necessarily say that there is a a positive or negative athletically in that aspect. Um we had practices regardless um during that time. Um our winter not winter, excuse
030me, our summer coaches probably, if I were to talk talk to our football coaches would be in favor >> because now your players, you're not searching for them being at a job. um they're more you're a football coach, they're more um available >> available. >> Uh so so again, it's probably trend data and ebing and flowing on both sides, but certainly we can get some more information to bring back um that may be more holistic to the points that you made >> and um nothing official, but just talking at the conference this weekend. Um the high school league is looking at that because there are so many more districts and I don't know a number of districts but that's something we can probably look into. >> There are probably more districts that are going modified
031that are not traditional and really the only one of our neighbors has done that for this year. Williamsburg County has done and I know several others. Um, but the high school league is also, like I said, it's not official yet, but they're looking into because so many sports, I mean, so many schools are going to the modified calendar. So, how that affects sports and schedules and obviously your competition if you're on modified and somebody's not. So, that that'll be of course coming down with all the other things going on with the high school league. So, that's you know, just one more thing, but that's a this discussion for a different day. The other the other thing just one more thing um and I'm just going to say this as a high school teacher and when
032I was teaching high school this is a dream calendar teaching you know we get done that that semester everything's done great you know all our exams are done the EOCC's done and we come back fresh I know that with middle and high school it's a little different because they've got the kids all year long but for high school it is so nice to come back you know that First, you come back fresh. You got new kids. They're done with what they had to do. Cuz over Christmas, much as you might love your and I'm going to use English because I can pick on that. Much as you might have loved your English class, but by Christmas, you're done. You want to come back and start fresh. So, that's a that's just, you know, that's just
033my speaking on behalf of the the um high school teachers and high school teachers. If I didn't speak wrong, right, about that, you can let me know. >> Miss Patty Well, I wasn't a fan of this calendar when we started, >> right? >> Um, obviously I voted against it. I was the only one up here that did at that time and that was not what I thought it was going to be at all. It was never to be about remediation. I questioned it very strongly and said, "If we're going to have it about remediation, then it needs to say that in the plan." and I was told no, that really wasn't the goal of the calendar. Now fast forward, I see with the state requiring attendance like it is that if we went to the
034calendar that had no built-in time for students to make up days on these off weeks, we would find that we were going to have some trouble with attendance because when you only have five days to miss in a semester and you get sick, There's got to be some time to make up. I am a proponent for us looking at ways. I know teachers do not want to be the ones that are on their back of doing the remediation during those off weeks. I'm I'm very honest about that. But I think we are going to have to come up with some remediation ways because otherwise we had these huge numbers in the summer. So, while that calendar that is on my desk right now isn't the one I would have chosen at the beginning, I see
035many benefits now. I see that our young people in the summer really don't take that much time off anyway when we have to do the summer programs and those kinds of things that are mandated by the state. I know that sports is going to have to make some concessions, especially about the football season because some of the kids get three extra weeks of morning and afternoon practices with those football coaches that our kids don't necessarily get. But at the same time, I also know as a parent and a grandparent that my children played all through every holiday there ever was. Uh, and so you gave that up as a parent in order to let your kids participate. My concerns are that we just don't go from one to another and back to another. I can
036see where teachers would find that very disheartening. Uh I have also talked to lots of teachers because I wasn't a fan and I became a fan because for them it was a break in time and they did not feel like they lost that whole time when students came back. They felt like they picked right back up and the kids did too. I'm a proponent of looking at ways that we can strengthen remediation as I was in the very first time we looked at this because I think our children definitely need some opportunities to be able to make up their seat time and make up their skill time. Miss >> uh as a parent who has two small children, when we moved here a couple of years ago, we had just started uh this type of
037calendar. Uh it and I'll be honest with you, it was very hard to adjust to uh because we went from Ory County to here and then we didn't know anywhere to have for after school for our children. you know, I was asking questions and I'll be honest, that first year was extremely hard and I'm not going to lie, I was walking around thinking, what in the world are they thinking? You know, but as we've been here, uh I will say I remember I actually already spoke to you about um making sure that our parents and our teachers have an opportunity to use South Carolina taxfree weekend. Uh I felt like that was very important. Even this last one, I was walking through uh Coastal Grand Mall and I saw sales that were posted just for
038that weekend. So, by this calendar starting after that, that gives our parents and our teachers an opportunity to save money. And for everyone, including myself, you know, that's important. And that even just changing that makes me feel as a parent that my money is valued. Uh, and that's very important to me because my money has to be stretched sometimes. So, if it comes down to saving $50 out of 400 I have to pay for my kids school supplies and their clothes, that's important cuz then I can put that towards my cell phone bill. Uh, and there's a lot of other parents uh who may be single parents. uh you know that's increasing now and we have to take into account that some of them have to do what they have to do and uh this
039provides more of an opportunity for our students to get what they need. So I thank you for having that and I know and I thank the committee. Um, I think as we have adjusted to this calendar, it is a lot better for the children because they don't get burnt out. Uh, it took us a while to get used to it, but once we did and we figured out the child care and we figured everything else out, I know my kids after a couple of weeks, they're like, "Oh, when do we get our next break?" And then with this, we have several next breaks so they can reset. And that helps them from being burned out. Uh as far as my only concern with that is as far as numbers uh you know attendance different things
040like that until we have other areas uh go to the modified will us staying with this actually interfere with parents who are willing to move here because it is a huge adjustment. So, if we're having to compete in test scores and funding for our teachers, and we have two counties on either side of us that have not started that yet, and they're the biggest ones, um, will that help us as a county grow as a school district. Um, and second, you know, it's just touching on it. It's a separate thing, but you know, we were talking about remediation and, um, I would just like to touch really quickly that I think we really should look at different ways to try and increase our, uh, attendance in schools. Uh, when I went to drop my children
041off, actually, I dropped them off and went back, I saw a line of parents that were late dropping their students off at the school. And I remember I was amazed because I saw at least nine cars and this was 10 minutes after school started. And I remember I walked in and I said, "Is this normal?" And they said, "Yeah, this is normal." And what's sad is that it's the children. It's not the elementary school children's fault. Uh we have to see if we can reach out to try and help our parents understand that that 10 minutes is important. Uh and that every 10 minutes that they miss subtracts away from their being able to get ready for the school day. But that is just my points on that. And thank you again for taxfree weekend.
