Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Public urges school board to fight attack against prayer at board meetings.
Trustee Jim Shelton took some fellow board members to task Monday night for their support of a prayer policy that forbids the mention of Jesus Christ. The district adopted a non-sectarian prayer policy, one that prohibits student-led prayer in favor of a more generic prayer led by a school board member, after receiving a letter from the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. That group threatened to bring legal action against the school district, the board and its individual members if the district did not cease opening board meetings with an invocation. The board did not drop prayer entirely from the beginning of its meetings, but adopted the non-sectarian policy, at the urging of legal counsel. Shelton said the board was …
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Funding that would allow the district to place more school resource officers in schools unlikely to come from Columbia. District officials talk about options.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary murders, School District of Pickens County officials have hoped that the state would provide financial assistance to enable the district to place school resource officers in all of the district’s elementary schools. Those hopes appear to have been dashed. Superintendent Dr. Kelly Pew told board members Monday night that it does not appear the state will be giving additional funds to allow for more school resource officers. She said she spoke with Rep. Phil Owens, R-Easley, last week. “The understanding at the state level at this point is that there will not be funding for school resource officers,” Pew said. “However, there will be the possibility of a grant that school districts could apply for to …
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
School officials hope money can be found to place more school resource officers in facilities.
School district officials recently met with law enforcement officials and area leaders to discuss school safety. At that meeting, Trustee Ben Trotter said the district hopes the state will provide the necessary funds to place school resource officers in each of the district's 16 elementary schools. That is estimated to cost more than $700,000 annually – a financial burden that the district might be hard-pressed to meet, officials said. During Monday night's school board meeting, two residents offered opinions on the school security discussion. Don Plotnik told the board Monday night that putting SROs in the elementary schools would not work. “You have determined at least in part that a guard in each school is the answer,” Plotnik said. “…
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Pickens County School Board's newly proposed prayer policy would forbid the mention of Jesus during invocations at school board meetings.
UPDATE: Tuesday, February 26, 1:07pm. A newly proposed prayer policy would forbid the mention of "Jesus" and put an end to student-led invocations at Pickens County school meetings. On Monday evening, the School District of Pickens County's trustees voted on first reading for a more generic, non-sectarian prayer policy, against strong objections from the public. “God doesn’t honor faithless prayers,” said Rev. James Anthony. “How do we justify praying at God and not praying to the God of Heaven and gaining access to the only begotten Son?" The move comes on the heels of a threat of legal action by the Freedom Freedom From Religion Foundation, which contracted district officials and asked them to put a stop to the tradition of having board…
Thursday, February 14, 2013
District officials hopes funding will be available to place school resource officers in elementary schools.
Trustee Ben Trotter knows there's no easy answer about increasing school security in the wake of the murders at Sandy Hook Elementary School. “We've got to do something, we can't sit back and wait and say, 'If only,'” Trotter said. “This is our 'If only' moment.” Trotter asked for a workshop to be held between district leaders, law enforcement members, city and county officials and others to discuss school safety,. That workshop was held Monday with a group of about 30 people attending. “We appreciate you being here, representing your different areas and giving us input,” said Superintendent Dr. Kelly Pew. The group discussed placing school resource officers at each of the district's elementary schools. “There's been a lot of concerns …
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Hundreds turned out Monday to support prayer before the Board of Trustees of the School District of Pickens County meets. The district was recently criticized by a national organization for allowing student-led prayer before public board meetings.
A huge crowd came to the district office Monday night, calling on school board members to fight a request from a Wisconsin-based organization to halt student-led invocations at school board meetings. The crowd spilled out of the boardroom, into the district office and out on the front lawn as attendees waited to see what action the board would take on the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s letter. Many signed up to speak at the meeting, appealing directly to the board. None of the speakers spoke in defense of the foundation’s request. Former board member Oscar Thorsland said the foundation’s stand “not only totally wrong ….but absolutely absurd.” “It is unbelievable that you’re being charged with an unconstitutional act by opening school …
Friday, January 4, 2013
More school resource officers, arming teachers and administrators among proposals discussed following shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School
Discussions of school safety nationwide have followed the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School last month. At a recent joint meeting of the Pickens County Legislative Delegation and school district officials, that topic was very much on the minds of educators and legislators. “What happened in Newtown is of great concern to us,” said Sen. Larry Martin, who said there's going to be “a lot of different discussions” regarding school safety in the coming weeks. “Killing 20 first-graders – it's just incomprehensible that something like that could happen. This is going to be on our minds for some time.” Several days after the shootings, Martin was asked what he thought would be done regarding school safety. “My first reaction was, 'Look, we …
Officials talk about the makeup of the school board at recent meeting.
Does the School District of Pickens County Board of Trustees have too many members, or not enough? District officials and members of the Pickens County Legislative Delegation discussed the makeup of the school board at joint meeting recently. Several years ago, the legislature voted to reduce the Pickens County School Board from nine members to six, by eliminating the three at-large seats. “It's very difficult with an even number, especially with only six,” Board Chairman Judy Edwards said. “It would be wonderful if we could have one more member to our board, so that we don't have that 3-3 tie and very often not be able to get something passed because we have that tie.” She said the seventh board member could either be an at-large member …
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Plans will address ADA-accessibility, bus drop-off and mold and drainage issues at school.
Board members got a look at the renovation plans for Gettys Middle School Monday night. Paul Mussman with McMillan Pazdan Smith Architects presented the schematic designs for the school during the board's October meeting. “The schematic design is reflective of the scope and design required by the district and has been review by the principal of Gettys Middle School,” said Bob Folkman, Operations and Building Program Administrator. Mussman said the project remains on target for its $10.5 million budget. Mussman said the existing school is around 125,000 square feet. “We're going to renovate that 125,000 square feet,” he said. “We're doing minimal demolition.” The school, once renovations are completed, will be around 133,000 square feet, …
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Future proceeds from sale of Pendleton Street practice field will be applied to district general fund.
Last month, Easley High School band officials, players, parents and boosters appeared before the school board to ask that proceeds from the future sale of the former band practice field be given to the band program to help meet its instrument and equipment needs. Easley High School Band Director Patrick Mainieri said the band has struggled to absorb budget cuts over the last few years. He said many of the band's instruments are far beyond their expected lifespan. “Due to extreme budget cuts, we have not been able to allocate funds to proper yearly maintenance, due to other more essential financial needs “ Mainieri said. “We have resorted to waiting until the last possible moment to repair an instrument, usually when a student brings it to …
Easley Watchful Angel
10:14 pm on Thursday, March 28, 2013
The last man that walked on water was kicked out of his church and now living with his boyfriend! Thank goodness he's no longer principal at West End and Gettys Middle School. All you parents that let your boys go swimming at his house out on Three and Twenty road you may want to talk to your sons. You should make sure they weren't abused in any way sense the criteria for swimming was in the nude… more ›