While the 2017-2018 school year presented many challenges, the Georgetown County School District continued to meet these obstacles and be successful. 

Our school year got off to an epic start – the great eclipse of 2017. Then, for the third consecutive year, our school year was interrupted by inclement weather just as we were getting started, this time in early September. Like the two previous October weather events, we worked closely with other county and state agencies in dealing with Hurricane Irma. Luckily, the damage was not as drastic as the storms from 2015 and 2016.

Financially, we have maintained our strong bond rating of Aa3 which reflects our “well-managed financial position with satisfactory reserves, and low debt burden with manageable pension costs,” according to Moody’s Investors Service.  Out of 83 Districts in S.C., we rank near the bottom regarding millage rate for the District.  Fourteen of our eighteen schools serve universal breakfast and lunch free of charge to all children. 

As in previous years, we continue to make security a top priority. We have added SROs/off-duty police officers at all school locations and many events. We have made renovations to secure all entrances. We also added cameras, check-in stations, visitor screenings, volunteer screening, metal detectors, drug dogs, etc.  We have also added cameras to our buses.

Georgetown County offers all students opportunities to develop world-class skills and life and career characteristics described in the “Profile of the South Carolina Graduate” by preparing them to be leaders in their communities, successful college graduates, outstanding members of our workforce, and our military. During the 2017-2018 school year students participated in robotics, STEM Camp, career internships and competitions, and all state fine arts to name a few of the extra-curricular experiences. Project Lead the Way became a reality in our elementary, middle, and high schools. Additional opportunities through virtual learning were experienced through more than 950 courses by our high school learners. These ranged from career classes, core honors classes, and advanced placement scenarios. These exciting, challenging, and rigorous courses added much depth to our program and allowed students to experience distance learning before attending college. Our 2018 graduating class earned a record $16,253,995 in scholarship money. 

Partnerships continue to be a vital part of our success in serving the total GCSD population. Our community, businesses, civic organizations, foundations, and parents are extremely supportive and giving. This enables us to serve the wrap-around needs of our students. 

Extensive research and planning has taken place since the 2016 school bond referendum was overwhelmingly passed by voters. After all the behind the scenes planning and project bidding, evidence of improvements are becoming visible. Professional-level tracks have been constructed at Georgetown and Waccamaw high schools, with work under way for the same quality tracks at Andrews and Carvers Bay high schools. Also scheduled for construction are auxiliary gyms for each of our four high schools, which will offer the schools a great deal of flexibility for games and practice schedules. While numerous bond referendum projects are visible to our stakeholders, many more are not. Vital upgrades to heating and air conditioning units, roof repairs and technology are important improvements being made that might go unnoticed. This is most definitely an exciting time as facilities and equipment will be improved to help better educate our students. 

We appreciate the tremendous support of our community, administration, teachers, staff, students, and parents as we continue to be successful having our students exemplify the “Profile of a South Carolina Graduate!” We look forward to working hard in 2018-2019 to achieve another year of great student accomplishments!