001If you'll stand for a very brief invocation that will be followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Heavenly Father, with gratitude and humility, we recognize your presence with us. And we humbly beseech you to grant us discernment, peace in turmoil, hope in discouragement, and joy in the everyday ups and downs of ordinary everyday life. Amen. 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. Thank you. You have before you the minutes as they appear in your packet. Are there any additions or corrections you wish to make? Hearing none, the chair is requesting a motion to accept the minutes as so presented. I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from February 16th meeting. Thank
002you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, ma'am. Likewise, the agenda as it appears in your packet. Are there any additions or corrections you wish to make to the agenda? Hearing none, the chair recommends request a motion to approve the agenda as so stated. >> [snorts] >> I'll make a motion to approve the agenda for March 16th, 2017. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Second. Thank you. Hearing no public input, Yep. Yes, sir, I sure do. [clears throat] All those in favor say I. I. Opposed, motion carries. Hearing and seeing no public input requested, uh Miss Mandy Salter will represent the board tonight as Dr. Crockett presents to us the heart of the Hornet. All right. Good evening, everybody. It's great to see you. Thanks for being here. Uh we got some
003wonderful accomplishments that we'd like to recognize uh this evening. Uh we had a All-State Classic. Uh we had two participants from the same school uh to be able to to represent our our district in that All-State [snorts] Classic. I I don't remember um some of our our our athletes being recognized for for that tournament in the past, so this is a very unique. It recognizes very young prospects that are coming through. Um and and additionally, I'll share this too just to share how impressive it is um you know, I had I had rushed from a meeting to go check out one of our games, our varsity games. And um as I was as I was coming in the door, it was I believe it was tied, and I saw Bella Davis, she had hit a
004hit a three-pointer right right on cue as soon as I walked in the door. Uh the the the other opposing team comes down, and we have Selena had stole the ball, runs down, wide open, makes a layup, steals the ball, makes another layup, and seven points within just a matter of of seconds, which turned out to be the turning point in that game. It's not unusual for eighth graders, especially in small schools, to see the court, but something that I don't recall is seeing two two eighth graders in starting roles. And and so that is extremely impressive. They are fun to watch. And so tonight, I'd like to recognize Bella Davis and Selena Tims one for their accomplishments this season, but also to recognize them for their selection to the South Carolina All-State Classic, which
005took place this weekend, and I heard they had a wonderful time, and actually even built some confidence knowing that they can even compete at that that at that level. So very proud of them, very proud of their family, so I'd love to recognize them at this time right up here, and Miss Mean, you'll join me too, that'd be great. All right, ladies. >> [applause] >> All right, everyone is all right. Excellent. Great job. You'll have a lot of fun to watch for a long time. Wow. Great article in the paper. Loved it. A lot lots to be proud of. >> Great girls. Um I'd also like to recognize someone else that's very special to our district, and and sometimes we see battles on the court, we see battles, and we see achievements in academics, and
006we celebrate those frequently here. Um but tonight, just as important is I'd like to recognize one of our fourth graders, Kaylee Bustos, for her her battle with with cancer and overcoming that. And so just a a very uh special family. I know that there was a lot of hospital visits. I know there was a lot of appointments. I know there was a lot of treatments, and I know a lot of concern. Um but she showed us and continues to show us the determination and and the fight to be able to um um inspire all of us with her actions. So very very proud of her, and very very excited for her family, and just a special moment that we wanted to recognize her for for her hard work and what she's been doing here lately.