042Other than that, I think, you know, the schedule actually looks great. >> They're not really going to be on tax-free weekends. >> No, they're not now. They will >> they will not be on this calendar because the Friday till Sunday isn't before. >> So taxfree weekend is the first >> first full weekend in August. >> Yeah. This this year it was the first. >> Yeah. But it won't be >> it won't be >> on either of these two calendars. >> Oh, it's not either because you're starting two weeks later than that. So, this at least allows teach or schools to get out their lists prior to this so they have them because the teachers are going to be back and have that organized cuz in the traditional situation it wasn't until later that tax-free weekend
043happened and then you get a generic list rather than the list that you possibly >> Okay, I understand. No, thank you. I read that wrong. Thank you for the correction. found one of the points that Miss Border brought up. >> One of the things that we've seen specifically mentioned to me multiple times over the last week was when we were trying to get the enrollment count for the district and we did the 10day count, then we went back and and we're continuing to check on that. Part of the problem we had was we had students that were trying to come into the district, specifically in the Waka cluster. We could not reach anyone to get their records for the purposes of the enrollment because the schools weren't open >> in other areas. What can we
044do if if this is the way we're going? Because again, I know I I keep hearing everybody's going to this calendar. Everybody's going to this calendar. I haven't seen it. I've seen Lex one. I've seen Lex 5. I've seen a couple of districts in the Florence County area. That's it that I've seen. You know, I'm I'm happy to to take points to the opposite, but what can we do to address that? Because if we're looking at a 10day this is where we start our count for enrollment purposes to prepare for what we've got to do, we're under a guideline now where we have to offer uh contracts out by I believe uh May, is it May 1st? May >> or May 30, I believe. Yep. >> Um, our budget process isn't usually done until the
045end of June, uh, June. We're starting teachers coming back the last week of July. There are consequences. There are unintended consequences to these decisions. And I don't see a plan to address that with just saying, "Well, let's stick with the calendar." Those are issues that I I I think are important that we need to find a way to address one way or the other. >> I would like to actually add to that one thing that was very hard was when we transferred from Ory County to Georgetown County. Uh it was 2 weeks earlier and we had planned on moving into our house. We didn't realize that it was this calendar. So if we're I had to call and get permission to basically because we had the contract ready. I had to drive my children from
046Myrtle Beach all the way to Andrews Elementary and pick them up every day because we were unprepared for the transit or for the transfer, but I would like to add that to it. Sorry, >> Mr. Walker. >> All right. Everybody's got some really good concerns and I think we need to look into all of them. We in our third year of this modified schedule and I think instead of us turning the trend in the middle that we go back and look at these concerns that you guys have. But in the meantime, I think we need to stay on track with what we have. And that's my concern. Let's just stay on track and >> be scheduled for the next two years. >> Mhm. >> Uh excuse me, ma'am. I wasn't done. Um but uh I
047think we just need to stay on track with where we are and uh go back and look at the concerns that you guys have. Mr. >> John, you got something to say? >> No, I was just saying these are for the next the coming years, not this year. >> No, ma'am. The current >> therefore we re we do have time >> to re-evaluate some of this before it's submitted. When does it have to be submitted to the state? By our board policy, we present it during this time so that it can be approved in advance. So, this is anformational item tonight. >> Okay. >> So, so that we can make the adjustments as necessary or take back any um concerns or suggestions that you all may have so that we can bring it back before
048you. also would like to say that the 10day count and I'm going to speak to that 10 days of count have always been problematic. Children from many places don't start school till after Labor Day and so we have always had students who came at a later time. But school districts that's a misnomer. School districts are open all year round. So if I register my child to come to your school, a school district from the sending school is there to send records. Sometimes it's a late entry into when I ask for those records that actually get them, but school districts are are there 12 months of the year. And so records do come with children. Now, if you're transferring a child in and you live somewhere else, you're going to have to get permission for the
049child to come. So, my concerns are not that the 10 days because we don't build our money on 10 days. We want to get our kids here in 10 days. We want them here day one. But the the problem with that specifically on these two instances were the records suggested when they came in that they should have been in a different class and it was too late to move them based on the way that the enrollment had been planned out. Again, not saying this was intentional. I certainly don't want to put you in front of the firing squad, but there are unintended consequences to decisions and I don't know that we have assessed all of the unintended consequences with this when we have an opportunity to address it. >> Thank you very much for the
050comments. Um, I'll just add and then we're going to move on cuz I want to go revise that. Um, I've spoken with a lot of educators and they love it. Uh so first thing I want to take in their consideration over of our parents because there's a responsibility as parents that we have to take care of. If we're making that move, we need to make sure that we cross our tees and do our eyes. Um but from what I'm hearing from the educators, they love it. Uh the majority that I've spoken with in regards to this right here, the remediation part of it certainly I would love to see improvement on that because when you talk about interfering with sports versus remediation time, guess what? I really don't care about sports that much when it
051comes to you getting your education. I think I came on the board with this position and my position still remains the same. There's no chance for me to give sports more consideration or equal consideration as to the academic part of um what it is that we're responsible for tax. And so um we thank you very much for your presentation. Uh you've heard from the board and uh if there is any adjustment that you can make, I'm sure you will. But I understand it that there's not a perfect calendar this one or the traditional one. So thank you very much. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Next, Miss Keebler will be doing presenting on policy DIA anti-fraud policy GCLE unencumbered time administrative rule ARG unencumbered time policy BDD live streaming of school board meetings. Miss Keebler.
052>> Good evening, Chairman Moore, Dr. Giles, members of the board. I'm going to log into the computer. >> Good evening. [Music] Miss Stucky, will you switch the My So, the first policy that I'm bringing before you tonight is a new policy for Georgetown County School District, and that is policy DIA anti-fraud um new federal sub uh so there's new federal regulations regard that uh about for sub awards that um eleas receive that stated that your um you had to have a whistleblower policy in place. If you had a fraud anti-fraud policy in place, you could add the whistleblower component to that anti-fraud policy. Upon review of our board policy, we did not have an anti-fraud policy. So, I found a model policy provided by the uh school boards association as well as policies from 10
053other school districts in the state and tried to take what was in the model policy and maybe beef it up a little bit more using common language that I could find across those 10 policies. So, that is what policy DIA anti-fraud is. It is to establish the basic structure for the prevention of fraud in the operation of the district as is stated at the beginning of the policy. Um the purpose of the policy is stated in the first four paragraphs. Um the scope of the policy is included within the main focus that I really wanted to hit on was um on page two the reporting procedures and the resolution of reporting incidents which is which is included here. Um you can make anonymous um report you can make report allegations of fraud anonymously to the
054superintendent or a member of the management team here at the district office as well as um you can contact the chief finance officer there. If an employee of the district is um found to be committing fraud, there are the uh process of uh the actions that can be taken on behalf of the district. And then specifically at the bottom of page two in the last paragraph is the whistleblower portion that we were supposed to be adding to an anti-fraud policy. We were given the exact verbiage that had to be put into our anti- um fraud policy and that is no person whistleblower will suffer any penalty or retribution for reporting in good faith any suspected or actual incident of fraud. This includes information reasonably believed to be evidence of gross mismanagement of a federal contract
055or grant. A gross waste of federal funds and abuse of authority relating to a federal contract or grant. a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety or a violation of law, rule, or regulation related to a federal contract, including the competition for or negotiation of a contract or grant. So, that was the specific verbiage that we did have to include in this policy. Um, the policy had to has to pass before the end of this year. It has to pass by the December 31st of this year. So that's why I'm bringing it for you before you now. So are there any questions on this? >> The whistleblower policy only applies to financial, not anything else. >> That's it. Okay. >> That's the only one that we were required to put in. >> Okay.
