Blythewood Online 691

Category: Schools

  • District 5 Up for Grabs

    Bobby Cunningham

    No 2nd School Board Term for Cunningham

    WINNSBORO – Barely a week after District 7 County Councilman David Brown announced that he would be retiring from Council at the end of his current term, Bobby Cunningham, the Trustee from District 5, announced that he would not seek another term with the Fairfield County School Board.

    “I said from day one that I would not run for a second term,” Cunningham told The Voice this week. “I’m 70 years old and I have other things I want to pursue.”

    Cunningham pulled something of an upset in 2010, unseating Rickey Johnson, a minority incumbent in a minority district, 578 votes (51.56 percent) to 542 (48.35 percent). Since then, Cunningham has been part of a Board that has ushered in what might be considered a renaissance for the school district, hiring and supporting the longest serving superintendent in recent memory, updating the District’s security systems, reducing frivolous spending and, earlier this month, breaking ground on a new Career and Technology Center.

    “I had no earthly idea I would even win the thing,” Cunningham said. “I think my reputation is if you ask me something I’m going to tell you like it is. I think that’s what it was. People knew I was fair and that I would say what was on my mind.”

    Progress has been slow, Cunningham admits, and there is more to be made, but it has been progress, he said. And that is something the District hasn’t seen in quite some time. Attorney fees are down and test scores are up, Cunningham noted, and with the help of the School Resource Officers (SROs) and an updated security camera system, issues that Cunningham pushed to the forefront, the schools are safer than they were just four years ago.

    “There were a lot of issues on the curriculum side that I did not understand,” Cunningham said, “but there were other issues on the safety side that I did understand. Those security cameras have been a life-saver for the School District. There were some who were hell bent set against it.”

    Apart from championing safety issues, Cunningham said he was most proud of being on a Board that undertook and finally implemented a salary study, bringing wages up for the District’s lowest paid employees. And during his term, Cunningham has always been a staunch defender of taxpayer dollars.

    “I ate my first meal at the last Board meeting (an unusual 4:30 p.m. meeting on June 12),” Cunningham said. “I have eaten at retreats we’ve had – maybe a donut or a sausage biscuit, but I have not abused the taxpayers’ money. I go to one seminar every year, to Myrtle Beach, to get my points for accreditation, but that’s it. And I’ve never had one dime of phone calls to our attorneys, running up that bill.”

    The 70-year-old Cunningham said he has no further political aspirations at this time. He will fill his days, he said, tending his garden, working in the yard and relaxing in his rocking chair underneath the carport of his Washington Street home, watching the cars go by and throwing up a hand when he elicits a friendly honk.

  • Board OK’s Budget

    WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County School Board voted 4-2 on June 12 to give final approval to the 2014-2015 budget of $35,548,351. Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4), who joined the meeting by telephone, and Board member Paula Hartman (District 2) voted against the budget. Board member Andrea Harrison (District 1) was absent.

    After the meeting, Hartman said she cast her vote in the negative because she had not received information she had requested regarding teacher salaries.

    “I was trying to judge people (whose salaries) hadn’t been frozen,” Hartman said. “Others are getting raises. Quite a few teachers have been frozen. I was asking how long they had been frozen and how much they were making.”

    Hartman said she had requested a list of salaries over $50,000 a year, but said that Board Chairwoman Beth Reid had denied her request. Reid said the salary list was not provided because the Board as a whole did not request that information. District salaries over $50,000 a year are public information, Reid said, which could be obtained with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

    “She can certainly have that information under the Freedom of Information Act,” Reid said, “but individual Board members should be reminded that individual Board members have no power. The Board as a whole can request information. If she wanted that information, she could have it under the FOIA.”

    McDaniel, who signed off from the meeting after casting her ‘No’ vote, said later her concerns centered on the superintendent’s contingency fund.

    “While I fully support all funding for children and instructional purposes as well as effective and efficient central support for our district, I cannot in good faith as a trustee for the district vote for a budget that allows over $40,000 (in) funding without board approved guidelines and accountability,” McDaniel wrote The Voice in an email this week, “particularly since I have been denied the expenditure detail transaction report from the accounting system for the current year ‘discretionary’ expenditures.”

