Communication. The time is right to put together a blog for our Spartanburg Two District family: employees, parents, community and students. The purpose will be to provide some background and insight into decisions, programs, and philosophy surrounding circumstances that are impacting what we do in providing an outstanding education for the students of Boiling Springs and Chesnee. You are invited to check in periodically to see what the superintendent is thinking. You are also encouraged to contact me with your questions and suggestions; email is generally the best avenue. My email address is scott.mercer@spartanburg2.k12.sc.us.

Every day is a good day, depending upon one's attitude.  But I really had a good day Thursday.

It started with a breakfast reception at Boiling Springs Middle School who was honoring their contingent of Jr. Scholar award winners.  They are the 8th graders who score 50 or higher on the PSAT in verbal, math, or writing.  What an interesting group of students they were!

Ms. Ashby, our Director of Elementary Schools, and I then spent the morning visiting every classroom at Boiling Springs Elementary with the school administration.  We witnessed children in every class engaged in their learning being led by caring professionals.  Smiles were in abundance.

Following a busy afternoon of fighting brush fires (when you have 10,000 students and 1,100 employees, there will be some of those), it was an honor to congratulate our 61 District Jr. Scholars with the rest of the Spartanburg County award winners at Twitchell Auditorium on the Converse College Campus.  We also had one student from BSMS, Rebecca Watjen, tie for the highest score in the county on the Critical Reading test.  Seeing parents and family supporting and proud of their children for academic achievement was a tremendous way to end the work day!

When the Board of Trustees meets each month, we always have a group of students perform before we begin the regular agenda.  They serve as an instant reminder to the Board and administration of our District's motto, "Students First!" 

Just last evening, violin players from Boiling Springs Intermediate School under the direction of Lyn Acosta serenaded the audience with a sound that was nothing short of amazing.  Last month, students from Hendrix Elementary School's International Choir under Gail Bagwell's direction sang.  My spirits are always raised by the efforts of these fine teachers and students, the reason we come to work every morning. 

Last night's meeting was special in a number of ways.  Pace Murray, a Boiling Springs High senior, was honored for being named a National Merit Scholarship Program Commended Student which goes along well with his recent acceptance to West Point.  Dr. Nancy Turner did an overview of the programs we provide for our special needs students, then illustrated it by having Skye Attucks address the Board.  She is another BSHS senior who is a special needs student and will graduate in May with a cosmetology certificate and a plan to open "Skye's Spa and Salon" while designing wedding dresses on the side. Her thanks to her teachers were inspiring.  Dr. Josh Patterson, assistant principal of Boiling Springs Intermediate, then provided a PowerPoint overview of how the single gender program we embarked on four years ago has grown.  We began with two boys' and two girls' classes at BSI; it has grown to 22 classes there as well as programs at Hendrix, Boiling Springs Middle and Rainbow Lake Middle.  He concluded by reporting that BSI is hosting a statewide conference on the topic on March 10 (127 teachers are already registered).

Other action during the evening included congratulations to our two assistant superintendents: Dr. Quincie Moore, Instruction, and Mr. Don Denton, Finance, who are both moving on to bigger and better things.  Dr. Moore will be leaving us at the end of March to assume responsibility as the superintendent of Cherokee County Schools.  We are so proud of her!  Mr. Denton will be retiring (again), and we are quite happy for him!

In between all this, the Board had strong discussion and approved a list of facilities projects to be completed and land to be purchased, approved the hiring of Stephen Lynn Fleming to be the varsity head football coach at Chesnee High, approved administrative contracts for next year, reviewed and questioned our financial status, heard about the State Department of Education's Waiver to the "No Child Left Behind" law, and were given a schedule of spring school visits to which they are invited to attend.

It was a good night for the students, staff and community of Spartanburg Two.

It was my privilege to address the fine arts teachers from all over Spartanburg County this past Friday morning as they gathered at the Chapman Cultural Center for a day of staff development.  It was also a joy to be in that wonderful facility unmatched by other cities of our size - Spartanburg is a great place to live and work!

