Allendale County Schools holds opening convocation

At the Allendale-Fairfax High School’s July 28 convocation, stewardship was the word of the day.

“Today, as faculty and staff, board members, community [members], parents [and] students, I want for you to think about stewardship,” said Angela Jacobs, the newly-appointed interim administrator for the Allendale County School District. “Are you managing it well or mismanaging it? How do we steward what we have been given?”

Before Jacobs spoke, a crowd of parents, teachers, students and community members listened to elementary school teacher Willie Johnson perform Alicia Keys’ “Good Job.” Shortly after, the Allendale-Fairfax High School cheer squad performed the year’s opening cheer.

Jacobs said she wants to extend the message of stewardship to the broader Allendale community in addition to students and educators in the school district.

“As educators, as a part of the school system, one thing we can’t do is isolate ourselves within the walls,” Jacobs said. “We have to go out and make sure that we are making connections with those communities because just like we want to see the students thrive, we want to see the community thrive.”

Over the past 30 years, Jacobs has served in a variety of different positions in South Carolina’s public school system — as a teacher in Florence during the 1990’s, as an elementary school principal in Lee County during the 2000’s and as a transformation coach in the South Carolina Department of Education since 2019. During her speech, Jacobs shared her personal history, as well as her family’s history and how education has played a role shaping her life and career.

“I am the sixth of eight children born to the best parents in the world,” Jacobs told the crowd. “My father had a third grade education and my mother graduated from high school and she was one bad basketball player. They were sharecroppers and they brought the eight of us up to be productive citizens. They were trying to make sure that we were not sharecroppers.”

Johnnie Miller, assistant superintendent of curriculum, spoke to the crowd after Jacobs’ speech.

“Our theme is racing forward to success,” Miller said to the crowd. “We will not only finish, but we will finish strong. … When you leave here this morning, do what you need to do to take care of yourself.”

Miller reiterated Jacobs’ message about stewardship, saying he believes the community is most powerful when its members work together. The Allendale School District’s new motto is “Changing the Headlines…Allendale Forward.”

“When I was growing up, they used to say ‘it takes a village to raise a child,’” Williams said. “I believe it wholeheartedly and I know it to be true that it’s going to take every stakeholder in Allendale County to come together to say ‘here in Allendale we can do it.’”

Miller said one of the challenges the school district may face this year is the recent changes in district leadership. Jacobs was appointed by the South Carolina Department of Education following the June 30 retirement of Dr. Margaret Gilmore, who had served as superintendent since 2018.

“Transition can be difficult,” Miller said. “But as we continue to move the academic needle and move Allendale forward, we just gotta keep focused and rally behind each other.”

Jacobs said she also wanted to extend her message of stewardship to the rest of the Allendale community: parents, teachers and business leaders. August 1 was the first day of classes at the Allendale School District.

“We want to build a powerhouse of knowledge for everyone,” Jacobs said. “So [that means] making sure that parents understand what’s going on inside of the school, but also making sure that children are getting what they need inside.”

Elijah de Castro covers rural communities like Allendale and Barnwell counties for The People-Sentinel. He is a native of Trumansburg, N.Y., which is a small town in rural upstate New York. He is a Report for America corps member.