    In response to McDaniel’s questions during discussion of the budget, Reid and Superintendent J.R. Green confirmed that the fund stood at $42,500 for the coming fiscal year, and while the fund was labeled a “contingency” fund it was to be used at Green’s discretion.

    “I support a district approved contingency account, but not a ‘discretionary’ account,” McDaniel’s email continued. “Finally, I am concerned about the board’s authority to approve taxpayers’ dollars to be used at one individual’s ‘discretion’.”

    The 2014-2015 budget carries the same millage rate – 203.1 mills – as last year’s budget, according to Kevin Robinson, Director of Finance. Revenues are expected to increase by $1.2 million, Robinson said, as a result of an increase in the property tax base, while expenditures – chiefly in salaries and benefits – will rise by approximately $1 million.

    The Board also gave approval of a Tax Anticipation Note (TAN), not to exceed $5.7 million, to help carry the District through January when the majority of tax revenues come in. Last year the District issued a TAN of $6.1 million. The note will be acquired through the S.C. Association of Governmental Organizations (SCAGO), which reduces the cost for such loans, Robinson said. While Robinson did not yet have numbers for the 2014-2015 interest rate, he said last year’s rate was around 1 percent.

    Prior to taking up the budget, the Board voted 4-2 to accept a bid of $12,582 from John R. Frazier, Inc. to harvest 10 acres of timber around the existing Career and Technology Center. It was the only bid received by the District on the project, which was bid out by Forest Land Management, Inc. The timber is being harvested to prepare the Career Center for its new role as headquarters of the District’s Transportation Department once construction on the new Career Center, between the middle and high schools, is complete.

    McDaniel and Hartman voted against accepting the bid. McDaniel said she wanted to know what efforts the District made to reach out to local companies to encourage them to submit bids, and Hartman said she felt like the Board should have waited to vote until additional bids had been received.

  • School Board Bickers Over Budget

    WINNSBORO – Although discussions at the May 20 School Board meeting revealed that some confusion existed regarding the difference between the District’s general fund budget and debt service millage, the Board voted 4-2 to approve second reading of the 2014-2015 budget. Board members Annie McDaniel (District 4) and Paula Hartman (District 2) voted against the measure. Board member Andrea Harrison (District 1) was absent.

    Kevin Robinson, Finance Director, said there had been no changes to the $35,548,651 budget since first reading, and that the budget included a millage rate of 203.1 mills, which reflected no change from last year’s millage rate. When questioned by Hartman about the District’s debt service millage, Robinson said the final figures were not yet available. However, he added, he expects the debt service millage to be the same, or close to, last year’s rate of 32 mills.

    McDaniel said she was “concerned” that the Board was going into second reading of the budget without knowing the debt service figure, but J.R. Green, Superintendent, said that debt service millage doesn’t have any impact on the operational budget. Until County Council sets the value of the mill, Green said, the District would not know for sure what the debt service millage will be.

    “We anticipated (last year) that the debt service millage would have been 35 mills,” Green said, “but because the set value (of a mill) was higher than we anticipated, it was actually 32 mills. So we can’t necessarily tell you the millage because we don’t necessarily know what those assessed values are.”

    McDaniel said the County Auditor should have given the District a figure for the District to use in calculating its budget, but Robinson said the debt service value of a mill is different from the operational values.

    “We don’t issue millage on residential property,” Robinson said, “so there are two different numbers that we’re dealing with.”

    McDaniel asked Robinson what the deadline was for the District to present its budget to County Council for approval. Robinson said the date for Council to receive the operational budget was June 15, but added that there was no set date for the debt service.

    “You’re telling me they operate on different dates, for debt service and operational?” McDaniel, a Board member since 2000, asked.

    “That’s correct,” Robinson said. “We’ve always in the past historically given the County a number for debt millage around August, early September. We’ve never given them a debt millage number in June. The number they have to have in June is for operational.”

    “So we’ve been giving them a figure for debt service and the Board has not been approving it?” McDaniel asked.

    “The Board has always approved it,” Robinson said. “I’m just saying it’s never been given to them in June.”

    When Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) noted that the discussion had strayed from the general fund budget and into debt service, which was not on the agenda, she called for the vote.

