News

Montessori school on School Improvement Council 2009 Honor Roll

January 14, 2009

Sixteen schools across the state have been named to the South Carolina School Improvement Council's 2009 Honor Roll for significant efforts to promote civic involvement in public education.

These schools will continue in the running for the council’s annual Dick and Tunky Riley School Improvement Award.  Named for the former Secretary of Education and South Carolina Governor and his late wife, the award was created in 2002 to recognize vital contributions made by the 15,000-plus local School Improvement Council members who volunteer in every public school in the state.

In alphabetical order, the Honor Roll schools for 2009 are:

• Berkeley Elementary School - Moncks Corner ( Berkeley County School District)
• The Children's School at Sylvia Circle - Rock Hill (Rock Hill Schools)
• Doby's Mill Elementary School - Lugoff ( Kershaw County School District)
• Greenville High School - Greenville (Greenville County Schools)
• Hunt Meadows Elementary School - Easley ( Anderson School District One)
• Mauldin High School - Mauldin (Greenville County Schools)
• Marlboro County High School - Bennettsville (Marlboro County Schools)
• Morningside Middle School - North Charleston ( Charleston County School District)
• North Augusta Elementary School - North Augusta ( Aiken County School District)
• Pleasant Hill Middle School - Lexington ( Lexington School District One)
• Pineview Elementary School - West Columbia ( Lexington School District Two)
• Pocalla Springs Elementary School - Sumter ( Sumter School District Two)
• Round Top Elementary School - Blythewood ( Richland School District Two)
• Satchel Ford Elementary School - Columbia ( Richland School District One)
• Stone Academy of Communication Arts - Greenville ( Greenville County Schools)
• Sullivan's Island Elementary School - Sullivan's Island ( Charleston County School District)

Five finalists will be selected from the Honor Roll list late next month, with one to be named winner of the annual Riley Award at a special luncheon in Columbia this spring.

"It's important that we honor these schools and SICs for their work in building parent and community commitment," said Jeff Nicholson, chair of the state council’s Board of Trustees.  “With public education dollars dwindling daily, the continued contributions of our state's School Improvement Councils must be recognized for the real value they bring to schools, students and the future of our state."

Last year alone, South Carolina's 15,000-plus SIC members turned in more than 220,000 volunteer hours with an estimated value of $3.46 million – a significant return on the state council’s current budget allocation of about $225 per school per year.

Located in the University of South Carolina's College of Education, the South Carolina School Improvement Council was established more than 30 years ago to provide member training, technical assistance, accountability and other resources for the local SICs in each of the state’s 1,100-plus K-12 public schools.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009