New Chester superintendent talks starting his first school year amid a pandemic
When Chester County School District Superintendent Angela Bain retired in June, she was succeeded by Antwon Sutton.
He came armed with an impressive background. He’s the former student services coordinator for the Fort Mill School District. He taught high school and was an assistant principal in Clover; he was a school principal in Goose Creek, near Charleston. He has two degrees from nearby Winthrop University. And he paid his way through school by driving a school bus.
Sutton came to Chester at a time when the district needed leadership. COVID-19 closed schools six months ago. On Tuesday, schools reopened, testing the district under Sutton’s leadership.
As the pandemic continues, school looks very different this year. The school district offered students two plans: register for a fully-online virtual academy, or attend school on a hybrid schedule.
Hybrid students are split into Cohort A and Cohort B.
Cohort A students attend school in-person each Monday and Tuesday and stay at home Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Cohort B students attend school in-person each Wednesday and Thursday and stay at home on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Both groups will sometimes attend small groups on Fridays.
On days when they’re not in school, students complete paper packets, an effort to combat poor internet services in Chester, Sutton said.
At the end of the day Tuesday, Sutton spoke with the Herald’s Tobie Perkins about the first day of his first school year -- and plans for the future.
This interview has been edited for brevity.
Perkins: How did the first day go? Did you feel like it was successful?
Sutton: Overall, you have your first-day-of-school-type issues. For some reason this year, a lot of students didn’t register -- they have to register every summer to start the year, some didn’t do that. So a lot of students didn’t make it to class at the beginning of the day, because they had to register.
Another thing was the laptops. When they picked the laptops up from our schools, they were supposed to log on to them for the first time on our district network, and they didn’t do that. When they attempted to log on from home this morning, it didn’t allow them to log into the device. So those kids will have to come back to the school facility, and log in that first time. Then they’ll be able to use their devices at home. So those were the two main things for the day.
Otherwise, transportation ran smoothly, the kids were fed. The kids that were going home today, they were given their meals for the rest of the week, because Cohort A won’t be back in school until Monday of next week. I went to every school cafeteria, the meals were already packaged for those students.
Perkins: How were students and teachers feeling? Nervous? Excited?
Sutton: I didn’t see anybody being nervous, staff or students. Of course they were more excited at the elementary and middle school level. High school students -- some [were excited], some are just kind of like, “yeah, we’re back.”
Perkins: How did it go with the online schooling? Were there any connectivity issues or issues with students not logging in?
Sutton: There were a couple calls of parents not being able to get on to connect with their mobile hotspots. (Reporter’s note: CCSD provided 600 free mobile hotspots to student’s families.) But the IT department was great to work with, and our school administrators. As I went to schools, there were several calls that I heard of principals speaking with parents, offering what to try, what to do next, “reset this, reset that,” doing their part.
Perkins: Looking down the road, what is the plan with the online option? Will it continue in Chester?
Sutton: Right now, the plan would be to keep this as another option. I don’t want to go back from this. Maybe not on as large a scale -- granted, we have close to half the district on virtual. But students who were home-bound were doing courses online already. So this was already being utilized, it’s just on a larger scale now. I do see that continuing.
Perkins: What’s the situation with classrooms as far as social distancing? How many kids are in a classroom?
Sutton: We went to all of our schools today and went into various classrooms. The average classroom size is less than 10. Every student had their masks on -- we provided masks, they all had their own masks on. Parents had theirs on while they were waiting in line to enter the building. Overall, for our first day, under the circumstances we’re under right now, there were no major things. I’m pleased, and I’m satisfied with our staff and our students.
(Reporter’s note: CCSD Public Relations Officer Chris Christoff also told the Herald that the district is adhering to all CDC guidelines regarding coronavirus.)
Perkins: What is your message to parents going into the new school year?
Sutton: We appreciate their patience, and we ask for continued patience as we work through these first day glitches. I don’t see us getting things really rolling smoothly maybe for another week, until we cycle all the students through school that need to attend for hybrid, and our virtual students are able to fully get activated and get their schedules together. Just continued patience, that’s all we ask for.
Perkins: Is there anything else you want to say about the beginning of your first year?
Sutton: It’s my first year as superintendent, of course I’ve been excited. I’m still excited to see what the year will bring. Amid a pandemic, I really feel that as long as we follow our safety protocols,through the CDC and DHEC, I think we’ll be fine. As little bumps in the road and things come up, as with the technology, we’ll work to resolve them, as we’ve been doing and as we’ll continue to do. I’m looking forward to a great year amid a pandemic with our students in hybrid and on the virtual platform.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 11:27 AM.