    “When are we as a board going to finish discussing the budget?” McDaniel asked. “We just had second reading and we had no work session.”

    Reid said the Board held a work session on April 22, but McDaniel indicated that additional sessions may be necessary.

    “We don’t need more,” Reid said. “We don’t need it. Nothing has changed. There’s nothing else to talk about.”

    McDaniel said that Board members with additional questions should be allowed to ask those questions, and Reid asked McDaniel if she had submitted any questions via email to the Chairwoman.

    “Have you requested that I send you those questions?” McDaniel asked Reid.

    “I did,” Reid answered. “The last time, I said anything needs to come through me in an email. I haven’t gotten any emails.”

  • Takiya Rocks the Runway

    Holding up her trophy, Takiya acknowledges her adoring fans.

    Magnet School Student Named ‘Top Model’

    WINNSBORO — Takiya Willingham won the Rockin’ the Runway award for ‘best model’ at the Runaway Runway Show on April 5 at the Township Auditorium – but she isn’t just your average toast-of-Columbia supermodel. For one thing, she designs her own runway couture.

    And she’s just 12 years old.

    Willingham is a sixth-grader at the Fairfield County Magnet School for Math and Science and a student in Kimi Daly’s art class. Daly, who was recently named the school’s Teacher of the Year, recognized Willingham’s interest in designing a project for the show and encouraged her. She said that Willingham’s meteoric rise to fashion fame came only after months of toiling away on a dress that started out as, well, a pile of trash.

    Runaway Runway is an elaborate annual fashion show produced by the Columbia Design League, a member group of the Columbia Museum of Art. Up to 60 designers from around the state are featured, and the outfits must be created from used materials that would otherwise be headed to the landfill.

    “It’s a show that combines fashion, fun, creativity and environmental awareness,” Daly said.

    Willingham learned about the potential of recycled fashion when Daly showed the class two recycled dresses that were modeled in the 2013 and 2014 Runaway Runway competitions by her daughter, Tagan, who attends high school in Chapin. The students in Daly’s class were inspired and wanted to make their own recycled outfits, but Daly explained that it would take a lot of work, and would have to be a side project. Willingham was up for the challenge, and her creative vision was soon sparked while helping her grandmother clean out her house. There, Willingham discovered a bunch of old VHS tapes and magazines destined for the trash heap.

    “I thought they would make nice materials,” she said, “so I brought them to the art room at school. I broke open the videos, pulled all the tapes out and tore out my favorite pages from the magazines.”

    “I looked around at this big mess,” Daly recalled with a laugh, “and I said, Takiya, what are you planning to do with all this!? And she said, ‘I’m going to make a skirt.’”

    Willingham’s first hurdle was figuring out how to layer the strips of videotape. First she tried taping them together, a tedious process that took two months of after-school time. But when she put the skirt on and wore it down the hall, it fell apart.

    “Then she tried hot glue and duct tape,” Daly said. “It was an ordeal!”

    So it was a stroke of luck when Lois Robinson, a classmate’s grandmother, stopped by the art room one afternoon and noticed Willingham’s frustration.

    “Lois said, ‘let me show you how to sew, honey,’” Daly said, “and she taught Takiya some stitches.”

    “Sewing was easy,” Willingham said, “except for when I pricked my fingers!”

    After sewing the skirt, she wove together contrasting strips of magazine pages to form a bodice. Then she combined both parts to completely cover a $5 Goodwill dress that functioned as the underlying structure – a design option allowed in the competition.

    Normally quite shy, Willingham said she started getting nervous as the date of the competition grew near. A practice runway walk was organized during a school assembly, but Daly said Willingham had some difficulty getting the hang of the runway style of walking and turning.

    “She tripped a few times,” Daly said, “and she was so shy as she walked – just pressed her arms against her body. But she still wanted to do the competition.”

    Soon it was time to zip up the garment bag and head to Columbia.

    “I was very nervous,” recalled Willingham. “But everyone at the show was nice and really helpful. I loved being in the dressing room with the models and makeup mirrors and other artists.”

    “Her mother, Pamela Mobley, was there with her,” Daly said, “and all the older models were fussing over Takiya and just loved her! She had her makeup and hair done, and really got into the whole experience.”

