Message From Superintendent

We were impacted again by COVID-19 in a manner that we never envisioned. When we were struck with the unforeseen pandemic, we were engulfed with uncertainty.  However, we knew that it was imperative for the learning experience of our students to continue to the best of our ability. With this thought in mind, we did what had to be done. To this end, Williamsburg County School District (WCSD) is refining & redesigning teaching and learning. The instructional highlights for 2020-21 school year focused mainly on areas for professional growth. District leaders, administrators, instructional coaches as well as select teachers participated in yearlong professional development sessions facilitated by the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching and S2TEM Centers, as well as 112 hours of Montessori Philosophy Training at the primary level. The goal for this year was to increase professional learning support for teachers and administrators in Williamsburg County by strategically coordinating time to study pedagogy.

The National Institute of Excellence in teaching (NIET) focused their sessions on Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), building impactful collective leadership teams, and developing a reflective school culture: leveraging the strengths of teachers to impact student learning. In addition, we engaged in virtual learning walks that were structured to teach the process of observations and strength-based feedback. We provided multiple sessions of training as professional development for principals, assistant principals, coaches, district personnel and lead teachers.

S2TEM Centers provided Cognitive Coaching certification training for WCSD professionals. The Coaching model will enable our district to establish common language for communication in which will empower others into becoming self-directed, self-governing, and self-modifying as goals are set and met towards meeting the needs of our students. In addition to Cognitive Coaching, S2TEM Centers also worked with our district teachers & leaders digging deeper into student centered mathematics and aligning instruction with standards.

Additionally, we are piloting the Montessori Philosophy of learning in our primary school. All Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers as well as teacher assistants have participated in training to become Montessori teachers.  Upon completion, participants will receive their certification to teach the Montessori curriculum beginning during the 2021-22 school year.

Being immersed into the digital world, our teachers learned how to prevent interruption of instruction by utilizing a virtual classroom. Our virtual classroom aka Learning Management System (LMS) is Canvas. Canvas allowed us to provide equitable access and instructional continuity for every student. Teachers used Canvas as their virtual classroom and learned how to facilitate learning in both synchronous and asynchronous formats.

To support students during a very atypical year, we continued with our implementation of MTSS. During this school year, our goal was to not only ensure that students received as much support in their learning as possible but to also make sure that we had evidence of family contact, academic & attendance support as well as social emotional care. Many students were disengaged however, we continued to reach out throughout the year to show that we cared and wanted students back in school where they could re-engage in a more structured format in hope of reaching their potential.

Finally, we decided to write a new five-year district strategic plan. As we analyzed our data, we discovered that during transitions and new staffing, many of our initial goals were confusing and became unattainable. We rewrote and submitted a new plan to create a new vision for who we need to become to positively impact student achievement, teacher/administrative quality and the climate and culture of our schools. Our goal was to create a solid plan for the district and align all school renewal plans so that we can move forward into a new school year and five-year cycle with a more cohesive vision for teaching and learning in Williamsburg County.

Dr. Rose Wilder, District Superintendent

Ms. Molly Spearman, State Superintendent