While the 2016-2017 school year presented many challenges, the Georgetown County School District continued to meet these obstacles and be successful.

Many people referred to the historic and devastating flood in October 2015 as a “1,000-Year Flood,” but almost one year to the day, Hurricane Matthew made landfall just south of Georgetown County, bringing more massive flooding and destruction. Hurricane Matthew roared through Georgetown County, leaving a trail of uprooted trees, downed power and cable lines, wind-damaged structures and widespread flooding. Some of our schools were used as shelters both before and after the hurricane. Others were used as staging areas and supply distribution centers by the National Guard and law enforcement. Many of our citizens who were just getting re-established after the 1,000-Year Flood were quickly shoved into as bad as, or worse, situations than before. Georgetown County School District missed more than a week of school as shelters remained open and staff members joined with others in the community in clean-up and relief efforts. By working closely with other county and state agencies, we were able to work through the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew.

The state’s most recent report card with grades scored us Excellent/Excellent. Only seven of 83 districts in South Carolina earned the Excellent/Excellent rating. Financially, we have maintained our strong bond rating of Aa3 which reflects our “well-managed financial position with satisfactory reserves, and low debt burden with manageable pension costs,” according to Moody’s Investors Service.  Out of 83 Districts in S.C., we rank near the bottom regarding millage rate for the District.  Fourteen of our 18 schools serve universal breakfast and lunch free to all children.

We continue to make security a priority. We added SROs/off-duty police officers at all school locations and many events.  We made renovations to secure all entrances.  We also added cameras, check-in stations, visitor screenings, volunteer screening, metal detectors, drug dogs, etc.

Georgetown County offers all students opportunities to develop world-class skills and life and career characteristics described in the “Profile of the South Carolina Graduate” by preparing them to be leaders in their communities, successful college graduates, outstanding members of our workforce, and our military. During the 2016-2017 school year students participated in robotics, STEM Camp, career internships and competitions, and all state fine arts to name a few of the extra-curricular experiences. Project Lead the Way became a reality in our elementary, middle, and high schools. Additional opportunities through virtual learning were experienced through more than 950 courses by our high school learners. These ranged from career classes, core honors classes, and advanced placement scenarios. These exciting, challenging, and rigorous courses added much depth to our program, thus allowing students to experience distance learning before attending college. Our 2017 graduating class earned $14,309,774 in scholarship money.

Partnerships continue to be a vital part of our success in serving the total GCSD population.  Our community, businesses, civic organizations, foundations, and parents are extremely supportive and giving.  This enables us to serve the wrap-around needs of our students.

With the passing of the school bond referendum last year, planning is well under way for many districtwide additions and improvements in the next few years. It is an exciting time as facilities and equipment will be improved to help better educate our students.

We appreciate the tremendous support of our community, administration, teachers, staff, students, and parents as we continue to be successful having our students exemplify the “Profile of a South Carolina Graduate!”  We look forward to working hard in 2017-2018 to achieve another year of great student accomplishments.