007So Kaylee, if you would, would you come up, and I'd love to to recognize you and your in your family. I'll get a one with her, and then I would love a a family photo as well afterwards if that's okay. Come on UP HERE, KAYLEE. >> [applause] [applause] >> I'LL GET THE THING IN THE BACKGROUND. >> [snorts] >> ALL RIGHT. ALL RIGHT, MOM, DAD, FAMILY, come on up, too. Yes. Ready, everybody? There we go. All right, WE'RE GOOD. >> [applause] [applause] >> THAT IS A VERY SPECIAL THANK you for being here. Parents, if you'd like to exit stage left, you're welcome to as well. This is a great transition time. If you'd like to stay, Coach Webb, thank you for being here as well. All our family members, it's been a great season, first home
008playoff game in a very long time, and so he's doing an outstanding job for us. So thank you for supporting our players as well. So it's great to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. The chair will now defer to Dr. Crockett for superintendent updates. Absolutely. Thank you. Um there is so many great things taking place around our district. I'm so encouraged. The the fire is burning, and and I'll tell you, there's lots of people doing lots of great things, and I'd love to share some of those with you today, and also to bring up bring you up to speed on a few of the projects that we have going on around campus. Our our campuses. Um uh in our um when as we go go through, you know, this year, we have
009we have continued to have this motto, this theme, and that there's a commitment to excellence in all that we do. And so we're starting to see that. We've always seen that, but a couple things within the just the the past couple weeks since we met, we were able to have Aubrey Jackson. She she attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting with HR directors from the area. That was that was a a neat experience for for both of us. Of course, we had the Beta Club induction for our fourth grade and our fifth grade, expanding that. I'm really enjoying seeing that, especially for Shoals Primary, to expand the opportunities there and for kids to um experience success at that level. That was a sharp-dressed young man. I couldn't couldn't pass up an opportunity. I said, "I might
010need to borrow that suit someday." >> [laughter] >> So, he was a uh handsome representative [cough] there. And then also just even just last week, the recognition of our teachers of the year by the Rotary Greenwood Rotary Club. And that was always a wonderful event. We appreciate their support in in in putting that on. Uh I want to bring your attention to something that often goes unnoticed and rightfully so. Uh just recently, we had a a visit from the South Carolina School Boards Insurance Trust. And one of the important components is our ability cyber security, our infrastructure, our networks, our strength um because we have a lot of data that's here. And we need to protect it. And we have reports of ransomware across the state. And so, they will do these audits. And our
011district Greenwood District 51 had received the highest grade, which is an A. Uh in the chart, you're able to see where our district had had stood with a 91% and our 91 grade, but you can see that the average is a high C for schools across the state in our industry. And so, we're well above what the industry standard is is trending. And just very very proud of Mr. Armstrong and his dedication to stay ahead of things. And just just really Of course, we always want to be on guard. We're always looking to refine our our protocols. But to have that sense of of um you know, pride that what we're what we're doing is working. And so, in fact, Eli Graham, who was who uh conducted that visit, had mentioned that this is one
012of the higher scores that he's seen. And so, that's very very encouraging news. Definitely worthy to be shared during this update. I also wanted to share that uh we're from the South Carolina School Improvement Council that all of our schools continue to be compliant through the 25-26 school year, which is great. We appreciate the principals keeping up with that. As far as personnel updates, we want to welcome Brandon Sitton, who's doing an outstanding hit the ground running and doing a great great job for us already and excited about about the skill set that he can bring to our district. Um for our principal vacancy, I kind of wanted to share some of the things that we've been doing to keep you keep you aware of that. We had posted that to the South Carolina the
013Association of School School Administrators. And that goes out to all administrators across the state in a job blast every Friday. So, we advertised that that very that well. Um so, everyone's receiving information about that vacancy. We of course, we pushed out "Will You Be Our Principal?" which was which was a video that we created. It was It was viewed over 22,000 times. And and many of the applicants that we've received have indicated that they had seen that video on social media and had a positive interaction with it. Uh we also posted it on our district website. And also, we were active recruiting, not simply just waiting to see who is who was um uh wanting to apply. We were making sure that individuals were well aware of this of this position. And and so, this
