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Teacher turnover concerns board District strives to address shortage with recruitment, retention effort BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com Nearly every public school district in the state is having challenges filling classrooms with certified teachers, as many younger teachers are leaving the field and the pipeline of graduates entering the schools is not big enough, according to a presentation by district staff at the Sumter School Board of Trustees meeting Monday night.
According to the annual Supply and Demand Survey for the state’s school districts conducted by the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, 4,074.3 certified teachers didn’t return to their positions for the 2015-16 school year. That is approximately a 570 teacher increase from 2012-13. In its calculations, CERRA reports positions in full-time equivalents based on 1.0 for full-time teachers and fractions for part-time positions. Of the
4,074.3 teachers who didn’t return to the classroom this year in the state, only about 1,060 — or 26 percent — were retirees. The study revealed 37 percent of teachers in South Carolina who taught five years or fewer left the classroom for other careers at the end of the 2016 school year. And 14.2 percent of the exiting teachers taught one year or less.
SEE TEACH, PAGE A5
Mayoral candidates debate the issues
KEITH GEDAMKE / THE SUMTER ITEM
Canidates for Mayor, from left, William “Dutch” Holland, Charlie Jones and incumbent Mayor Joe McElveen debate at Sumter High School on Tuesday night.
Transparency, strategic planning, fairness held up as issues of concern by challengers
Delegation will try, try again in 2017 Area lawmakers expect familiar issues to dominate next session BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com The Sumter County delegation to the General Assembly of South Carolina expects at least two of the major issues considered in 2016 to return to the Statehouse when they meet in January. That’s the No. 1 takeaway from the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast, held Tuesday morning at the Central Carolina Technical College Health Sciences Center, 133 S. Main St. State Sens. Kevin Johnson JOHNSON and Thomas McElveen, as well as Reps. David Weeks, Robert “Bobby” Ridgeway, Joe Neal, Murrell Smith and Grady Brown spoke at the annual event. Members of the delegation said finding a way to fund maintenance for the state’s highways and for improving public education are still in need of long-term solutions. “We made a little progress last year, but in the Senate, most of the progress came in the final weeks of the session,” Johnson said. “I think this is the year we are probably going to get a roads bill — of course, I said that last year — we had some folks who were afraid of making some tough decisions in an election year,” Johnson said. “I hope we can get it done this year.” Johnson said he also expected health care, pension reform and ethics to come up in the session.
SEE BREAKFAST, PAGE A4
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com The three candidates for mayor of Sumter in the Nov. 8 election met on the stage of the Sumter High School auditorium Tuesday night, and each put forth his vision for Sumter during a debate sponsored by the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce, the Sumter Board of Realtors and the Building Industry Association of Central South Carolina. Retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Lefford Fate posed the questions to the candidates, many of which came from students at
‘Our role is to be a shameless cheerleader for the City of Sumter. I want to show how a diverse community like Sumter can work together. I want the entire county to be uplifted.’ MAYOR JOE MCELVEEN Describing how he sees the role of mayor Mayewood Middle School. William “Dutch” Holland introduced himself as a retired military officer who chose to live in Sumter. He frequently touted his leadership skills learned during his 34-year military career.
He said he wanted to use his leadership training and experience to help Sumter continue to excel. Holland said he wanted to see more transparent and responsible spending by city government.
“We have to have a strategic plan and follow up,” he said. Charlie Jones said his background is in the music industry as a songwriter and publisher. He said his goal was to get fair treatment for everybody in Sumter. “My goal is to see the black community come up to the same level as the white community,” he said. “The black community feels left behind, and we are not going to bring us up when all the resources are going to other places.”
SEE DEBATE, PAGE A5
County OKs money for water line extension, penny project BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com During its meeting Tuesday, Sumter County Council approved final reading of an ordinance to amend the county’s 2016-17 budget to transfer funds for a water line expansion project and a 2008 Capital Penny Sales Tax project. Council voted to transfer $50,000 from the Shiloh Water Enterprise Fund to extend water lines along Caution Lane and also approved the transfer of $550,000 for a contractual matter
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pertaining to the purchase of real property for the Lafayette Drive Improvement project, a 2008 Capital Penny Sales Tax project. The original ordinance for the penny project called for a transfer of $500,000, but council voted to amend the ordinance to increase the amount to $550,000 during its meeting. Also, council approved second reading of an ordinance to amend the county zoning and development ordinance to make solar energy systems as conditional uses in light industrial-warehouse,
heavy industrial, agricultural conservation, conservation preservation and agricultural conservation-10 districts. Addressing concerns about solar farms emitting enough heat to kill birds that fly over them, Sumter CityCounty Planning Department Director George McGregor said the kinds of solar panel and solar tower systems that reflect excessive heat would not be allowed in the county under the drafted ordinance.
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Vice president to campaign in city Nov. 1 FROM STAFF REPORTS The South Carolina Democratic Party Coordinated Campaign announced Monday that Vice President Joe Biden will be headlining two Get Out the Vote events in South Carolina on Nov. 1, in Sumter and Rock Hill. Biden will be BIDEN joined by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, congressional candidate Fran Person and other elected officials, candidates and party leaders. Party officials think Hillary Clinton has a chance to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry South Carolina since 1976, and Fran Person’s race against Congressman Mick Mulvaney is one of the most hotly contested races in the South, a news release states. Details will be announced in the coming days.
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ANOTHER NICE DAY
3 SECTIONS, 18 PAGES VOL. 122, NO. 10
Warm and mostly sunny today with no chance of rain; tonight, patchy clouds and cool. HIGH 74, LOW 52
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