056[Applause] All right. So moving on. Okay. So, the next two that I'm going to talk about are unencumbered time policy GCLE and rule GCLE-R. Um, the state board of education updated the statewide policy regarding unencumbered time to include school nurses on August 5th, 2025. And this change was made due to the requirements of proviso 1.11 which is school nurses unencumbered time. It was part of this year's general appropriations act. Um the po the it does require that local school boards adopt any revisions of the statewide policy on unencumbered time into their local unencumbered time policy at a regularly scheduled board meeting. and that that unencumbered time includes school nurses. They've come forward and said that we have to do it within uh by again by the end of this calendar year. So what I've done
057is anywhere that it said like in the first paragraph I went in and added school nurses as an additional group of employees that would get unencumbered time. So, I've highlighted those areas in that policy where I just added or school nurses or just or just the word school nurses. The one difference is in the bottom of the first page on the policy. The only time a school nurse does not get unencumbered time is in the event of a medical emergency. I attended a legislative meeting last week and somebody said, "What is a uh a medical emergency?" And we were told that school nurses are medical personnel and they would know when it is a medical emergency that would deem them to not have unencumbered time. So I did the same thing with the rule and
058went in and added and school nurses. You'll notice in the rule for eligibility, it does define what a school nurse is. I kept the same regulations that it had um for a full-time teacher and then adding on through again the medical emergency would be the only reason that they would um not get the unencumbered time and school nurses who believe that their unencumbered time has been intentionally or improperly reduced. It does outline what they need to do. So, are there any questions on those that policy or that rule? The last one, oops, sorry, is policy BDD, live streaming schoolboard meetings. Again, another new policy for Georgetown County School District. The state board of education did adopt a model policy requiring live streaming of schoolboard meetings. Um, pursuant to the code that was adopted during the
059general assembly of the 2025 legislative session, within that policy adoption, it does state that each local school district must adopt a policy requiring the live streaming of schoolboard meetings within three months of the adoption of the state board of education model policy. The model policy by the state board of education was adopted in August. So, we have until November 5th of this year to adopt a live streaming policy. Again, that's why we're coming to you now with this policy. The one thing I wanted to point out is this is the model policy because honestly, I looked at every other district in the state of South Carolina and nobody had a policy already published. So, I used the exact verbiage from the model policy. And again in the legislative meeting that I attended last week, that's
060what we were heavily encouraged to do was to use that model policy. The one thing that I would like to point out is this was something that I didn't realize and I want to make sure that all of you realize this is where is this policy applicable? And that's the second paragraph. It refers to all meetings of the Georgetown County Board of Education, including but not limited to regular schoolboard meetings, special called schoolboard meetings, committee and/or subcommittee meetings, board workshops, budget workshops and/or hearings, andor public hearings. The only thing under you'll see under implementation that is continues to be excluded is it does not apply to lawful executive sessions. The model policy did include um what would happen if you did not adopt the policy, but we were advised last week that that those were
061consequences if we did not adopt by the November 5th date and did not need to be included in the policy. So again, this is the model policy that I have changed to add Georgetown County School District to it, but essentially it is the same thing. So does anybody have any questions about this one? Is there any way we could add uh some of the handouts to this policy or as far as what's presented here to make it available online as a part of that policy? >> I don't think I'm un like >> like the handouts uh whether it be the the slideshow presentations or any of those things. Is there a way that we could add that into this policy or adopt something to where when they're also live streaming, you know, from home, >>
062they can look at the what we're looking at. >> All right. So, the way that the live streaming Okay, I can I think I understand you want them to be able to pull the actual document up or see the document. >> Pull the document up or have have a link to where they can access those documents in real time. That is something that we can we can work on doing it. We would not adopt it in here. We would have to go in and revise our agenda, our policy with regard to our agenda. >> Okay. >> Right now, >> Facebook live stream. >> Mhm. >> And what we broadcast on our television information channels, it's we're all in this same room hearing the same thing, but we're not seeing the same thing. If you watch
063it on TV, um the booth is switching back and forth using the cameras in this room. So when you talk, it may show you, but if there's a presentation on the screen, that's what's on the TV screen. >> Of course, the way that we're streaming right now, >> that you can't do that, right? >> Moving forward, we are working toward where what we stream and what we put on our information TV channel will be the exact same thing. That same thing is what is going to then become the video on the website. >> Okay? >> Because the state is saying everything needs to be the same. >> Okay? >> So when I reference right now, if you're at home, it may be looking at me talking, but a minute ago when I was referencing a
064certain paragraph, that's what the people watching on TV were seeing was that actual paragraph. >> But if we want to make agenda items available, that would be a revision of the policy that with regards to the board agenda. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Any other questions? >> Okay, >> Miss Keeler. Thank you very much. >> Next, we'll hear from Mr. Walters and he'll be giving us a capital project five-year plan updates. >> As Mr. Walters is coming. Um just as a review um we discussed in our workshops our capital projects plans and and the key here is that this is an operations plan in which it entails um facilities and building needs. Specifically, this is a branch off of the original capital or or long range plan that started in 2015. After
065satisfying most, if not more than the uh needs in that plan, then it became a second part. And this is the 5-year plan that began in 2023. And um this is simply an update to see what we have done and and understand that we are just assessing where we are and monitoring and adjusting where we need to go. So this is simply an an an update to that existing plan. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh Mr. Vice Chairman, board members, Dr. Giles, good evening. Good evening. >> And thank you, Dr. Giles, for laying that foundation for the presentation tonight. So what we have here as Dr. Guile said and you see the marks in red is some things that have been done, some things that are in process and some things that uh are still
066underway. Uh first starting with the LED lighting upgrades. You can see the interiors uh all buildings have been completed. Uh most of the exteriors have been done. There's a few that have still in process. uh a lot of our exterior light features, light fixtures are actually rentals and so the maintenance and upgrading of those is handled by the power companies. Uh you can also see that some of our athletic facilities uh the gyms are done a lot of the fields are done and again it's an ongoing process. paint, interior corridors, hallways, and classrooms that pretty much every year forever. And so there there's a rotating schedule for it that uh facilities works with on that. Uh sometimes we have to make adjustments given circumstances. If one school's got more wear and tear than another, it
067may move up a little higher on the list. But you can see there what's been done. This was uh in the 23 24 year, and we'll show you some more of those in the slides that follow. uh exterior doors, Andrews Elementary and Walk High, those have been done on a as needed basis at this point uh with with problem doors being addressed by our facilities department. Uh I'm going to talk a little bit more about doors and hardware a little further in the presentation. The track storage building is underway. Uh we have gotten what what we had to do there. We we met with the school administration. We've determined a location, but we also determined their need is different from what some of the other schools have because they have very limited existing storage. So,