014is a timeline of where we see ourselves. Um of course, on February the 16th, Ms. Tyra in our last board meeting was selected as Director of Student Services. Two days two days later, that principal vacancy was posted on our website and pushed out to the job blast at SCASA. On the 23rd, "Will You Be Our Principal?" that video was released. On March the 12th, the principal search committee was was formed. March 16th, including this morning, the principal search committee was screened applicants. We're looking at conducting interviews as early as towards the end of this week. And we hope to have a recommendation very very soon for for that principal position. And so, we are working very very diligently. We're working very very hard on on trying to find Ware Shoals High School Ware Shoals High
015School's next next leader and building administrator. So, I'm very proud of the work that's going into this and and it'll be exciting news soon to come. I also want to bring your bring your attention to our current vacancies. You can see that our certified vacancies at this point. Um we have filled many of our retiree positions. Um and with with certified and highly qualified individuals. Um we also have our one current certified vacancy is the high school principal. Uh we do have our finance supervisor that we're working diligently through. We conducted some interviews already this week on that or last week. Uh we have food service manager at the primary school. We're always looking for some bus drivers. And we are working on doing some um some adjustments internally to fill that transportation manager director's
016position, which we will talk about when we get to the contract recommendations, if that's okay. Yes, sir. Um I also wanted to share that even since we met last week, of course, we had Camp Leopold and some of us were able to attend attend that and a wonderful experience. Uh I believe in Camp Leopold I believe what what it teaches kids and um and I think it's very very important for for our middle middle schoolers to attend. We had great response from from Camp Leopold themselves. They always love our our students being there. Very very supportive of the middle school and always complimentary of our students, which is wonderful to hear wonderful to hear. Um this was the picture of the expanded Beta Club and fourth fourth graders and and fifth graders being recognized. And
017I just think it's I think it's a wonderful thing. Uh of course, even within the last couple weeks, we have additional accolades that are being poured onto our football teams from radio stations to to other news outlets. We had the alumni baseball event that took place on Saturday. There's a lot of sore people today. >> [laughter] >> Uh there It was They they gave it everything they had. They gave a little bit too much in in many cases. So, we'll we'll have to do a a study to see how how everyone's feeling today. But we had Read Across America that took place as well. And many of our >> [snorts] >> high schoolers our our teacher cadets and our middle schoolers were able to go to the primary school and read. And again, a photo
018of our teachers of the year at the Rotary Club. Um there's some more pictures of Read Across America, just promoting reading. It's by far the the most important um skill that we can develop in the early grades is very highly successful readers. And and that's a true indicator of success. Uh we also had some training for our math teachers with the new geometry standards and also with the new math standards across the board. So, that was for our We sent three of our employees to this training. It was housed at Lawrence 56, but the state department came in and was able to facilitate those meetings for us, which we we found to be beneficial. Um these are some future projects that we're that are becoming that we'll be looking at down the road and presenting
019to you. We're just kind of um trying to get some an early sense of what these projects would would entail. But exterior painting at at Ware Shoals Middle School, it's it's time for that project. Repaving the Ware Shoals High horseshoe. Um and so, that's that's the life of of that asphalt is is has reached its its end. Um I would like to take a look at replacing the windows at the field house. And in this summer, interior painting at Ware Shoals High. And just to put it in perspective, um Friday, this coming Friday, tiles will be popped on the on the bottom of the high school. And that terrazzo flooring is scheduled to to go in in just just about a week from now. So, that's that's kind of kind of exciting to see that
020project going. I also want to make sure that we understand our our [snorts] students, our teachers, and our administrators are excited for spring break that's just coming up. It's going to start this Friday. And students are will return April the 6th. So, with that that will be the update. >> [snorts] >> And if you have any questions on those, feel free to to let me know. Are there any questions? Great about the break. I'm really happy for you. Thank you, Dr. Crockett. I will also now, Dr. Crockett, like to defer to you as we Well, first of all, I'm sorry. We're going to recognize Mr. Rice, who will give us an update on the board-approved courses. Okay, thank you. Um Yes, sir. Each year the board is permitted to approve specific electives that are not
