LAURINBURG — Despite summer not officially ending until Sept. 23 for many local students, Sunday marks the unofficial end. The school year officially kicks off on Monday for all traditional Scotland County Schools.
Students and staff both began the last-minute preparations for the school year over the past week with students attending open houses to meet with their teachers and teachers attending professional development days and preparing their classrooms.
On Thursday, 10th- and 12th-grade students got to meet their new teachers for the year with many parents coming along with them. One of those parents included Leslie Sellers who was joining her son Jackson, a junior at the high school.
“It’s nice to be able to be able to come and meet the teachers and see them face to face,” Leslie said. “I don’t get to come out to the high school that much during the year so it’s nice to be able to find out their expectations for the year.”
Jackson is looking forward to taking some classes are Richmond Community College and looking into different colleges but is also looking forward to the different sports seasons since he runs cross country and well as playing basketball and baseball.
Tonya Smith also joined her daughter Shamoani who is going into her senior year. Smith said that she likes coming to get meet the teachers then coming back at the end of the year to hear the stories about her daughter but this year she’s looking forward to something extra.
“I’m really looking forward to getting to watch her walk across the stage in the spring,” Smith said.
Superintendent Ron Hargrave had some advice for students who are about to walk through the school doors on Monday, which was to get excited.
“I want to advise students to come back to school excited and ready to learn,” Hargrave said. “I want them to understand that we’re all here ready to receive them and to help them have a great year. We always want to encourage our students to read every day, I always tell them I don’t care what grade they’re in but reading is one of the most powerful things they can do for themselves to achieve success.”
Teachers prepare
One of the goals of the district is to prepare teachers as best as possible with new information, which come from professional development days. Before school started, all staff gathered at the high school to learn a handful of subjects — but one of the larger programs was when some teachers had a literacy conference.
During the conference, the teachers were able to choose two sessions, ranging from how to use memes with literacy, technology tools and literacy as well as I’m not a reading teacher how can I teach reading.
Fifth-grade Laurel Hill science teacher Shelby Smith says the things she likes how she can take the topics shared at these events and bring them straight into the classroom.
“There were a lot of things that was talked about that I’ll be able to bring to the classroom like how to incorporate literature and real-world problems into my lessons,” Smith said. “It’s great to be able to take this back and be able to help my students, not just in the classroom but in real life as well.”
Besides just professional development days, the staff attended the convocation on Friday, which brought singing and dancing along with awards for the teachers.
Football coach Richard Bailey spoke to all the teachers about the “Power of One,” which was this year’s theme. He spoke on the topic that, at 211-degrees water is hot, but at 212-degrees it’s boiling, and that you never know how close you are to succeeding. He encouraged teachers to not give up on their students or themselves either.
The convocation was followed by a dance battle by all the schools, with Scotland High School winning.
School changes
Over the summer it was announced there would be several principal moves that affected elementary, middle and the high school.
One of those being moved is recently named Principal of the Year Laura Bailey. She will be moving from South Scotland to Laurel Hill Elementary, but she’s excited to get to know all the new students and has spent the summer preparing for the new role.
“There’s been a lot of late nights, this is a very busy time of the year,” Laura said. “I’ve dived into the planning piece of it all by looking at data and everything to see what has been successful, what hasn’t been successful and what the priorities need to be at the start.”
Laurel Hill is also much larger than South Scotland, but Laura says the number means there are more children for her to love.
“I have a passion for kids, so now I have to learn all new names and I’m looking forward to it,” Laura said. “I’m excited for it all to start — this is the best time of year.”
I. Ellis Johnson Elementary School Principal LaTonya McLean will be looking after South Scotland students as she will be principal at both schools in preparation for the merge into South Johnson for the 2020-21 school year.
McLean said that over the summer there has been a lot of preparation into making students and staff feel as though they’re already one large school, like with team building activities and a big event at Hammond Park.
“We’re going to be the South Johnson Gators and everyone has already come together and embraced this new name,” McLean said. “We’re going to continue this into the school year with combined events and we’re going to do as many things as we can to continue getting everyone excited about the merge.”
At the high school, Scotland County Schools Executive Director of Auxiliary Services Larry Obeda is taking over as principal.
“We want to change the culture of the school; there’s been a lot of transitions with principals over the past few years,” Obeda said. “I plan on staying here and I have no desire to leave. I’m a counselor at heart and I’ve missed my interaction with the kids.”
Obeda says he wants the students to enjoy coming to school and is going to start implementing something fun for each grade level as well as hosting a senior tailgate during Homecoming to give the seniors something fun to do.
“Kids want structure and they want discipline,” Obeda said. “Once they understand the parameters and they understand you truly care you can have those relationships so you can push those students a little harder to get them what they need but at the same time you’re there to stick your hand out to help them when they fall.”
District safety
Safety of students is always a top concern when the district is concerned. Last year metal detectors were installed at the high school and this year they could be used more.
Obeda said that the school will see how often they’ll be using the metal detectors as the year progresses. Last year, which was the first year the metal detectors were added, it was just two days a week and those two days were selected at random.
“Safety is the No. 1 concern because, if a student doesn’t feel safe they cannot learn,” Obeda said. “Research has proven that time and time again. It’s that little sense of safeness for the students.
Hargrave added that every building has cameras and there are school resource officers in the schools along with a new district safety officer to help look at what the district is doing to help improve safety for the students.
“With all of that said there’s nothing more valuable or powerful than keeping schools and students and staff safe,” Hargrave said. “When you hear something, say something. When you see something, say something. You know when something is not right, you know when something doesn’t look right or doesn’t sound right. When you get that feeling that’s the time to share with an adult or administrator. We can prevent things from happening if we act on those motions.”
Along with camera the school district as added IN FORCE 911 desktop and mobile applications for staff and administrators in all schools to allow for direct communication with law enforcement officers in the event of an emergency.
The district has partnered with In Force Technology, LLC, out of Boston to equip application district-wide and it’s proven to significantly reduce police response time.
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