068what we're looking at for them is a 30ft by 50 ft metal building kind of off behind the shop area there. And it would have a big rollup door so you can get all that new nice track equipment, hurdles and such in there along with some other equipment they're having to store different spaces in the school now. and then also a a rollup door for it. So, we're envisioning there that that's going to be on a concrete slab uh 30 by 50 metal foot 30x 50 metal building. Uh no frills. It's not going to have uh water to it. We'll have electricity, lighting, and such for it. Uh so, we have got an architect under contract for it. uh procurement has gotten the specifications and now the architect is working on with the civil engineer
069to get the site plan laid out for it. So it's been entered in OSF and that project's underway. Interesting thing about storage buildings and and I still learn every day with this is that OSF is like the county building and zoning for school facilities throughout South Carolina and their standards a lot more stringent than what most people would expect. So, for instance, with a storage building, if it's bigger than 120 square feet, they have to be involved. That's a pretty small storage building. So, but understandably, they're worried about the safety of anything that our students might put their feet on, under, or around that they want to make sure it's going to be safe. Then the final item on this particular slide from that year was upgrading sound systems at those three schools and that
070was completed. 2425 the year that was just done. Uh about 10% of our uh work orders and there was between five and 6,000 last year were for doors and that was either just regular maintenance, repairs or adjustments on doors. So our facilities folks work very hard on those and replacements are made as needed. Uh again, paint every year. You can see the ones that were put on the list there. Next thing is a big ticket item and that's roof replacements. Um, now when we say on there for instance that we're requesting quotes, uh, let me let me explain that while we're getting quotes, that's for budgeting purposes, but a project of that magnitude will have to go through procurement and go out for bid. So that would just give us a working number. We really
071won't know until it goes out to bid what it would actually cost to do that. Uh we've actually had some struggle with some stuff putting out to bid because of competition with other places and trying to find folks that can do the work. So we've had a couple of things that we put out initially we did not get a bid on. And a quick example I'll give you is Rosemary Middle with the auditorium. So you know we found some structural stuff in one of our safety walkthroughs over there. um had our crew was able to go in do the demolition work cuz we couldn't find anybody to do it and then it was not a big enough project that anybody wanted to bid on it. So what we wound up doing there is working with
072our architect on that project is determining that uh what our folks could do in facilities maintenance versus the specialized work. And so we were able to limit that down to some specialized welding. So then by putting out that out for bid now we have the welder. We had the pre-construction meeting last Friday and then so that work will be starting shortly. Then our folks will go in and finish it up. So we're having to get a little creative with some of these projects. But mainly I want you to understand with with these big ticket items that there is a process that we have to go through. Flooring is also the other item on here. Uh you can see where we did a number of schools um last year. We've got some scheduled for fall. We
073hope to do Howard, for instance, in October. Uh we were working today on needs for uh some of our schools for this year and into next summer because another challenge we have is lead time on getting materials. Not only scheduling the installers, but making sure they've got the materials to do the work. Um again this this will be ongoing for some time for the current year. This is what I want to spend a minute and talk about when we talked about the door hardware earlier. So we recognize that we have a lot of door hardware that needs to be replaced. Uh, and going back and doing our own study now with this, we've determined that Georgetown High and the Career Center are the most urgent needs for door hardware. Uh, in fact, the doors at
074Georgetown High, we're going to have to replace the doors as well because they can't accept the current type of door hardware the standard to be used anymore. So, what we've done with that, uh, and then the other one on there besides the career center in Georgetown High is walking elementary and they've just got is that building's been added on to and over the years you got a whole bunch of different hardware sets. Uh, and they've got a ring of keys they're having to use. So, we want to get that one would probably be our second priority. So, what we did, the state has a $20 million school safety grant. Uh, locks and doors are the number one priority this year. So, working with State Department staff, we confirmed that this is a priority that could
075be up for consideration. Uh, so we have put in the grant. Uh, we would use funds that we have as listed here and try to get a match for it. So, it would be a little under $500,000 we're asking for in the grant. I think it's about $450 or so. And then we would match that with that because just those three buildings, the high school, the career center, and Walk Elementary along with some access control doors that are getting to be end of life, the the swipe card doors if you will. Uh that's pushing close to a million dollars just for those. So keep your fingers crossed. The grant application's been submitted. Uh the state board will take that up at their November meeting and announce uh who's going to get the money. Uh once
076again, more paint for corridors, hallways, and classrooms. Uh we're hoping to finish uh Georgetown High hallways during the October break, then get in the classrooms next summer. Uh and again, we're working on planning for the other three schools for next summer. Hback, I want to slow down for a minute and talk about that in a little more detail. In addition to two or three rooftop units at Pleasant Hill uh that we're trying to get quotes for, we've really got to look at moving up Walk Intermediate and Walk High. Walk High is listed for 2728 on this plan. But uh those units are dropping the intermediate school. I think it's all pretty much all original units that were put in that school. Uh for the folks here tonight and watching online, we have over 1,800 HVAC
077units throughout the district of various sizes and capacities. So it is a major investment and major upkeep involved. So we're going to go ahead and get uh quotes for Walk Intermediate, Walk High, and then see if that's one of the things, as Dr. G said, we may come back and maybe tweak the plan a little bit. And the last one on this page is it's time to start seal coating some driveways and parking lots again. And uh again, we try to do the work next summer, but we got to start now on getting the quotes and procurement and all in place to see if we can make that happen. And then you'll see on the next slide, we're looking at that for the uh elementary and middle schools for uh 2627. Again, always going to
078be paint work. And then the uh unique item on that is we're going to be looking uh at replacing the gym bleachers at Georgetown Middle and Rosemary. So those pieces of it, this is 2728. Again, uh Wakam High's HVAC. We're going to see if we can do that sooner rather than later. Um so we'll keep you informed with the updates on that. The other two things were in this and this was the original slide presentation that was developed a couple years ago. We just went back and put these notes in it. Uh the Carver's Bay High Pavilion uh as you know you recently reallocated those funds for athletic projects to be determined. So we'll be coming back with more on that as we get the stakeholders engaged. And then the Walk High softball fieldhouse uh
079again architect with that's hired initial drawings are done. The civil engineers now starting to do the work for the site work. So hopefully it won't be too long before we'll see some shovels turning some dirt over there. And let's see. I think that is pretty much what we had for you tonight. [Music] Any questions? >> Yes. >> Uh I have a couple as we're going through this. Uh the first thing that I would like to do is this is sort of a side topic um mostly towards Dr. Guiles. Uh in the future, you know, I would like to know like how we do our bid submitts. Um like how do we pursue people to place bids? Are we just posting them online? Um are we doing handwritten? Are we reaching out to different companies? I
