Plan to help students discussed at board of education meeting

    The Pendleton County school board met in regular session on December 14, 2020 at Phillip Sharp Middle School.
    Superintendent Joe Buerkley gave his report in which he complimented and thanked the finance department, accountants for each schools, and principals for their diligent work.  
    The 2019-2020 financial audit was performed and there were no discrepancies or write-ups of any kind. This is due to the great work of all who were mentioned and their dedication to their jobs.  
    The instructional report was given by Laura Pugh. The staff was asked once again to come up with a plan to serve students that met a specific criteria that could be brought into the schools for extra assistance with their school work. The criteria was for reading and math and did not include any new instructional material.  
    Also along with the criteria, it had to include very structured plans for how the staff was going to serve the students while they were in the buildings.  
    This was a very difficult task as not everyone could be selected to participate. Those that were chosen and agreed to participate would follow these guidelines: no more than 10 kids per room at a time,  no more than 15 percent of the school enrollment could participate, no more than two hours per day and staggered start and stop times; for instance, some students would come in the mornings and some in the afternoon.  
    As you can see, this will not be an easy task at all. Some of the criteria included students who failed one or more core classes the first quarter.  If space allowed, students whose parents or teacher requested they participate based on a failing grade in a core subject in this current quarter were invited in for remediation.  
    Students were also offered an opportunity to come into the schools during designated hours (outside of normal school day) for first quarter remediation (two hours on Friday and Saturday and one hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays).
    The following is the percentage of students who took advantage of the opportunity.  
    Northern Elementary’ had a 77 percent acceptance rate.
    Southern Elementary’s acceptance rate was  78 percent.
    At Sharp Middle School 75 percent of invited students accepted the invitation.
    PCHS had an acceptance rate of 94%.     
    The new intercom system for Southern Elementary school will come in at a cost of $57,000 and the bus radio upgrade cost is $36,155.25. Both will be paid for by a grant the school board received due to the work of Matt Compton and Craig Smith.