021necessarily clearly stated in the in the defined minimum program or the activity coding manual for South Carolina. So, Ware Shoals Middle School is seeking board approval for to add the following courses to their 2026 2027 academic schedule. Um journalism yearbook class teacher Katie Cooley, grades 7 and 8 robotics with Ms. Kim Rosa, grades 5 and 6, and then science, technology, engineering, art, and math, the STEAM class for 5th and through 8th grade gifted and talented students. Also, we want to just point out a few changes that need to be approved in the Ware Shoals in the Ware Shoals High School program of study. Um should be in your packet. Changes like promotion requirements that were updated by the South Carolina Department of Education have been updated in the program of studies. Um we are um
022making changes to the sequence of social studies at the high school with 9th grade being modern world history, 10th grade being economics and personal finance 11th grade being US government and foundations of American history, and then 12th grade being the US history and constitution. And that will be the the course that they take to do for their end of course testing is the US US history and constitution. That's right. Um Also, the the South Carolina Department of Education updated the career clusters going from 16 career clusters to 14 to match the national um changes that were made. Uh so, we're we're just updating that on page 27. Um again on 28 through 31, revision of the CTE pathways to match the 14 career clusters. Um one thing we are doing as well is we're removing
023the digital media marketing course. And we're actually putting in sports entertainment management as part of the marketing and sales. We think that is going to be more um appealing to the kids. Uh get more uh students taking that course. So, that's that's going to help. Um Also, uh updating the dual enrollment GPA requirements per Piedmont Tech policy. So, an unweighted GPA for general ed courses is a 3.0, and an unweighted GPA for CTE education courses is 2.5. And then lastly, again, just remapping the CTE pathways based on the new uh 14 national career cluster models. All right. Do you have any questions? That's fantastic. I like the history lineup. I think that's it sounds very good. Anything? All right. Thank you. Do we vote on this approval? I will do that on action items. So,
024we'll circle back around to this. Thank you, Mr. Rice. We will now hear from Dr. Taylor and we're looking forward to a strategic plan update. Thank you. Good evening, y'all. I'm going to be sharing you the updates to our school renewal plans and our district strategic plan. And so, um I'm sure you all remember this. We talk about it every year, but we're required to write a 5-year plan, and then we provide an update each year to that plan. So, this is the third update that we're providing. The data that you're going to see tonight, we've already gone over it this school year. It's pulled from the report card data. So, we're going to be looking at those as well as some MAP scores for our younger students so that we're including every student in
025our goals that we have since they don't take an SC READY test until they're in third grade. So, we're just going to look quickly and over this. If you have questions, please stop me as we go. Um and these goals align within our schools and then also with our district goals about increasing our academic achievement. So, our first goal is that students in grades K through 2 will score at or above the 41st percentile in reading and math on NWEA MAP. The 41st percentile, um we can equate that to an SC READY score of meets. So, if they're meeting the 41st percentile in K through 2, it's likely they'll score meets on SC READY. And then that purple circle there just shows you our actual data because each year we're looking to make an increase.
026So, back in 2023, we took our base data and then we proportioned it out so that we could reach that 70% mastery um of the 41st percentile. And so, you can see we met our targets for reading and math. Yes. This is based on the winter scores of our students who just took MAP. Okay? That's super. And then our next goal is related to our third through eighth grade students who take SC READY. And so, again, by 2028, we'd like for 75% of our students to score a level 3 or above, and that's a meets or exceeds on SC READY. And again, we took that baseline data back in 2022 and have worked from there to try and incrementally increase. And you can see our targets and our actual scores where we're slightly below in
027reading with about 2%, and then there was a difference of 19% in math. We had a transition in math curriculum, so we have to keep that in mind as we look at that number. Our next goal is focusing on our high school students. So, students who are graduating with a high school diploma demonstrating college and or career readiness. And so, I've just listed for you the ways that a student can be college or career ready. So, we're looking at those college entrance exams dual enrollment scores, if they're CTE completer with a credential, if they take the WIN test, which is our career readiness assessment, or the ASVAB, which is used for military, but also it can look at different career options in different areas. And so, you can see we were hoping that our target
028would be around 82.9%. We were below that, but if you look back at previous years, we have steadily increased since 2023-2024 school year. So, we've gone from 56% to 68.9 or 68.8% several eights in that one. Um that goes back to the hard work and dedication of our high school and making sure that each student has that pathway that leads them to success. We also include a goal for graduation rate. And so, our goal is that by 2028, our high school graduation rate would increase to 90%, and you can see last school year um our target was 87.8%, and actually that was 83.8. So, again, we're seeing that we had a drop, but we've increased again. And you know, this is not easy to look at relatively in terms from year to year because it's