080think if we can figure out a way to to receive, you know, more bids, and I'm not questioning anyone's ability here, I'm just wondering how we do it and if there's maybe a better process that we might could do uh to make sure that our, you know, things that we need responses to don't go for months without being able to start. Um, so that's the first thing I'd like to ask. Uh the second one is I would like to actually say thank you because during the safety committee that was a a huge subject that we talked about with like the doors and the hardware uh and making sure that you know we had everything working as functionally and as well as possible uh because it is our first line of defense in any event. Uh
081so thank you for looking into that and for making that a top priority. Uh, but I would like to ask, um, are we willing to look at different door types that meet all the requirements for safety that may cost less? Um, there were different, and I say that because there were different vendors and I know in different states there's different requirements. Uh, but I did meet a vendor who he was showing me the lock and the door and how it worked and he said it actually cost a fraction of the price to replace compared to traditional. Um, so I was wondering if maybe we could possibly look at different types as well. >> Certainly. And the thing about the grant is is that we we did not have to specify any particular type of hardware
082or doors. It was just pick the priority item you want to apply for. And then we also only had to use an estimate because they realized too that as we go through procurement that number could fluctuate either way. Uh we've actually I'll give you an example. A couple years ago, we got the grant for access control doors for our elementary schools. And uh when we got through with it, we actually had a little money left. So, we were able to go back and add a couple more doors not in the original grant. >> Right. >> So, uh yeah, all those options would be on the table just get that grant. >> Yes. And I have one more thing actually. We were talking you said there's 1,800 HVAC units throughout our district. Uh something else that
083I also saw was another vendor who had uh different type of software that could help uh the board as well as yourself. Um and you're doing a phenomenal job with the presentation, but is there a way that we can modernize uh a little bit more uh to keep up to date with what our facility needs are? Um, for example, the software that I witnessed, uh, had it broken down. You could physically see each school and they had the age and the wear and tear on each HVAC unit, each item inside. And I think that, you know, I would strongly recommend that we look at with how our 1,800 HVAC units, that's a lot. >> Well, and we do have something, I'm not sure if it's exactly what you're talking about, but we do have an
084energy management system that monitors the units. Uh it can tell us temperature range in the room, the humidity. Uh >> I believe I actually met that vendor, but I'm talking about another vendor who um it's just a software that helps create reports that board members also can see in real time. Uh you know, as we're presented these different things so we can be aware of what's going on. And it it's just phenomenal what I saw. And I just feel like that's something maybe we can look into to make it easier for us to understand uh as well as um make it more efficient and easier on you. >> Absolutely. >> Any other questions? >> Thank you very much, M. Walter. >> Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Miss Forest in regards to our 2024 2025
085data overview. [Music] >> Hey. All right. [Music] Okay, good evening uh school board and uh Superintendent Guiles. Um hot off the press, we are ready to share our spring 2025 uh state assessment re results. It's an overview. Uh they came they were released part of them were released today at 10:00. So we have been hard at it. So I always start with the mission and vision. Why are we here and why does data matter? Uh again our mission is to provide all students with worldclass knowledge and skills that prepare them for citizenship in a diverse society and our vision is every student will be prepared for success in their chosen pathway. So it's where our northstar is and where we're moving to and why data is so important. So again, today um the release of
086SE Ready, our end of course, and SC Career Ready, those were released around 10:00 a.m. this morning. You'll see some additional data that will be coming out um either this month or next month. Uh with the final being our school report cards that will be embargo data will be released next week and then again public release will be about mid uh October. So what does SE ready assess? It assesses ELA and math in grades 3 through eight. Our trend data, if you look at it for 3 through 8 for ELA with South Carolina, you will see that we are a little bit below, but you also will see that we were are trending the same or pretty close to the same as South Carolina as a whole. Uh, and also interesting to be able to
087see that we are closing the gap between South Carolina and Georgetown. So, you'll see the red line is getting closer to the blue dotted line. And then this data is ELA 3 through 8, but broken out by each grade band. So, grades three, four, five, and they're colorcoded. You'll see trend data from 2022 to 2025. ELA has been on an upward trend. We have a couple of grades. They still increased a little, but um maybe not as as high as some of the others, but there are some that that stand out quite a bit. Our SE ready trend for math, again, 3 through 8, you'll see the trend from 22 to 25. South Carolina as a whole is the dotted line and Georgetown is the red line. Again, upward trend. Um we were closing the
088gap. It's a little bit bigger uh now, but that is a focus for us as a district. Um still still upward trend. We like that. And then again broken up in three through eight. Give you a second to look at that. So areas quickly that you can see that are on an upward and then a couple of areas that you see might be a downward but again uh addressing those as we speak. And of course, examination program or EOCC's as we call that measures high school credit core courses in algebra 1, biology, English 2, US history, and the constitution. You'll see this data uh broken out by each assessment. Algebra 1, biology, English 2, and US history. You see the data from 2021 to 2025 and all are in a nice upward trend especially from
0892024 to 2025. And then our next piece of data is career readiness. Uh students are assessed in um 11th grade and this uh test is administered to all 11th grade students to measure the most common skills that employers define as foundational for career readiness. The four key areas are math, reading, data, and soft skills. And you'll see here the trend data from 23, 24, and 25. Uh Georgetown compared to South Carolina. Um, and there is a little a small downward trend, but it's also not just Georgetown, it's in South Carolina as a whole. Um, and a lot of these um skills are embedded in some of the coursework that they are taking. So, uh, it would be what what students would see in in their work. So, soft skills could be being able to problem
090solve. um you're given a scenario and you have to find the best solution as opposed to the worst solution. Um and so it's really about those life skills for students. So next steps for us so I always say so what now? What you have the data so what now? What are we going to do about it? So it's just been released today. So, we really want to be able to dive in deeper as a district looking at, you know, uh, teasing out all of the data, also allowing our schools to have that time to tease it out as well. We've been working with our school-based leadership teams, uh, with their strategic plans. And so, this is uh, additional data to be able to use in their uh, comprehensive needs assessment in order to uh, update
091goals, revise or um, update their strategic plans. our district team is working side by side with each of those leadership teams to be able to to help with that work. The other is looking at that trend data and and determining not only as a school but as a district what additional professional learning will we need to provide uh to our teachers and our leaders in order to continue to move that data forward. And so that's short and to the point like me. And any questions? Go ahead. Oh, I have some observations. >> Ah, I call that noticing and wondering >> maybe. >> All right. >> Recommendations or suggestions. >> I crunched the numbers. I spent some time today crunching the numbers a little bit differently as they were displayed on the charts. And I'm not