    “But we were still worried about how to get her around that runway!” Daly said with a nervous laugh. Eventually, the team came up with a plan – while Willingham hadn’t mastered smooth catwalk turns, she did like to dance. So that’s what she would do.

    Just before curtain call, Willingham caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror.

    “I couldn’t stop smiling,” she said. “I was so excited. But then I walked out on stage, and I was shocked to see all those people in the audience looking at me!”

    Daly said that despite Willingham’s initial stage fright, she blossomed in the limelight.

    “Takiya began, literally, dancing her way around the runway and had a great time,” Daly said. “And the crowd just went bananas for her. They knew she wasn’t just the model, but had also designed and made her own dress, and she was adorable. She took three turns around the runway – and by her third time around, she was rockin’!”

    Willingham said that when she heard her name announced as winner of the modeling award, she could hardly believe it.

    “I looked around,” she said, “and asked, ‘are they talking about me?’”

    The event was televised, and the evening was filled with camera flashes, paparazzi and interviews.

    “She was truly the star!” Daly said. “Winning one of the competition’s five awards was a huge honor for her. And the confidence she’s gained has helped her in her other classes at school, too, to persevere and work hard.”

    Does she plan to do more modeling and designing in the future?

    “Definitely!” Willingham declared with a big grin and am eye to the trash can. “I love it.”

  • Board Spars Over New Career Center

    WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County School Board agreed, albeit with some dissention, on a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and a construction firm for the new Career and Technology Center during their May 20 meeting. On a 4-2 vote, the Board approved a GMP of $17,710,982, awarding the contract to M.B. Kahn. Board members Annie McDaniel (District 4) and Paula Hartman (District 2) voted against. Board member Andrea Harrison (District 1) was absent.

    McDaniel noted the $940,425 architectural fee in the contract, and asked if that price was also firm.

    “That’s assuming we don’t come back and make significant changes to the scope of the project,” J.R. Green, Superintendent, said. “If we get into making a bunch of changes, then that will change.”

    Hartman said that the Board had not yet been provided with a final list of classes and programs to be included in the new facility. Once that list has been finalized, she asked if it might require a change in the final price. Green said that it would not, and told the Board that the new facility had been designed with a certain amount of flexible space that could be used to accommodate different types of programs.

    “So we’re being asked to approve a contract, approve a guaranteed maximum price . . . but we don’t know what’s going to be in the Career Center?” McDaniel said “There are some classes that if they weren’t part of the design they would cause infrastructure changes.”

    Green reiterated that no classes would be added that would require any infrastructure changes, but Hartman continued, asking about the placement of electrical outlets in classrooms. McDaniel, addressing her question to Robert P. Roof, the District’s Project Manager for the construction of the Career Center, asked if not knowing what the classes were at this point presented any specific challenges.

    “The original program for this project was followed by Brownstone, the architect, to program space into the facility,” Roof said. “They allotted certain areas that are required by code, by educational standards to cover all the programs that they have. This facility has, as Mr. Green said, flex-space in it to take care of any other programs that may be added. That flexibility has been built into this design due to the excellent work of the architect to take care of any changes like that.”

    When McDaniel pressed Green for a final list of classes, Green said he could have provided a partial list to the Board already, but chose not to do so. A final, comprehensive list, he said, would be better.

    “My big concern, Mr. Green, is I have talked to people who are experts in this field,” McDaniel said, “and they think it is ludicrous that at this point we are breaking ground on June 2 and we voted on maximum price and this Board has not been told what is going to be in that Career Center.”

    Board member Bobby Cunningham (District 5) had apparently heard enough and asked Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) to bring the matter to a vote.

    “From day one, everybody on the Board has been told that these things would be flexible, that some classes could be changed,” Cunningham said. “From day one. It has been out here from day one, and we’re going to beat this poor dern horse to death with the same thing every time. I call for the question, Madam Chair.”

  • R2 Board OK’s Budget

    The April 29 Richland 2 School Board meeting began 30 minutes late before a packed house at Lake Carolina Elementary School. Executive session items were lengthy, said Chairmen Chip Jackson. While the specifics of those items were not disclosed, executive sessions items usually involve student discipline (there were 13 students appealing expulsions), personnel/ staff decisions and legal/contractual matters.

