Posted: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 6:00 am BY BRADEN BUNCH bbunch@theitem The Sumter School District Board of Trustees have given Superintendent Randolph Bynum until their next board meeting in three weeks to come up with game plans on how to tackle several issues facing the school system, with the implication that his job hangs in the balance of his response. After a special meeting that began Monday and concluded early Tuesday morning, including a six-hour marathon executive session to discuss personnel, Chairman Keith Schultz read a statement to the remaining crowd on hand expressing the concerns of the board regarding the direction of the district. "In tonight’s executive session discussion, the board identified a number of problems that we believe must be effectively addressed by the superintendent and his staff," Schultz read. "While we realize that these matters including various issues at Sumter High School, the SWEET 16 program and related copyright issues, community relations, numerous employee issues, and morale cannot be resolved overnight, we believe they must be effectively addressed at the next Board meeting, July 22, 2013." The chairman went on to say the superintendent, who was inside the executive session with the board, has been made aware of the situation, and that the board will "afford Mr. Bynum a reasonable time to formulate a response to our concerns. At this time, the Board will by necessity reserve judgment on the quality and promise of his response." Otherwise, the board remained tight lipped afterward to the specifics that were discussed. "We continue to be in deliberations," Schultz said, coming out of the executive session around 10:45 p.m. to update the crowd, adding he could not provide a timeframe for the meeting to finish. This was the third time on the night Schultz had briefly spoken with the crowd. With discussions of a personnel report the only item on the special meeting’s agenda, trustees went into executive session shortly after opening the meeting at 6 p.m. Despite the single-issue executive session agenda, more than 60 people filled the meeting room of the district headquarters on Wilson Hall Road, most of whom awaited the return and actions, if any, by the board. After nearly two hours of executive session, Chairman Keith Schultz came out and addressed the crowd, informing them that the closed-door session was expected to continue “at least another hour, at a minimum.” Many of the audience members left at this time, only to return shortly later and begin waiting again. An hour later, however, Schultz returned and made the same brief speech. The large attendance can most likely be attributed to a series of issues facing the district’s administration and trustees in recent months, including the South Carolina Department of Education announcing last month they have requested the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division launch a criminal investigation into the testing practices at Sumter High School. The request for the SLED investigation came after the education department conducted its own audit of the local school in April during annual High School Assessment Program – or HSAP – testing. Auditors with the department described the testing conditions and practices at Sumter High as some of the worst they had ever seen. Last week, a spokesman with SLED said the agency was looking into the matter, but had yet to determine whether to launch a full investigation. Shortly after the SLED request, year-long complaints of low teacher morale at the school apparently came to fruition, as district records indicated nearly 40 teachers at the district’s largest school would not be returning in the coming school year. According to the district’s own records, a vast majority of those teachers leaving the school chose on their own accord to leave the district entirely. A few others retired or were not offered new contracts, and about 10 teachers from Sumter High were transferred to other schools within the local public school system.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 13:25:02 +0000
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