092sure it's the best way of looking at the data because we seem to be comparing like what did the fourth grade this year do compared with the fourth grade last year. And I'm not sure we're comparing apples to oranges there. It sounds like we may be. So what I did I I tried to do it longitudinally. >> You found >> here they were in the sixth grade and they were in the fifth grade. >> Yes. And I came up with some very interesting numbers. Um for instance uh if you look at the math scores which are really >> you on slide 12. >> Pardon? >> Are you on slide 12? >> He's not on any slide. >> He's in data that that he kind of crunched himself. >> Yeah. I so I I I looked
093at for instance the grades of what was the grades in seventh grade then what were the grades so in 2025 they were in seventh grade in they were in sixth grade >> sixth grade yeah >> so forth so the only group that went up at all was in eighth grade, which I guess is a good sign. So, when they were in the sixth grade, their math uh proficiency was 28%. So, they've moved up to 32%. It's not a big gain, but it's positive. >> Every other grade, the seventh grade, when they were in the fifth grade, was 35%. In the sixth grade, they dropped to 28. In the seventh grade, they remained the same at 28. >> The sixth grade, when they were in the fourth grade, they were at 45%. The next year in
094the fifth grade, they dropped to 38. >> And then the sixth grade was currently 33%. And it just So, the only positive trend in math was our eighth graders. And I don't I don't even know why that is. Everybody else in that cohort has been losing ground. And a little bit of the same is true in ELA. The positive news for ELA if when you do the cohort the longitudinal um is the fourth the fourth grade when they were in the second grade there wasn't any data on them. when they were in the third >> state assessment starts in third grade, >> right? >> When they were in the third grade, they were at 50%. And they've increased to 60%. So that's really good news. Same happened with the fifth grade. They've gone from 45%
095in the third grade to 58% in the fifth grade. Third grade, we don't have any data except for current and that's 55%. seventh grade they went up from 42, but they dropped. This is kind of strange. They were 42% in the fifth grade. They went up to 50% in the sixth grade, but they're back to 45% in the seventh grade. And the others are down uh uh sixth grade, they went from 50% in the fourth grade to 45% in the fifth and 48% in the sixth. And eighth grade went from 45% in the sixth to 50% in the seventh and then has dropped down to 45%. So um I would I'd love to see the data. >> Right. So we we do do that. So in the next steps where we said we would dive
096deeper for today. This was just an overview considering the the data was you know released at 10. We wanted to make sure you all had something to look at. We will also be receiving additional data coming in with the the school grades and then that deeper dive as a district that we will do also as schools is that so we look across and then we also look at um the cohort. So that's where we tease it out. We'll also be looking at subgroup data. Um we'll be looking at different grade bands, content areas like we will be taking the deep dive. The purpose for today was just to be able to give you that overview, but we we will be diving into all that. Yep. >> So, I as a I'm speaking for me me
097only, but as a board member, I'd love to see the deeper dive. >> Yep. >> And I'd love to see it broken down by school because I always have a hard time as a board member knowing what to what conclusion to draw from from the general data because all the trend lines look positive. But depending on how you run the numbers, they're not. And I'd also like to see a breakdown by school. Yep. >> The cohort study in the schools. Yep. >> As they move through, >> others might find it boring. I'd find it very interesting. >> I don't know how data can be boring. >> That's all the work that we do, sir. It's not boring. It is. It is certainly our goal. And um just to validate what Miss Forest said, this was
098just a bird's eye view overview to corroborate what um the press release, what our state superintendent um Ellen Weaver um stated in her press release. This was just to confirm that, but certainly our work is nowhere near finished. Um we do celebrate the positive trends. Um and we recognize that there are some gaps and some areas we need to focus upon but we will not uh lessen our celebration for for the gains we have made while at the same time working and maintaining our focus. Our focus is on achievement acceleration and continuous improvement. So we look to show that to you in the next steps um along with um analysis of where our data trends are in grade levels specific to what they're doing in those grade levels. Um one conversation very quickly that we
099had today was at what year were all of the standards changed. we noticed that there was a a variance an e and flow when the standards changed but yet after a couple of years we got our flow back. So there there are v different variances um that we'll be glad to share um and and you'll probably hear us talking very deeply about academic achievement. >> Good. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, Miss Forest. Y >> any other questions? >> Thank you very much, Mr. Forest. Welcome. Next, we'll have a school board association and our school law conference update from Miss Kathy Anderson. >> Okay. This when did we go? Last weekend. The 23rd. The August 23rd 24th. Um, four of us, uh, Mr. Cox, Mr. Moore, um, myself, and Mr. Deose attended the South Carolina School
100Boards Association, the school law conference in Charleston. Um and just a little bit of background information that um it's an annual conference and it brings together schoolboard members, administrators, legal professionals. I put my hands down um from across the state. All right? So it's everybody in South Carolina. Um just to discuss issues in education law. Um we participated in several uh programs that experts lead um on legislative updates, policy implementation and best practices in school governance. Um there's lots and lots of networking opportunities um which is one of the reasons we enjoy going to this. Oh, I forgot about Dr. G. She joined us on um Saturday. Sorry, but she was there also. um and just to share insight and to discuss different trends and different things that are going on and how that can
101help us um across the state and the state, you know, help us what we need to do here in Georgetown County. So, I'm just going to go a general overview of what we did. Um I've given you all just kind of a summary of what um we looked at and if y'all have when you go through this, if you have any questions, you can let me know. So the first general session we all attended was supreme decisions what this term means for public education. Um and the speaker was the executive de director of a national school attorney so association and um one of the things she mentioned was that there have been 191 executive orders since January 20th since we had a change in administration. Five of those cases went before the Supreme Court that
102have affected public education. And I'm not going to read all of these, and if some of you out there want to know, I can send those to you. But it's Mund versus Taylor, uh, Drummond versus Oklahoma State Charter School Board, AJT versus AIO Area Schools, Independent School District, um, Federal Communication Commission versus Consumer Research Schools, Health and Libraries, Broadband Coalition. Um, so basically they deal with parents opting out. Um the one was a 504 plan and of course the broadband. All right. Um another session we uh attended was protecting against data breaches, insights into legal protections related to student records and with all of the data and all of the things going on. We need to be and I know our district is very cognizant of data breaches and those kind of things. and um
103he reviewed Doug Webb is a general counsel for Greenville County School District and he went over laws governing school privacy. So FURPA and COPA which we kind of just learned that um >> yeah an acronym and then um the PP which is protection of pupil rights and FOYA. Um and then there are breakout sessions and we kind of split it up. Each one of us went to a different one or two different ones because they're someone Saturday and someone Sunday. No. Yeah. Um or Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Um so the two I attended were avoiding the $10,000 fine. What you need to know about the South Carolina Ethics. As elected officials, we have to file with the Ethics Commission quarterly. And there's lots of data and lots of stuff that you know basically we
104have to do and things you have to follow with ethics. And again, if those are some specifics that you all need to know, you can ask. Um, artificial intelligence in education, um, implications for school districts. Y'all, AI is here and it's it's a wonderful and terrible thing. Um, so that that's and I'm still kind of wrestling with a lot of that of how we deal with AI within the schools. Um, one of the things that um, they spoke about is that we probably need to look at some different um, platforms for our AI. So, you know, an an English teacher at Wakama High is using this. At Andrews High, they're using something different. Because if you do that, um, if people are doing it personally, then you're going back to maybe student information that you're
