Board of Trustees Member Biography
Ms. Ann Oplinger
Ann Oplinger has been a career educator for more than 30 years, with 22 of those years as a teacher, assistant principal and principal in the Charleston County School District. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Education Degree from the University of Arkansas and a Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from The Citadel. She has an additional 40 graduate hours in education from The Citadel, Clemson University and The College of Charleston.
Ann and her husband, Bill, a retired music professor at the College of Charleston, have lived in Charleston since 1971. They have two grown children, both of whom attended Charleston County public schools and graduated from Wando High School.
Having worked in seven different schools in the district, Ann brings a unique knowledge of the rural, suburban, and urban Charleston County schools. She has had a distinguished thirteen-year record of service as principal of Memminger Elementary School, being successful in energizing and exciting teachers, engaging parents and the community, minimizing behavior problems, and improving student achievement. While at Memminger, Ann was responsible for instituting the first Accelerated Schools program in the state of South Carolina.
As a board member, Ann’s interests are in ensuring equity among all of our schools, improving community ownership and support of public schools, and in decreasing the achievement gaps by improving school and students performance, decreasing dropout rates and raising graduation rates.
Ann serves as co-chairperson for Charleston County: A Community of Readers and is a member of the College of Charleston’s School of Education Advisory Board and of the Charleston County School District’s Literacy Roundtable. She is a past member of the Charleston Education Network and has volunteered for Community In Schools and for the Lowcountry Food Bank.
Contact Information:
Ms. Elisabeth Ann Oplinger
E-mail: sbaop@comcast.net
Term expires: 11/2012 - Elected: 11/2008
