Dear students, parents and community members:
My first months as your new superintendent have been very rewarding. I have gathered a lot of useful information from my numerous “Listening and Learning” events across Beaufort County – information that will assist our community in developing a new strategic plan for the school district.
This report card looks back at the 2018-19 academic year, another productive one for the district that included academic improvements as well as effective financial initiatives that save taxpayer dollars.
Our biggest academic news last year was an eighth consecutive improvement in the district’s high school graduation rate, which reached an all-time high of 86 percent – up nearly 8 percentage points from five years ago. Eight straight years of increasing graduation rates demonstrates academic improvement across all grade levels, not just high school.
Class of 2019 graduating seniors earned more than $56 million in college scholarships, also an all-time high.
Beaufort County is one of only two South Carolina districts that require a 2.0 minimum (a C average) to participate on athletics teams. Despite the higher bar we’ve set, 97 percent of our high school and middle school student athletes maintained their academic eligibility by meeting the district’s minimum 2.0 GPA participation requirement.
The district has created “schools of choice” in all buildings, meaning that parents can apply to send their children to any academic program at any school in the district, regardless of where they live. Our choice program opens doors to instructional options that are customized to fit student’s individual talents and interests. For the 2018-19 year, more than 2,300 students were enrolled in schools outside their attendance zones.
Every student in grades K-12 has a personal mobile device through the district’s “Connect2Learn” 1-to-1 computer technology initiative.
The district is nationally accredited by AdvancED, a nonprofit organization that reviews school systems around the world. In addition, our total of eight AdvancED STEM-certified schools is more than any other South Carolina district.
Our college scholarship program – the Building a Better Beaufort Scholarship, also called “B3” – pays up to two years of tuition costs at the Technical College of the Lowcountry for qualified local high school graduates.
We are expanding career and technology courses designed to prepare students for high-paying jobs and industry certifications in rapidly emerging fields.
In terms of finances, we continue to see significant savings from smart decisions in recent years, as well as from the installation of cutting-edge technology that conserves electrical power and water. And over the past 19 years, the district has never had a negative finding in any of its annual independent audits.
Every school district in the country is challenged by achievement gaps relating to poverty levels or ethnicity or disabilities. Although there isn’t an overnight fix to closing achievement gaps, it’s important that we begin to take this work on as part of our efforts in improving outcomes for students.
Other significant challenges include accommodating growing numbers of students, renovating aging school buildings and recruiting high-quality teachers.
Community support for Beaufort County’s schools is strong. A good indicator of that support is that although we have dramatically intensified the district’s security screening process for school volunteers, the numbers of volunteers continue to increase – up from 1,300 to more than 7,800 in just five years.
We will continue to develop closer collaborations and partnerships with our business community, and we will make sure our district educators are clear about Beaufort County’s workforce needs and the skills our students must have to meet those needs – skills our students must have if they’re going to enjoy successful careers.
With determination and hard work from educators and students, with continued backing from our families, with unflagging community support, and with constructive partnerships with our business community, we can be confident that student successes will continue in 2019-20.
Frank Rodriguez, Ph.D., Superintendent