    The general fund operating budget was given the most time in the meeting. The Board had initially considered a budget that included an additional $13 million in property tax revenues over last year’s budget, but when word came from the Richland County Auditor’s Office that property tax collections would only generate $11 million more than last year, the budget was reduced by $2.1 million and the specifics of which line items to eliminate from the proposed budget were left to the discretion of the Finance department. In a 5-1 vote, the Board approved a total budget of $235 million.

    James Manning voted against the approval because it was lacking in the Board having the decision of what items were to be removed.

    Recognitions were made for many high school students: Westwood sophomore Andrew Plante won the 2014 State Strength Championship in the 190-pound weight class by pressing 280 pounds, squatting 495 pounds and extending himself 114 inches in a standing broad jump. Future Business Leaders of America students at Westwood High School (Jacob Schneider and Alani Thompson) and Blythewood High School (Ian Finch, Lorenzo Dyckes and Amy Johnson) won first-place honors at the FBLA state leadership conference. Blythewood High student Alex Vibber was honored for his first-place award at the recent Health Occupation Students of America (HOSA) state conference.

    Also in attendance were the Teacher Cadets from Westwood with Westwood teacher Jennifer Tinnery. They came to observe the Board meeting from the vantage point of a future teacher presenting to the District leaders and Board members. One student said that it was “interesting to see the role teachers can play outside the classroom in influencing education standard.” Early on in the meeting, a Lake Carolina science teacher lead her students in a presentation about nuthatch birds complete with singing by kindergartener Laura Eargle and a team of third-graders introduced the audience to the wonders of Canadian furry animals. The Teacher Cadets said they found the discussions about the District budget similar to talks from the economic classes.

    Fred McDaniels of the Planning Department reported on the recently launched on-line student registration process that has caught the interest of pre-school and kindergarten parents. While the initial workload was very heaving for the district’s IT Department, the streamlined approach has cut the registrar’s paperwork time in half, giving them more time to hear families about specific need their students might have. Families with multiple children would not have to repeat common data and the district can more accurately identify those that qualify for free or reduced meals. The District would like to encourage returning families to try the on-line registration and avoid standing in lines for the fall registration.

    The meeting ended a couple of hours later, around 9:30, with the Superintendent’s announcement of the District’s new Teacher Of The Year – first grade teacher Kim Kuhn of Bookman Elementary – and the national recognition for the third time to Blythewood Middle as ‘A School To Watch.’

  • School Board Member Calls 9-1-1 on Reporter

    Annie McDaniel

    WINNSBORO – A Fairfield County School Board member, either unwilling or unable to answer questions from the news media Tuesday night, instead dialed 9-1-1 to report that she was being harassed.

    “Yes, I am at the District Office and I am being harassed,” Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) said into her cell phone after the 9-1-1 dispatcher answered her call.

    While The Voice clearly heard the dispatcher answer McDaniel’s call, afterwards only McDaniel’s side of the conversation could be discerned for the record. It was as follows:

    “The District Office at the School District. My name is Annie McDaniel. . . . Annie. McDaniel. . . . Mr. James Denton, with The Voice newspaper. . . . He’s standing right here in front of me . . . 803-960-5782 . . . He’s got on a beige jacket and a beige shirt . . . He approached me after the Board meeting, yelling at me, asking me questions . . . No, I’m sitting right here at my desk and he’s standing in front of me and he asked me a question and I told him I didn’t have an answer, and he’s yelling and harassing me. . . . OK. Thank you. Bye.”

    A review of the recording of the conversation clearly shows that no voices other than McDaniel’s were raised during the question and non-answer session.

    No emergency responders arrived at the District Office before the auditorium cleared, but a School Resource Office was on site throughout the entire meeting. Phyllis Watkins, Director of Fairfield County’s 9-1-1 system, said McDaniel’s choice of dialing 9-1-1 instead of answering questions from the media did not qualify as abuse of the system, but that it did exhibit a lack of understanding as to what the system should be used for.

    “We prefer people call when they are facing a life-threatening emergency,” Watkins said Tuesday night. “That’s what we prefer. Unfortunately, that’s not what always happens.”

