School Board WIN results

The Sumter County School Board met July 8th. Margaret Goodin shared numbers for the Summer Feeding program. “The month of June, we served 81,921 meals to the students in our community. That is at the schools for breakfast and lunch during Summer school, that is a couple open sites, it’s the rec department that is plains Boys and Girls Club.” She mentioned the largest contingent of meals were going out along the bus routes. She mentioned that around 56,000 meals we delivered that were not consumed at the school or a specific location, and that 25,000 were consumed at one of the sites they delivered to or the schools.

Finance director Natacha Merritt gave unofficial updates on the FY23 audit. “When we look at the draft audit findings, that particular category, again, you’re gonna see that same report when you get it in the email is none noted, material weaknesses none noted. Material weaknesses, none noted. So we’ve finished FY23 with no findings. That is seven years straight.” Superintendent Walter Knighton praised Sumter County Schools’ financial management.

LaShuanda Thomas gave WIN results for pre- and post-semester testing. In i-ready K-8 reading, a total of 296 students were enrolled. The % of students at or above grade level went from 1% to 5%.

The number of first semester students enrolled in i-ready math was 308. The percent of students at the start of the semester that were grade level or above was 0%, which grew to 8%.

Thomas also gave second semester data. For i-ready K-8 reading, there were a total of 579 students enrolled. 7% were at or above grade level, which rose to 27%. For i-ready K-8 math, 579 were enrolled. 2% were at or above grade level, which rose to 22% at or above grade level.

Joshua Drew, CEO of Ignite College and Career academy, addressed the Board. He gave a 72% pass rate for End of Pathway Assessment. Pathways include practical studies such as Engineering, Automotive, and Early Childhood, among others. Drew gave the pass rate for 2021-2022 at 53%, 2022-2023 at 63%.

Harrison McKinnis, with Invenergy, the primary developer of the Americus-Solar project, addressed the Board. McKinnis detailed the background of the project. “The Americas solar project, as a reminder for all of you began development in 2017, when we signed our first land agreement with. . . a landowner who owns about 7000 acres in southeast Sumter County, sort of surrounding the intersection of Lamar Road and Spring Creek Church Road.”

He mentioned how the project had worked with several community bodies, including the School Board, to execute a memorandum of understanding to set up a payment in lieu of taxes. He talked about how they had made some progress. “Those of you who’ve been south of Leslie and DeSoto on Blacksmith Road may have seen the 500-kilovolt substation on the west side of the road.”

However, he also mentioned issues. “Due to a variety of challenges in the industry, we have not had the opportunity to come online as soon as we expected, and so what we present to you today is an amended and restated memorandum of understanding that accomplishes a couple of basic goals. The best high level way to think about it is it’s an extension of the deal that everyone agreed to in 2021.” The School Board discussed having their lawyer review the agreement.

The Board also discussed athletic uniforms. Board member Rick Barnes requested to see uniforms before approval from the board.

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