Board members shed a few tears in remembrance of Leonard O. “Pete” Fletcher Jr. at the Columbia County Board of Education work session Sept. 27, as they remembered the attorney for Richmond and Columbia County schools who died Sept. 13.
“Mr. Fletcher’s lifetime of service and dedication to public education has made a positive, lasting impact that we will not soon forget,” said Steven Flynt, superintendent of schools.
Prior to a moment of silence for Fletcher, Flynt recommended a new candidate for Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety and Security for the Columbia County School District. Police Capt. Gary Owens was approved unanimously by the board as a candidate and will officially take over his new title in November.
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According to a statement from the Columbia County School District, Owens will take the place of longtime Chief Lance Poss who is retiring.
“It’s going to be an extreme challenge to follow up the chief we have now,” said Owens. He also mentioned he is excited to take up the challenge of their police department having full jurisdiction of the entire school district.
“Before we used to hand things off to the Sheriff’s Department, now we’re not going to do that anymore. It’s a huge challenge. I’m excited about a challenge; I’m not afraid of it. We’re going to make it work,” he said.
Following Owens’ promotion and Fletcher’s remembrance, assistant superintendents Kellye Bosch and Steven Cummings gave a report on students’ beginning of the year pretest scores for the statewide End of Course Tests in both mathematics and English/Language Arts
Bosch and Cummings showed data to support their claim of how students both, pre- and post-pandemic, have continued testing above state standards across all school levels.
“First and foremost, I would attribute it to the fact that we remained in school more than a lot of other students across the nation were able to,” said Bosch. “Our board was very intentional in making sure that we could be in school as often as possible with face-to-face instruction, so that is a lot of it.”
For those who scored below the average, Bosch said teachers were taking extra time to spend with students in their troubled areas of learning to bridge the learning gap and get them back on track.
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After Bosch and Cummings’ report, associate superintendent Michele Sherman gave a brief review of the district’s different pathway programs for students. With about 17 certifications, students are able to earn a certification for high school credit which they can use immediately after graduating. Certifications offered vary from culinary and nutrition, engineering, graphic design, healthcare or even automotive and mechanics.
Sherman said students also have the option to earn some credits through the district’s work-based learning program if they have a paying job.
Flynt then ended the meeting by mentioning the predicted upcoming tropical storm and how schools and extracurriculars are preparing.
“We are working closely with the local emergency management agency in preparation. We appreciate them and their proactiveness with giving us updated information. We are going to be on some calls over the next couple of days monitoring very closely what the impact of Ian and what their forecasts are looking like,” said Flynt. “We are going to be considering moving students and staff and all our portables inside assuming we have a school day looking at Thursday and Friday. Right now, we’re looking at mostly that possibility being on Friday.”
Friday night’s high school football games have already been rescheduled to Wednesday and Thursday nights to avoid Hurricane Ian, while any other outdoor activities were canceled or postponed.
“Teachers are also already preparing. We sent out some information earlier today to all principals for emergency preparing in case we are going to be out of school with that severe weather,” said Flynt. “So, we’re asking teachers to go ahead and get their preparations for digital lesson plans if needed due to weather conditions on Friday.”
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Flynt said the district will continue to monitor the storm and make adjustments and plans as needed.
According to a weather statement from Columbia County School District, “if any changes are made to the school day parents will be alerted directly via the school district’s mass communication channels by email, text and phone. Information will also be posted on school websites, social media platforms and shared with local news media outlets.”
The next Columbia County Board of Education meeting will be Oct. 11 for regular session.
For updates on Columbia County’s school closings go to: www.ccboe.net
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
