Superintendent Kelly Pew details challenges for Rock Hill schools

For all the success Rock Hill schools have logged in her first year, Superintendent Kelly Pew told the school board Monday that the district is facing many challenges in coming months.

Money, she said in her first “State of the District” address, will continue to be an issue.

Last year, the school board approved the current fiscal year’s budget with a $1.4 million deficit. Pew said she and her staff have been working to reduce that shortfall by freezing open positions and looking at other ways to save money.

In their planning for the 2016 fiscal year budget, Pew said they are doing their best to create a balanced budget.

Part of that challenge, she said, is that the number of students with “diverse needs” continues to increase while the money to help educate them does not.

“We continue to receive special education students who we need and want to give all that we can,” Pew said. “We are continuing to see lots of needs, but our funding sources are not increasing to help us with those needs.”

In addition to reduced funding for students with “diverse needs,” she said the district is also expecting cuts in federal money that helps schools that serve larger numbers of children from low-income families, as well as facing increased costs for retirement and health care.

On the instructional side, there are “lots of changes in our state,” Pew said.

For the first time this year, students will take an ACT test, which is based on Common Core State Standards. Next year, she said students will be tested on the newly-written state standards; it’s still unclear which test they will be taking.

At the same time, teachers and principals will be evaluated in a new manner.

“Having a new evaluation is one thing,” Pew said. “But when you’re being evaluated on students’ mastery of standards (teachers) really don’t know and testing that is changing, there is a high level of stress.”

Celebrating successes

In her address, Pew also highlighted the success the district has seen the past year.

Rock Hill schools have won multiple state athletic championships, along with numerous awards and championships for other extracurricular and co-curricular activities, like marching band and academic organizations. A number of staff members have also been given state and national awards.

“People are calling us and asking how we do it,” Pew said of her highly-awarded staff. “(District spokeswoman Elaine Baker) tells them we have great employees.”

As a way of demonstrating the district’s focus on classroom performance, Pew said she has participated in 130 classroom observations, watching teachers at work. There is also a focus on the development of professional learning communities across the district to better facilitate staff collaboration and improve student learning.

Pew also noted her commitment to engaging with the community. In addition to joining several organizations, she has held four “town hall”-style meetings and met with community groups and school improvement councils. This is in addition to her many meetings with administrators and staff members across the district, as well as multiple surveys for both district staff and community members.

This story was originally published March 23, 2015 at 10:10 PM with the headline "Superintendent Kelly Pew details challenges for Rock Hill schools."