UNION — Members of the Union County Board of School Trustees were sworn in Monday night by Clerk of Court Freddie Gault, and officers B.J. McMorris, chair, and Kim Bailey, vice chair, were re-elected.
The following are several topics discussed at Monday night’s meeting:
- Expansion of Advanced Placement course offerings.
Director of Secondary Education Cindy Langley discussed a number of changes being made to the AP course offerings, such as an AP Human Geography class for ninth-graders. Such a class is currently offered at other schools including Dorman High School’s freshman campus. Expansions will be made in a variety of other subject areas as well.
“Students will have to make choices,” Langley said, explaining that students will have options regarding honors, AP or dual-credit courses. “This will suit students’ interests better, but every student will not be able to take every class.”
- Conversion of district software.
Finance Director Lynn Lawson explained that the software with which the school district currently operates is out of date. He also said there is new ownership for the distributor, and Lawson suggested converting to a new software package called Infinite Visions by Tyler Technologies. He said the software package was made especially for school districts and is currently used in over 850 districts in 26 states including South Carolina.
Lawson also pointed out other areas in which the district is “behind the times.”
“It’s nearly 2013, and the things we’re doing have been eliminated in the business world for the last 10 years,” Lawson said in regard to the amount of paper used in the district office for invoices, deposits and orders.
Lawson also discussed the construction of baseball and softball fields at Union County High School, mentioning that the project is still on track. He also said there have been creative solutions implemented — without additional costs — in making sure the site is balanced.
- Career Center update.
Superintendent Dr. Kristi Woodall recommended that Union County High School and the Career Center — which currently accommodates 1,561 students — be separated into two operations. The Career Center would have its own administrator, although the center would still operate under the umbrella of UCHS.
“It will never really be two campuses because there are too many overlaps,” Woodall said.
Board members requested information about how the system works at other schools with similar models.
Look for more in-depth coverage of items discussed at Monday’s meeting in upcoming editions of The Union Daily Times and at www.uniondailytimes.com.
Staff Writer Derik Vanderford can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 29, or by email at dvanderford@heartlandpublications.com.
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