Spotlight One
2019-2020 Mid-Year Edition
A Publication of Richland County School District One
A Major Milestone Every year, we inevitably remark around this time of the year that the school year is going by quickly. The 20192020 school year is no exception. As we look back on the first half of the year and look ahead to the second, we can be proud of major achievements and everyday triumphs in schools and departments across our district. We believe it’s important to celebrate our successes and keep our stakeholders informed about our progress. This publication is one of the many ways we do that. During the fall semester, we celebrated the news that our graduation rate reached a major milestone – 82.2 percent – the district’s highest-ever graduation rate. Our schools, students and staff won prestigious honors and awards at the state and national levels. We held a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of our last stadium renovation project. Please take time to read this mid-year update to catch up on all the great things that have been happening in Richland One. We also want you to stay connected throughout the year via our website, social media, R1TV and our Spotlight ONE publications. As always, we thank you for your support of Richland One as we work together to transform the lives of our students through education. We are Richland One Strong!
Craig Witherspoon, Ed.D. Superintendent
W ith high-energy music playing and purple pom-poms waving in the air, ecstatic Richland One students, school and district leaders, support staff and community partners celebrated the district’s highest-ever graduation rate with a special assembly October 2. At 82.2%, Richland One’s 2019 high school graduation rate is not only the highest in the district’s history, it also surpassed the statewide average of 81.1%. The latest graduation rate data was released by the South Carolina Department of Education as part of the 2019 school, district and state report cards. Richland One Superintendent Dr. Craig Witherspoon credited the historic increase in the district’s graduation rate to the bold new strategies that were implemented last summer, including creating school and district graduation teams to track student progress, holding meetings with seniors and their parents to identify needs and barriers to graduation,
and providing mentors to motivate students who may need an extra push. “It does take a village. It takes everyone working together. Reaching this number – 82.2% – starts in elementary school. Graduation doesn’t just happen. You can’t just wait until their senior year. It’s a culmination of people doing a lot of work at the district, school and community levels,” said Dr. Witherspoon. “We start strong, we finish stronger and we do what we do because we care for
our young people.”
Inside: By the Numbers · Points of Pride · Key Dates
By the
NUMBERS
$86.5 million
+
in scholarships and other financial aid earned by the Richland One Class of 2019 … a new district record!
82.2%
The district’s highest-ever graduation rate - Richland One’s 2019 graduation rate is also higher than the state average.
14
academically talented Richland One students have been named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, a prestigious distinction achieved by less than 1 percent of all U.S. high school seniors.
16
Number of Palmetto Gold and Palmetto Silver awards collectively won by 11 Richland One schools for the 2017-2018 and 20182019 school years – The awards are the state’s highest educational awards for student academic achievement and improvement. Award winners were selected based on their school report card ratings.
17
Richland One schools were recognized as 2019 National Healthy Schools Award winners. The award celebrates schools that meet or exceed standards set by Healthier Generation’s Healthy Schools Program. This is the fifth consecutive year that Richland One has had the most National Healthy Schools Award winners in the state.
31
Number of consecutive years that Richland One has received the highest honors in financial reporting and accounting from the Government Finance Officers Association and the American Association of School Business Officials.
