From the Superintendent's Desk

The Week of August 21, 2009

Welcome back, everyone! Thank you for helping us prepare our students for success this week.    

Last week, we worked with the cities of Charleston and North Charleston—along with faith-based, business and community partners—to provide school supplies for families and ensure that students were ready for the first day of school.  Staff worked behind the scenes to make sure our grounds and facilities were in top shape.  Teachers arranged their classrooms.  Media specialists stocked libraries with books.  And we worked hard to inform parents with Back-to-School information by creating fact sheets, letters, and a Help Line that took nearly 400 calls.

And now, after so much planning and prioritizing, our schools are open and thriving again. They are buzzing with eager learners—700 more K-12 students on day one compared to last year’s first day.  I was in our schools bright and early on Tuesday, witnessing firsthand what makes our district such a source of pride:  exciting programs, class offerings and school themes for every student; world-class facilities designed to motivate the 21st Century learner; and most of all, the people.  Visiting schools on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was inspired by the energy of our staff—teachers, principals and others who believe in the potential of every child—and uplifted by the support of parents and community partners.

We have so much momentum as a district.  The good news keeps coming in—our A.C.T. scores released this week were the highest they have been in twelve years, outpacing the state average.  I am confident that this year, we will do even better.  And we are going to share this good news with you weekly through our “Community Update” newsletter and a new “In the News” feature on our website.  Check out this year’s first “In the News” for opening week!

We believe that this year, we’ll have great news all year long, because our priority is clear—improving literacy—and we have the right people and strategies to achieve this goal. We will have a renewed focus on teacher quality and extending time for students who need extra help.  This week, I submitted a commentary for the newspaper that explains our emphasis on improving literacy in further detail.  It has not been published yet but you can read it here, and if you have any thoughts or comments, please email them to me.

Thank you, and until next week,

-Dr. Nancy J. McGinley