105putting into different platforms and some of course have firewalls that are stronger and so we don't want our student student data being breached. So, those are things that, you know, just more things for us to do down the line. Um, one of the things, um, another of the breakout sessions was understanding the role of board members and employment matters. I don't remember who went to that, but um, checklist to prevent foyer lawsuits for board members, high stakes and high level investigations of misconduct and legal options for dealing with dangerous students. Um, and if you all want to comment on any of those that you attended, you can do that. Um and then the general sessions that we went to on Sunday morning. Um protecting kids online, a lawmakaker's fight for accountability and awareness. Um and
106I've got parenthesis Gavin's law and those of you who are familiar with Gavin's law. This was very emotional. It was very emotional for me. Um but South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffy spoke about online safety for minors. In 2022, his son Gavin died by suicide after falling victim to an online sextorion scam. Um, and their tragedy led to the passing of Gavin's Law, which is a landmark South Carolina legislation that criminalizes sexual extortion and mandates that schools educate students and parents about the threat. So, those of us in the schools are very familiar with that. Um, that we have to do that. um the education scholarship trust fund act and constitutional challenges and legal implications. Um there was a professor of law Derek Black that he spoke on this the South Carolina Trust Fund Act
107and legislative revisions um this year to reinstate and expand payments for private school scholarships following the Supreme Court's ruling of that was that it was in unconstitutional. So, they've been working out some things so they can kind of work on the voucher program. And there's a lot of information in that in numbers. You would have enjoyed the number part of that, um, Scott, cuz you know, Scott's our number guy. Um and then um the last thing we talked about which we have already gone through that are the um 2025 K through2 legislation and what we need to know but everything that Christy talked about those were the things that um they brought up to us and that we would have to work on those policies which of course we are. So, we're pretty much up
108to date. And that was very quick. And like I said, if anybody wants more information, um, you can talk to me or, you know, talk to one of the fellas who went. >> Thank you very much, Miss Kathy. Mr. Bull, you want to add anything? >> You want to add something? anthem. >> Um, well, on the I went to the foyer and what I learned there, because everybody that I've talked to, if they get a foyer request and they get into individual board members cell phones, the question is always, how do you protect privacy, your own privacy for things that you've got on your cell phone? Who looks at it? you know, how how do you distinguish between private and that? And the good news is there are ways to protect your private data that
109they they have ways of callulling it out so no one ever gets into stuff that had nothing to do with whatever the foyer request is uh asking for. Um, I will say I was a bit I went to the one on um legal options for dealing with dangerous students. I was very hopeful to find some legal options for dealing with them. And what I came out of there and I was trying to find the overheads to make sure I heard everything right. And Kathy just told me where I can find them. But it seemed like there were all kinds of restrictions and laws about that kind of held people back from dealing with these folks. And it really disturbed me because it sounded like the law was basically trying to protect I can understand due
110process and everything else but it seemed like the the law was in favor of protecting the 5% or whatever it was to the disadvantage of the kids that are in school to learn and aren't creating a a problem. But um that's what I walked away with and I could be wrong but that's I wasn't too happy at the conclusion of that workshop and I could just go on and I'll say a lot of what they said but I won't was just one thing I would say to the board uh one of the key phrases they said for board members uh is I will forward it on to our administrations. So whenever we get a complaint out in the community, in the public, what they're saying, our best response is is that I will forward it
111on to our administration, it is not the board's responsibility, our job to go and do investigations on our own. Uh if we find ourselves doing that, uh we're going to mess up the whole due process process. Uh because now we've happened to recruit ourselves because we went and did our research. we've had to we've got to trust our administration for to get our evidence from to consider whenever we're dealing with a particular situation. So, uh other than what Kathy and uh Scott said, uh that was one of the thing I thought was uh good for me to hear as well. And Dr. Goss, I'm not sure if you want to share anything. It was just great to be there to be able to interact and hear the same message that you all hear so that
112I my direction um from you all I'm in alignment and we're in alignment ultimately with what our mission and vision of Georgetown County School District is. But even more importantly, we're in compliance with our policy and and the direction we're taking. So, we we definitely got some great next steps and I felt good about the reassurances we we got in in terms of steps we're making and like you said, Mr. Deose, to kind of um corroborate that. Um we are moving in the right direction in terms of our disciplinary procedures and making sure that we are following all of the rules, the procedures, um things of that nature when we are dealing with disciplinary issues. So again, thank you all for allowing me to join you and and to hear, partake, and to learn. >>
113And I just want to just add that I don't know, I'm very thankful that we're able to do this. Um just talk, you know, it was nice to see some former employees that were a little not happy that they've gone on, but they've left us, but they're doing some things. So that was nice. Um and just you know the whole networking thing where we talk to people and you you know you get different perspectives and some things you think you know there are days that we look at things and we think oh my goodness you know what are we doing here and then you talk to other boards and you're like wait you know we're we're doing pretty good we're doing great here because you know there are some things going on and it and
114it makes you feel good to know that you know we're all in the same boat although we we're in different parts of the boat. So >> well thank you very much Miss Kathy Mr. Will Dr. G. >> We will now move to our action items. Uh personnel list has been presented by Mr. Ku Kalu Jr. The administration recommends approval of the personnel list as presented. May I have a motion? >> Second. >> It's been moved and probably second. Any discussion? >> All in favor please say I. >> I. >> Any opposers? Thank you very much. Motion carry. Policy JF, student rights and responsibilities, presented by Miss Christa Kever. The administration recommends second and final reading approval of policy JF as presented. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved
115and properly second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposers? Thank you very much. Motion carries. The administration recommends second and final reading approval of policy JFA as presented. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly seconded. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> Any opposers? Thank you very much. Motion carried. The administration recommends first and final first and final reading approval of file JFF-E as presented. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposers? Thank you very much. Motion carry. The administration recommends first and final reading approval of file JDA-E as presented. May I have a motion? >>
116So move. >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposers? Thank you very much. Motion carry. And finally, the administration recommends the first and final reading approval of ARJED-R as presented. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposer? Thank you very much. The motion carries. We now open the floor for comments or requests from the board members or superintendent at this time. Well, I'm going go first tonight then. Uh, >> first I'd like to um say on Friday night we was having some technical difficulties at the Carver Bay football game and I want to thank Dr. Gaus and Mr.