029a different group of kids every year. There's different circumstances, um different things that may have happened within those 4 years of school or that they may have just come to Ware Shoals. Um so, you can't it's great to see the increase, but just because you see a decrease, it doesn't necessarily mean that things that were working are not working anymore. It's a different group of kids. There was different needs there. Okay? We also have to write a goal about teacher administrator quality. And so, we choose to write our goal based on the percentage of teachers who are returning to our district because we know if we can keep high quality um educators in our building who are familiar with our students, that with that leads to success. And so, you can see that we surpassed
030our goal of 87.2%, and we actually had 90.3% of our teachers to return. So, we've met this goal now. And so, in next year's update, this goal will no longer be there, and we'll have to replace it with a new goal. All right. And then we also write goals about school climate because we want students, teachers um and their parents to be satisfied with our learning environment that we have, with the safety in our schools. Um and so, we look specifically at the school climate survey that we give each spring, and that goes out through from third through 12th grade to students. And then for our parents, that can be any of the parents that are in that age range as well. And so, our goal was that by 2028, 90% of our students and
031parents will be satisfied with our district's learning environment. Our student projected data was 86%, and the actual data ended up being 83.2. Again, that's a steady increase. You don't see it here on the slide, but it's a steady increase from previous school years. The parent goal is not included here because we met that last year. We surpassed the 90%. Right. Yeah. And then our last goal we're required to include is a goal for our gifted and talented students. And so, our focus is to increase the percentage of students in grades 3 through 8 who are participating in that program because we know that means students are excelling in their academic coursework. So, we would like to increase that to 15%. You can see we were projected somewhere around 11.9. We actually had a small decline
032to 8.3, and that was slightly down from the previous year. That was 9. 2, I believe. Um again, this is something that it's really hard to keep track of because it's a different group of kids because those eighth graders then become ninth graders. They're not in here anymore. You're bringing up second grade into that. Um those numbers and so as a district, we focus on this goal, but we also have to include in our strategic plan information about how many students are served, what kinds of programs we provide for them, and what grade levels we do that. Are teachers certified in GT? Do they have that endorsement? And our teachers do. Um so we have highly qualified teachers who are teaching these classes to our students. Sure do. Okay. And that is our last goal.
033Um if you have any questions, you can let me know, but as you can see, we're making steady progress towards goals and we're really student focused in all that we are working through with our goals. Now, on the seniors when they say they graduate, you're trying to reach the 90. When the kids skip grade, does that hurt the their year that they're in or does it does it how does that work? >> Well, we're looking at on tracks. That means that you graduate in four years. So if you graduate early, it doesn't negatively affect the numbers. Okay. No, but if they were to need that extra year, maybe they finish up some credits so they're fifth year graduate, and then that does impact it. Okay. I got you. I was just wondering. I didn't know
034cuz I know a bunch of kids that do that. I wondered how that played into affected the numbers. Did that hurt their class or does it help the one ahead or No, it actually looks at each cohort. So when you're coming to ninth grade, you receive a cohort of ninth grade GR. And so you're part of that group and you're tracked every school year as part of the school report card to see if you're on track to graduate so you're completing at least a math and an English credit each year to show you're making that progress. And then the graduation rate is based just on kids who would have started the school year four years ago. And correct me if I'm wrong, but if you start that ninth grade cohort with a certain number and
035let's say two years later a student moves to another school district. Mhm. Yeah. They don't finish here. Right. That lowers that percentage. Right. If we can't document that. So if they transfer and we have a records request, then that student effectively comes out of our cohort. But if there would be some reason where we don't know where the student has gone or maybe they have dropped out, then yes, they're still in that cohort so they they count in that way. So even even if they come for for one day >> For one day. Yeah. And it's a That's right. It's a oddly skewed Absolutely. when it's on those terms. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Good questions. Mhm. Paul, thank you so much. You're welcome. You did a great job. Lots to keep up with. Thank you, Paul.