    The questions that McDaniel refused to answer stemmed from accusations she had made during the meeting that J.R. Green, Superintendent of Schools, was not distributing funds from his discretionary account equitably among the District’s various clubs. McDaniel said Green’s focus appeared to be primarily on the Bow Tie Club at the expense of other clubs. Green said he had supported “a host of different clubs over the course of the year from the Superintendent’s contingency account,” and reminded McDaniel that the expenditure of those funds were, as the definition of the account would indicate, at his discretion.

    “I guess the problem, Mr. Green, is that allows so much latitude for injustice to our kids in the district,” McDaniel said. “That’s like giving you a pile of money to do whatever you want to do with it. All I’m saying is that lends itself to unfairness, and if we are going to allow that to exist, there be some kind of communication on how it’s going to be used so that all our students are treated fairly, and not just one group of students that happen to be one you’re intimately involved with.”

    Green said McDaniel’s statements were “pretty close to an indictment that I have been unfair to students, which I categorically reject. I guess the question is do you think I’m going to be fair to students or do you think I have been fair?”

    After the meeting, The Voice asked McDaniel which clubs had received short shrift in favor of the Bow Tie Club. In lieu of an answer, McDaniel suggested The Voice obtain a list of district clubs from Green. Thinking the question had been misunderstood, The Voice restated the query, asking McDaniel directly which clubs were being treated unfairly.

    “Do I need to call the Sheriff’s Department to ask them to come escort you? Because you’re really harassing me right now,” McDaniel said. “The questions you’re asking me, Mr. Green is the only person that can provide you that information.”

    McDaniel could also not explain why she was the only Board member who failed to turn in her assessment worksheet for the District’s selection of a contractor for the construction of the new career and technology center, a matter the Board took up at the outset of the meeting.

    “The Chair is the spokesperson for the Board, so any questions you have regarding this Board you need to ask her,” McDaniel answered. “I have no comment.”

    But with six of the seven assessments delivered on time, Green recommended and the Board voted to award the contract to MB Kahn of Columbia. MB Kahn beat out Shiel Sexton, KBR Building Group and Edifice, Inc. all of Charlotte. Andrea Harrison (District 1) cast the lone dissenting vote. After the meeting, Harrison would not divulge which of the other firms she would have preferred.

  • Board Ups Ante on Superintendent

    WINNSBORO – For the second time this year, the Fairfield County School Board voted to extend the contract of Superintendent J.R. Green during their April 8 meeting. The extension takes Green’s deal with the District to 2019 and increases the District’s buyout option from nine to 18 months.

    “We felt the timing was excellent, considering the most recent accolades under his leadership and those he’s hired,” Board Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7), said.

    The overall five-year deal and 18-month buyout if Green were discharged without cause was standard throughout the state, Reid said. The move did not get unanimous support, however, with Board members Andrea Harrison (District 1) and Annie McDaniel (District 4) voting against the extension and Board member Paula Hartman (District 2) abstaining.

    “I have no dislike for J.R.,” McDaniel said last week, “but (the Board) couldn’t give me a good reason to make him that offer at this time.”

    Hartman said that while she had supported Green’s extension in January, she “didn’t see why we were bringing it up again.” Harrison did not return phone calls at press time.

    Career Center

    The Board heard from four companies during their April 8 meeting, all vying for the contract to construct the new Career and Technology Center on a sliver of land between Fairfield Central High and Fairfield Middle schools. Shiel Sexton, KBR Building Group and Edifice, Inc. all of Charlotte, as well as MB Kahn of Columbia, made detailed presentations before the Board. Regardless of who wins the contract, the construction company taking on the project faces huge challenges, including rerouting bus traffic during school hours and game traffic during football season.

    The Board will vote to award the contract during their special April 22 meeting, and will vote on a guaranteed maximum price for the project during their May 20 meeting.

    Budget

    The Board also held first reading on their 2014-2015 budget. The $35,548,351 proposed budget is up from last year’s $34,358,564 budget, but holds the millage rate at 203.1 mills. Tax revenues are expected to be up from $26,331,062 last year to $27,480,665, while funds from the Education Finance Act are up from $4,146,227 to $4,371,451 and funds from the Education Improvement Act are up from $2,894,936 to $2,917,436.

