What's new this year for SICs?

Join us for this year's round of SIC Collaboratives in your area of the county! A SIC collaborative is an evening of idea sharing and cross-collaboration between all school improvement councils in a constituent district area. It is a great opportunity to get to know council members from nearby schools and to learn more about what councils are doing in a feeder pattern as students progress from elementary to middle to high.

2024-2025 SIC Collaborative Schedule

My school has a SIC, but what should we be doing?

New this year is a SIC Activities Resource Library with six volumes highlighting the best of SIC projects and work from around the state. 

Additionally, to help ensure that your time and effort are directed toward activities that are appropriate for your school, consider the following questions before selecting, planning and implementing specific activities:

1. Are we addressing a need that was identified in our school’s Five-Year School Improvement (Renewal) Plan?
2. If not, have we looked at other existing data or collected data ourselves in order to verify that the need actually exists? Have we confirmed that this need impacts student achievement either directly or indirectly? Do we have enough information to know what factors contribute to this need at our school?
3. Have we defined the goal that we hope this activity will help us achieve? Is our goal aligned with one or more goals in the School Improvement (Renewal) Plan?
4. Will this activity help us meet our goal by addressing one or more of the factors that contribute to the need we are working on?
5. Will this activity duplicate activities that are already being implemented by others? Is it a good fit for our school community?
6. What resources do we need in order to implement this activity with quality? Do we have these resources? If not, can we get the resources we lack through partnerships with other individuals or organizations in the school or community?

What leadership does a SIC have?

Each SIC elects its own officers annually – a Chair, a Vice Chair, and a Secretary. SICs do not hold funds, so there is no Treasurer. It is the responsibility of the elected SIC Chair to preside over SIC meetings and to work with the principal to develop meeting agendas.

Required SIC duties include:

• Reporting its SIC membership information to the state using the online SC-SIC Member Network by November 15 each year (principal’s responsibility)
  Assisting in the preparation of the five-year School Improvement Plan and annual updates;
• Assisting in monitoring the school’s progress under the Plan;
• Consulting with the school on the development of the family engagement portion of the School Reading Plan as required by the Read to Succeed Act;
• Writing the annual SIC Report to the Parents (distributed by April 30 and posted to online SIC Member Network by June 1);
• Assisting the principal in writing the narrative report for the annual SC School Report Card. 

How are SIC representatives chosen?

Parents are nominated and elected by the parents at their child's school.
Teachers are nominated and elected by teachers at their school.
Students elect student representatives in schools serving grade 9 or higher.
Elementary and middle school SICs may include student representatives.
Community member representatives are appointed by the principal to the SIC. Interested community members should contact the school principal or SIC Chair for more details.

What are the limitations on a SICs' authority?

SICs are advisory only. They do not have any of the powers and duties reserved for the local school board, district, or school administrators, teachers, and staff.