Leslie M. Stover is helping to prepare all students to use college and career readiness skills for the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by teaching skills such as positivity, respect and organization to grow wise, life-long learners. Stover’s vision—“to educate all students to be successful”—is evidenced by a safe, caring, and academically challenging environment. We demonstrate this vision by educating all students through a team effort of students, parents, school, and community. We hold all students accountable for their learning with high expectations paired with individual student conferences where students set goals and discuss academic progress with their assigned teacher.
Teachers utilize professional learning communities to analyze data and provide continuous support through social and emotional as well as academic interventions for our students. We continued our peer mentoring programs to assist students in their academic needs. Additionally, Leslie M. Stover was the first school in Kershaw County School District to implement AVID with 7th grade students during the 2021-2022 school year. We plan to expand AVID to 8th grade for the 2022-2023 school year.
Social and emotional learning support was offered to all students. Counselors provided group and individual sessions. Students could also request to speak to their counselors at any time via a Google Form. Additionally, Kershaw County School District partnered with the Alpha Behavioral Health Center and the Department of Mental Health to provide students counseling sessions throughout the school year and social workers. We will continue to expand our social and emotional support for students by introducing the Ripples social and emotional learning curriculum next school year.
Stover teachers are always seeking ways to learn new and effective strategies to use in the classroom. Teachers utilized many new technology platforms and software to engage students as well as provide small group and tiered interventions throughout the school year. Classes for high school credit in English 1, Algebra 1, Spanish 1, and computer science were offered to our students.
Leslie M. Stover Middle School has various programs in addition to academics to support the growth of our students. The school’s motto is "PROWL" — Positive, Respectful, Organized, Wise, and Life-long learners. Stover uses PROWL as our mantra to reinforce character education. Through PBIS, students are rewarded with positive behaviors monthly. In addition, our school offers numerous athletic and student afterschool programs to include: football, basketball, volleyball, and wrestling. Our students can also participate in archery, chess, and after school tutoring. Our goal is to expand our after school programs to include STEAM activities for the 2022-2023 school year.
Our Stover Tigers believe in giving back to the greater community. Students participated in many community service projects and community outreach this year to include: Prisma Health Breast Cancer Walk for Life, March of Dimes, Tigers Take Time to Care, and Books for Blaney. As you can see, our students were very busy!
At Stover we believe that students, parents, school, and community are one unit that shares responsibility in educating our students. Thank you for continuing to support and help develop our future Tiger leaders.
Dr. Chantelle Baker Zimmer, Principal Leslie M. Stover Middle School
Sharman Hughes- Williams, SIC Chairperson
