Our school is helping all students develop the World Class Skills of the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate by providing learning opportunities tailored to meet each student's individual needs. The staff at Thomas E. Kerns Elementary School is committed to the Greenville County Schools Graduation Plus initiative: Building a Better Graduate: Creating Career and College Ready Students. In addition to our emphasis on academics, we foster and teach the value of education, healthy lifestyles, physical, social and emotional learning, and the character traits of integrity, respect, responsibility, self-direction, perseverance, work ethic, and interpersonal skills.
Thomas E. Kerns Elementary School's mission is to develop successful, responsible, and respectful life-long learners. We accomplish our mission by ensuring that we have competent and capable staff members in our school. We believe our commitment to quality professional learning communities, instructional coaching, and professional development strengthens our Tier 1 instruction and provides our learners with a quality education. Teachers meet weekly to analyze data and collaborate to improve all students' results and reflect on their classroom practices. In addition, the administration, behavior coach, and guidance counselor assist in the development of responsible and respectful learners by providing ways for students to demonstrate these character traits. Our learners receive classroom guidance, positive bus referrals, student of the month celebrations, fifth grade club day, behavior and academic incentives, tutoring, field trips, chorus, and other learning opportunities during the year.
We administered the teacher's upbeat survey in the spring of 2020. Our upbeat survey results revealed that 100% of our staff believes that the administration communicates a clear vision for teaching and learning. Thomas E. Kerns Elementary School's vision is to encourage a culture of excellence for students, staff, parents, and the community. Our social worker connects us with various churches and community organizations that provide us with school supplies, clothes, food, and other resources for our families. The social worker secures dedicated community partners who mentor and read to our learners monthly. The parent involvement coordinator and Title I facilitator host parenting workshops, Parents in the Classroom Day, and parent/student academic nights. We have a dedicated Parent Teacher Association that donates funds for field trips, classroom supplies, and the school's beautification. In addition, the PTA hosts various events such as Spirit Nights, Mother/Son and Father/Daughter dances, Doughnuts for Dads, and Muffins for Moms. The School Improvement Council initiative inspires learners to pay it forward through the love of reading.
At Thomas E. Kerns, we are a community dedicated to building better graduates. Our teachers, staff members, and community partners work together to help every student achieve success. We are dream chasers, daring to dream and working to make dreams reality. Catch the Wildcat Spirit!
Elaine Naradowski, SIC Chairperson
Ronda Simmons, Principal