117Mike Johnson and I can't remember the gentleman name from the >> SB. SB Mr. Espie. They took time out from their supper table to come out and see what they could do to remedy the problem. And just want to let you guys know that those efforts does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. So, we appreciate that effort very much and just want to make sure I put that out there. I didn't uh uh thank Miss Melissa Jefferson Wooden at the last meeting, but she is continuing to do great thing in track and field and just want to bring some recognition to her as well. Let her know that we're very proud of her. >> And to Dr. G uh Sheriff Carter and Chief Pierce. I want to thank you guys along with Mr. Jerry uh for
118coming back to the table and for us having a healthy, productive discussion. So, want to thank you very much. And to the Carver Bay Middle School, they uh had their uh Beta Club induction and they took the risk of inviting me to take a picture with them. Hopefully, I did not break their cameras. We certainly want to let them know that I was very proud to be there. love seeing the kids uh grow academically and it was a great time just to see 45 kids being inducted into Beta Club. So, congratulations and kudos to them. Dr. Anyone else? >> I I've got a couple things. I want to echo Chairman Moore's uh comments about uh and express thanks to both Chief Pierce and Sheriff Weaver. Uh along with Dr. Guile, uh I I agree. I
119thought it was a very productive meeting. Uh I One of the focal points that I've always tried to stress is building those and fostering those partnerships in the community. >> And the two of them came to the table uh and and strengthened I think our partnership together uh to to do what we can for the betterment of our students and for the community at large. And kind of uh just extrapolating from there uh the YMCA today uh in Paul's uh opened up and and distribute or I guess uh had a u a little bit of a showing of the new Ripcurren uh simulator. Uh and there is a uh beginning of a partnership with the Intermediate School of Wakama uh to uh kind of test it out and see. Uh I'm sure we all remember
120uh a little over a year ago uh we lost a student in the Wakama cluster and uh I it I would like to prevent that from happening again. Uh so uh I want to put a plug in for the YMCA at uh at the Poly Island location. uh they are going to have available uh family uh uh lessons as well as what we're doing with the intermediate school to make sure that we can save as many lives and promote water safety as we can. So >> I want to commend uh Miss Jesse Walker and uh Georgetown High School alumni for just staying steady and believing in what you believe in. and um keeping all the hope and love alive that you have for that school because I see it every day. Uh people like yourself
121and your peers um have been around as a kid as long as I've been leading children and to see you guys stay with it the way you do uh that means a lot and that shows your love and concern. Thank you. I would like to thank everyone who has been here tonight and I really enjoy our conversations that we have. You know, sometimes it just takes basic conversations to show the people who are watching uh the people in the audience that we are listening um and that we're willing to bring it, you know, to the table. And even if it's just identifying small things, you know, I think that for Georgetown County School District is great. uh and we can continue to pursue being even greater uh by conversations, different perspectives uh and being able
122to look at all different sides to see if we can come together to create solutions. Uh and I think that's what as a board that's what we're supposed to be doing. Uh so thank you to the board members. Thank you for the presentations and the effort everyone has put together for us tonight. Uh I know that that takes lots of time. Uh, and thank you to the families and the staff and the students um who comprise our entire school district. So, >> thanks very much. >> I'd like to thank the presenters tonight, too. It's very informative and we do have to stay on top of everything. You know, our board is uh evolving all the time. And that being said, I would like to us to look at getting uh you know uh monthly reports
123uh concerning updates with the capital improvements as well as anything that we need to be updated on security or any new things that we need to be aware of concerning concern cons concerning security because right now that's Paramont. I think it's on everybody's mind in light of some of the things that have happened recently. And academics is absolutely the top on the list. But second on our list is security if not level with academics because we're responsible for that. So, I would like to ask our board to um provide us with updates on an ongoing basis, whether it be monthly or what have you, on any issues that arise that we need to take action on. And um and because we've got all the eyes out there looking and somebody may see something that we're
124not looking at specifically that we need to bring to attention. Also, I did notice that um Ory County is now looking at an AI system that would assist teachers. Uh it I forgot the name of it. I think it's Millie or Rosie or something like that, but it is a teacher aid system and uh it would help teachers with evaluations and setting up plans. And I hate to admit it, but I use AI myself. >> Oh, you can use it. That's Yeah. No, I use I use it also. >> Well, and there is a good, the bad, and the ugly. >> Yes, there is. >> And so, we have to embrace some of the good and look at it and see where it can be used to help us. Um, and I do know that
125we have changed standards. Uh, and so I would hope that maybe some of these new standards will improve some of our scores and we'll we'll look at the academics, but that's going to take a while for that to roll out and um that's to be seen to be judged later. So, but I do want us to keep on top of this our safety and our capital improvements because I do know that as Miss Borgner said, you know, air conditioners are expensive and if we had a roll out on that and we had a system that we could look at, uh that way we could be prepared and have a side budget to be set aside for a reserve for these extra cost. Thank you very much, Dr. G. >> Thank you, Chair Moore, Vice Chair
126Walker, members of the board. Um, we thank our district administration and all members of team GCSD. We hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend. Um, we are well on the way now. We're arriving at one month into the school year. Um, today our state assessment data was released. We shared um the gains that we have made in several grade levels in ELA and math. We also note several areas that we need to improve upon. Um but I do want to salute our entire team for the work they did on last year to contribute to our overall performance. We have obstacles that confront us post pandemic, but we are laser focused and I repeat laser focused on achieving more together. Um, I also want to thank, as you all stated, our local law enforcement, specifically
127Sheriff Weaver and um, Chief Pierce for coming to the table with us. I do want to salute our district administrators, our school administrators, our um community for coming to our previous table so that we can all create what is best for these homecoming experiences, but ultimately to have a safe plan for the overall activities and events. Um, we look forward to celebrating our students, past and present, and recognizing the school pride that exists in Georgetown County School District. On this week, we do know several of our schools, especially our elementary schools, will be celebrating grandparents. So, we encourage um even the non-grandparents, I think, attend some of these school lunches. So, certainly, you're welcome to attend. and we recognize and salute those grandparents that have such a integral part in our students lives. So salute
128to them and we hope that everyone continues to have a great week. >> Thank you very much, Dr. Goss. >> If there's no further business, may I get a motion to adjourn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> It's a move and probably second. All in favor, please say I. >> I. I'm sure there's no opposes. Motion carry. Meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much.