036We now move to our action items and Dr. Crockett will share with us about I think we now vote on the approval of the courses and I'd like to start with that. You've heard the report from Mr. Rice on the new courses and the current curriculum. The chair is requesting a motion to approve those courses as so stated. I'll make a motion to approve the courses presented by Mr. Rice for the '26 '27 school year. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, ma'am. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. I. Motion carries. Dr. Crockett, if you would talk to us about your certified teacher contract recommendations. >> Absolutely. Um we have uh put in your uh board packets this month uh our recommendations for contracts. We have uh 59 continuing contracts, uh one
037induction one, one induction two, five annual ones, two annual twos, and three annual threes. In addition In addition to those, you will see individuals that uh we would like to recommend for hire to replace uh some of our retirees, three retirees. Um and so we would be able to to reckon out two retirees and one that's been an intern for us this year we would like to hire as full-time for next year. Um that is no additional FTEs, no additional um uh spots in in our in our schools, but simply just those are recommendations for hire for next year. And um in addition to that, one more thing is uh we just want to try to uh kind of take out the uh transportation uh situation and use that as a stipend uh position this
038year. It has has been that way in the past. Uh we we've been fortunate to have Ms. Wells for her for a very long time. She does an outstanding job. Still would love to have her. Um and but that's something called retirement and you've earned it. But um in in the in the meantime, for all for those back at the ranch here uh while she's gone, um I I do I do feel it's it would be best and opportunistic for us uh to to uh use that as a stipend position uh for for in-house moving forward. And I've been working with uh an individual that we can potentially um uh provide that to moving forward. Thank you, sir. You have this information in your packet. And you've heard that the superintendent's recommendation. The chair recommends
039a motion to approve the where it shows uh District 51 certified staff for the '26 '27 academic year. I'll make a motion to approve the uh teach certified teaching contracts as represented. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, sir. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. All those opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you for your support in that. I think it's Thank you. It's a wonderful thing to see, sir. Very talented, good people on all levels. Your monthly report is I think you I want to first of all draw your attention and ask, do you have any questions whatsoever on your activity budget that appears in your packet? Athletics certainly looks like they are in a very strong position. Hearing no questions or concerns, and again, Dr. Crockett, I
040want to thank you that you have a um coordinating uh bank statement with your um total. And we've never ever had any question about Ms. uh Mann, but I always have to ask. Any questions pertaining to the District Lunch Room financial statement? It's a wonderful food manager we're losing in the middle school. And um I trust Now, I always and this is the one of the most important documents too because it's the one you'll get questions on. And that is your general fund balance. So I look through the fund balance and I I'm if I had a nickel for every time I asked Wimpy, what does this code mean, um I would be in Tahiti somewhere, I think. But thank you for all your help, Wimpy, that you give me cuz it's really helped me
041understand the fluctuations um within the budget. And we're in very good very good shape. Uh we're in the percentile loop and Dr. Crockett, once again, I thank you for your fiscal management. Um it's certainly evident and we are all benefactors of it. The fund balance remains in a very good position and um I'm excited about your future projections around the campuses as well. Are there any questions whatsoever concerning finances? And if you you know how if you're ever questioned, and I I I respect people's right to question. I think that is a really healthy way to go about life. And you know how you can find it on the webpage cuz they can see exactly what you're looking at in this this report, everything. And yes, and we had we had talked earlier. It's looking
042right now because we don't we don't know what the revenue projections are from the state right now. I don't know No one really really does. I There's lots of talk. I believe it's now sitting in the hands of the Senate. Um and so and then af- after that, it'll work on trying to come together for for a budget. We're we're excited for that. I know there's a lot lots of work that's that's been going into that. Um we just don't know our revenues yet. So what last year, um we presented the budget in May, first reading in May, second reading in June. Um right now it's trending like we would do this same. If we get those budget projections earlier, okay? then we'll try to expedite it and try to get get something as quick
043as we can. But that's just looking at the lay of the land, it's looking much uh very likely that we will have a May 1st reading of the budget and June a second reading. Okay? Just to give you a little heads-up of of what what we're looking for right now. And that's not a new No, we did that last year. >> Last year. >> [cough and clears throat] >> Any questions whatsoever on any material or presentations that you've heard this evening? With that being the case, the chairman asks for a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? I'll second. Thank you, ma'am. All those in favor say I. I. Motion carried. Thank you very much. Sorry.