During my comments welcoming the group of about 300 teachers, I related the importance of the arts in my own life.  My mother sang alto in barbershop groups for years, daddy played the piano and sang bass, my older brother played the trumpet and sang tenor, my younger brother sang lead, and I played drums in the high school band and could sing some, too.  We had a family quintet that sang at our church, but after I crooned two lines of "On the Jericho Road," the teachers understood why we never made a record....

That being said, there was a T-shirt in the 70s that stated, "If it weren't for PE, I'd quit school."  We could add chorus, orchestra, band, drama, dance, art, etc. to that slogan as our fine arts are the hook for many of our students; the reason they eagerly anticipate Monday mornings.

No Child Left Behind with its mantra of high stakes testing and accountability in math and reading has resulted in many places reducing the amount of time students spend in the arts, physical education, social studies and science, and even lunch and recess.  Funding has been reduced for those programs.  But there is a body of research that indicates students who are involved in the arts do better in their academic pursuits.  It is not usually the orchestra student who is in the assistant principal's office for disciplinary issues.  Perhaps we should increase funding for fine arts and athletics if we want our test scores to improve....

It was a great day in District Two today!  For the first time in several years, we were able to actually have a full day of staff development on our February date as we have had no hazardous weather days to steal it from us.

Our assistant principals and instructional coaches met with all of our elementary classroom teachers and middle and high school core areas teachers and led them through "repacking the standards" as we anticipate and plan for the Common Core Curriculum.  They did a tremendous job!  Our fine arts teachers met at the Chapman Cultural Center with their peers from all over Spartanburg County.  Special area teachers, guidance counselors, speech pathologists: all had their own meetings, as well.

What made it a great day?  The buildings were so quiet as students were enjoying a day of winter vacation, and it is just nice for teachers to get to discuss what and how they teach without the pressure of wrapping up in 45 minutes.  They shared ideas with other teachers from around the District.  They were able to leave the building and enjoy an hour for lunch; they were treated like the professionals they are.  And hearing from several, we know they appreciated the day.  It will make a difference for our students.

Specials thanks to our Instructional Department team and especially to Glenda Brown for organizing this huge and valuable undertaking.  District Two is a wonderful place to live, work, and go to school.

This past Sunday, the editorial in the Spartanburg Herald Journal was entitled, "State's Obligation Is To Improve Public Schools, Not Make Alternatives Affordable:  Tax Credits And Private Schools."  It was refreshing to read the insight of an objective editorial board.  They realize and stated quite articulately that, "The state's primary responsibility is to support its public schools, to improve and build that system.  It cannot afford to cut the revenue that supports that system to give tax credits to those who choose not to use public schools for their children."  A link to the article is below.

No doubt the mudslinging will be strong and heated in the days to come.  Last week, a national group called FreedomWorks joined with South Carolinians for Responsible Government (SCRG) to stage a "School Choice Rally" at Cleveland Park.  These groups are largely funded from out-of-state idealogues bent on pressing their agenda forward, state-by-state.  From reports I received from District staff who attended, the rhetoric was quite negative toward public schools and legislators who do not support legislation draining limited resources from schools to do our work.  Speakers at the rally stated their intent to stay in South Carolina until they get tax credit/voucher legislation passed; one current tax credit bill they were pushing is H.4576. 

My hope is that we do not go through what happened in Utah in 2007 when similar law was enacted and the voters, when they realized the damage it would cause their schools, mounted a statewide petition drive and referendum and repealed the law by a large margin.  We do not want to go through that; we need to educate our representatives on the harm this would do beforehand, and support them in their efforts to represent our community and state.  The legislators know being in the crosshairs of these politically active groups is no picnic; good people are painted extremely negatively in the advertising and their opponents are funded handsomely in their election campaigns.

I appreciated the Herald Journal's frankness in this issue and while we are not perfect, our employees work diligently everyday to provide an outstanding educational opportunity for every child we teach; public education plays a huge role in what makes America the "shining city on a hill."