    The proposed budget will include $128,167 in increases for purchased services, as well as $158,564 in increases for supplies and materials, including an increase of $170,000 in energy costs and expected rate increases. A transfer of $126,000 to the food services fund is also included in the proposal. The proposed budget also allocates $60,000 for Fairfield Behavioral Health Services (FBHS) for prevention programs and treatment services. Since the 2008-2009 school year, FBHS has served more than 5,000 students through various prevention programs.

    The Board will hold a work session on the budget April 22 at 6 p.m. at the District Offices.

  • Green Questions State Spending Claims

    Many District Costs Down Since 2012

    WINNSBORO – Dr. Mick Zais, State Superintendent of Education, last week targeted nine S.C. school districts he said spent more on operations costs in 2011-2012 than on teacher salaries. Among those districts was the Fairfield County School District, which Zais said spent $2,384 per student on operations. Operations costs, according to Zais, include maintenance, data processing and business operations, as well as legal fees and district office staff salaries.

    “I am very disappointed to see that nearly 11 percent of districts in our state spent more money on district operations than on teacher salaries,” Zais said. “These data give taxpayers insight into where their money goes.”

    J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools, said that since his tenure with the District began with the 2012-2013 school year, he was at a disadvantage when it comes to explaining Zais’ data. But, he said he found the release of two-year-old data both confusing and frustrating.

    “(Zais) often does this,” Green said, “throwing old data out there without telling you how he arrived at these figures. He’s trying to promote some type of agenda, it seems.”

    Zais’ data is based on a statewide average teacher salary of $47,376, with an average class size of 22 students. Green said Fairfield’s average class size was approximately 19 students and that teacher salaries were more or less consistent with the statewide average.

    Furthermore, Green said, even before he arrived in the District, reductions were being made in District office staff.

    “And we haven’t added any (District office staff), apart from the project manager (for the career center construction) since I’ve been here,” Green said.

    The greatest reduction in operation expenses during his tenure, Green said, has been in legal fees. During the 2011-2012 school year, from which Zais draws his data, the Fairfield County School District spent $351,403 in legal fees. The following year, that figure was down to $166,306. As of February of this year, Green said, the District had spent only 12 percent (approximately $34,000) of the $282,707 it had budgeted for legal fees.

    “That puts us on track to spend less than $100,000 (on legal fees) by the end of the year,” Green said, “so, we’ve taken huge steps in reducing that. Regardless of what method (Zais) used (to compile his data), if legal fees are a part of that, then we’re better off than we were two years ago.”

  • Magnet School Makes History

    Magnet School principal Gale Whitfield hoists the school’s Palmetto’s Finest Award in a display of victory.

    FMSMS Earns Palmetto’s Finest Award

    WINNSBORO — Fairfield Magnet School for Math and Science (FMSMS) has achieved something never before done in the history of Fairfield County. The school is the winner of a Palmetto’s Finest Award, the state’s top honor given to five schools that offer excellent instruction and outstanding leadership. School District Superintendent J.R. Green said it was an exciting time in Fairfield County.

    “This is indicative of multiple things we have going on here in the district,” Green said. “We understanding we can do anything if we work together.”

    Each school goes through an intensive application process that includes self-evaluation, peer review and on-site examinations, and is evaluated on student achievement, instructional programs, professional learning communities and school culture.

    “This award has come about through hard work and dedication of the wonderful students, dedicated parents, teachers, administrators and staff,” Green said. “I am here to tell the community that this is a new day in Fairfield County.”

    Principal Gale Whitfield shed a few tears at the school’s win.

    “This prestigious Palmetto Finest Award validates that great leadership with exceptional teachers and dedicated parents results in students being academically successful,” Whitfield said, “and we earned the right to be a Palmetto Finest school.”

    Students cheered and weighed in on the excitement of winning, too.

    “Being a Palmetto’s Fines school feels awesome!” sixth-grader Dhvani Patel said. “I am very happy that we won this award for our school. The students, our teachers and our principal have worked very hard for this achievement. It is great to see our hard work paying off.”

    FMSMS is the recipient of the two consecutive Palmetto Gold awards and earned an absolute report card rating of Excellent.