Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
At its first meeting of the 2024-25 academic year, the Allendale County School District (ACSD) board reviewed test score averages for students.
School Report Cards
At the meeting, superintendent Dr. Vallerie Cave announced SCReady test scores for students, and compared them to previous years. Cave said that although students showed year-over-year improvements, test scores remain low.
“We’re nowhere near where we need to be because I’m not proud of 39.1 [percent],” Cave said. “We need to be far above that. … The numbers are a little bit better, but we still have a long way to go.”
Cave encouraged parents to be more involved in the education process, and said more community involvement in the education process will help strengthen the school district.
“When [students] get behind, it’s really hard to get them caught up,” Cave said. “We need them to stay after school, we need them to do the things that we ask of them, and parents need to help with that.”
Teacher shortage resolutions
At the meeting, Johnnie Miller, chief human resources officer in the Allendale County School District, said the district has begun closing the gap on its teacher shortage. After long periods of having a large number of open positions, many have been filled.
“We are extremely excited because we had several positions we needed to fill between the end of [last] school year and the beginning of this school year,” Miller said. “I can definitely say that collaboratively, we were able to fill many of those positions.”
Miller said the school district now only has five full-time-equivalent vacancies, some of which are currently filled by substitutes. Many of the vacant positions were filled by virtual teachers through Fullmind, a virtual teaching company that partners school districts with virtual educators.
Additional school days and budget approval
As a result of school closures during Tropical Storm Debby, the ACSD voted to add three days to the school district’s calendar. The days decided upon were October 7-9.
“By law we have to make up those three days,” Cave said. “I have already reviewed this with our staff … and then I met with all the principals, as well as assistant principals and staff, and we came to an agreement that they feel as though that’s the best recommendation.”
Cave also said that the school board’s 2024-25 budget was approved by state superintendent Ellen Weaver. The details of the budget have been previously reported by The People-Sentinel.