Points of Pride Places of Freedom, a collection of poems, essays, pictures and media art created by Lower Richland High School students through the StoryLab project, was featured at the Columbia Museum of Art. The Lower Richland StoryLab was an in-school media program that focused on the issues faced by rural communities in and around Lower Richland in the 21st century. Richland One schools and student-athletes won 12 gold, silver and bronze medals at the 2019 4A State Swim Championships. A.C. Flora High School swimmers won two gold, two silver and three bronze medals. Dreher High School’s swimmers took home four silver medals and one bronze medal. A.C. Flora’s Tanner Edwards outswam the competition to win state championships in the 100-yard butterfly and the 100-yard backstroke. With a time of 49.79 in the backstroke, he set a new state record by more than 0.6 seconds. Two Richland One educators were named finalists for Principal of the Year honors by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA). Dr. Linda Norton, principal at Watkins-Nance Elementary School, was a finalist for 2020 South Carolina Elementary Principal of the Year. Dr. Robin Coletrain, principal at W.A. Perry Middle School, was named a finalist and later announced as the 2020 South Carolina Middle Level Principal of the Year. The Resiliency Team at Watkins-Nance Elementary School was officially launched as part of the United Way of the Midlands’ Resilient Richland initiative. Resilient Richland aims to reduce the stigma of trauma and equip individuals and organizations with information and skills to build resilience among children and youth who experience traumatic incidents, referred to as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Watkins-Nance is one of two Midlands schools in the pilot program. For the second consecutive year, Richland One received a Partnership District Award from the National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University. The award is a national recognition of the district’s leadership in building strong programs of school, family and community partnerships. Richland One and nine schools will be included in NNPS’ Promising Partnership Practices 2019 book. The Challenger Learning Center’s summer camps received the “ACE Academy” (Aviation Career Education) designation from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). ACE Academies provide “unique summer aviation education programs for elementary, middle and high school students who are interested in aviation and aerospace.” To read more of our Points of Pride, go to www.richlandone.org.
District Celebrates Completion
of Bolden Stadium
S
tudents, school staff, district officials and community supporters gathered November 1 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate and officially mark the completion of C.F. Bolden Stadium. The stadium was rebuilt and modernized as part of the upgrades that have been made to stadiums and athletics fields across the district. Bolden Stadium, which is one of Richland One’s four stadiums, serves as the home stadium for C.A. Johnson and Columbia high schools. Features include seating for 5,000 people, a new artificial turf field, new lights, a new video scoreboard, a new press box, new restrooms and new concession stands. “I’ve coached in the state, out of the state and I’ve seen many, many different stadiums, and I want to tell you by far this is absolutely one of the most magnificent I’ve seen,” said Columbia High Head Football Coach Jason Bush.
The stadium is named in honor of Charles F. Bolden, Sr., who was a legendary football coach at C.A. Johnson High School. Members of the Bolden family, including Coach Bolden’s son, Warren, were in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Now that the work on Bolden Stadium is done, only one project
remains to be completed: The Dreher field is expected to be ready in time for spring 2020 sports. The vision for the projects came from a discussion the Richland One Board of School Commissioners had in 2014 about the need to upgrade the district’s athletics facilities, many of which had not undergone major improvements in 40 or more years.
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KEY DATES January 1-31 National Mentoring Month
May 6
National School Nurse Day
January 17
Professional development day; no school for students
May 25
Memorial Day holiday
January 20
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
May 30
January 23
Report cards issued
SOAR Into Summer Success Celebration, South Carolina State Fairgrounds, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
February 1
Richland One Hall of Fame Induction Gala, Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center; red carpet reception at 5 p.m., program/dinner at 6 p.m. (purchase tickets at www.r1galatickets.org)
June 1
High school graduation ceremonies, Colonial Life Arena – Lower Richland, 12 p.m.; Dreher, 4 p.m. Richland One Middle College graduation ceremony, Koger Center for the Arts, 7 p.m.
February 10
2020-2021 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten online registration begins
June 2
High school graduation ceremonies, Colonial Life Arena – C.A. Johnson, 8 a.m.; Eau Claire, 12 p.m.; A.C. Flora, 4 p.m.
February 13
Superintendent’s State of the District Address, Lower Richland High School Auditorium, 6 p.m.
June 3
High school graduation ceremonies, Colonial Life Arena – Columbia, 8 a.m.; W.J. Keenan, 12 p.m.
February 28
June 5
Last day of school for students (early dismissal)
Parent-teacher conferences (p.m.)/professional development day; no school for students
March 2-6
National School Breakfast Week
March 20
Student/staff holiday
April 1
Report cards issued
April 10-17
Spring Break
April 13-17
Week of the Young Child
April 30
Early registration for pre-kindergarten ends
May 1
National School Lunch Hero Day
May 4-8
Child Nutrition Employee Appreciation Week
May 5
National Teacher Day
NOTE: Dates are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information and to view the 2019-2020 academic calendar, go to www.richlandone.org.