DENMARK, S.C. – Bamberg School District Two was recently notified Denmark-Olar Middle School has become fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This district’s elementary and high schools have been accredited since last year.

A major factor involved in the accreditation was the use of available testing data, according to Superintendent Dr. Jake Sello and D-O Middle Principal Randy Mack.

“I have a strong belief in utilizing data,” Sello said. “Once you take a look where you are (academically), you put in strategies that will enable you to become proficient in the areas where you are showing weakness.”

Students at the middle school showed weakness in mathematics, Sello said. That’s why he called in Dr. Hui Fang Huang “Angie” Su of NOVA Southeastern University last month, Sello said.

She gave the district’s math teachers many new methods of teaching math that are already being implemented in the classrooms, he said.

Mack says he used the school’s testing data to address SACS’ basic requirement for continuous improvement.

“We took a serious look at the data and analyzed it,” he said. “As principal, I had each teacher to meet in content area departments and they used that data – various test data and surveys – to develop goals and strategies to improve instruction.”

The school also had to create a new vision and focus in order to become fully accredited. Mack said the whole community cooperated in the process to bring this about. Business partners, parents and members of the community joined the faculty and staff to participate in a forum on May 14, he said.

“I asked them to envision what an ideal school should be, and they came up with five areas that stood out – school climate, academics, school resources, parent/community relationships and leadership.”

The forum further defined these areas, and Mack took the information to the school improvement council, which finalized the school’s mission and vision statements, he said.

“The mission of Denmark-Olar Middle School is to provide learning opportunities in a challenging, safe, caring and supportive environment based upon the principles of stakeholders’ cooperation, academic dedication and moral support,” Mack said.

The vision is that every child will achieve “his or her academic potential in a community of learners and mature socially in a challenging and nurturing environment,” he said.

The process of becoming accredited was very time-consuming and tedious, but cochairs Deborah Whitmore, Veretta Abraham and Anna Martin were invaluable, Mack said.

The process of preparing for SACS was an arduous one that began almost two years ago, according to Martin. One of the most important lessons the committee learned was that school improvement involves everyone in the school community, she said.

Parents, students, faculty and community members met on a regular basis to develop the school vision and create a plan to put that vision in place, Martin said.

Whitmore, who is Teacher of the Year at the middle school, says accreditation was a long process that required the involvement of everyone to “get the job done.” “The parents were pulled in because we realized that our vision was one that needed to be revised. So it wasn’t something that entailed just the people in the building. We had to have input from the students, from the parents in order to get it to work,” she said.

Abraham, a media specialist for more than 35 years, said accreditation gives teachers “the framework to build upon, to assure student achievement and to reach the goals we have set for ourselves.”

Tonya Sanders, parent of a sixth-grader, participated in the community forum. She said a major focus of the forum was to see children challenged in a nourishing environment. She believes parental/community involvement is vital in education, said Sanders, who has served as PTA president and on the school improvement council.

She wants her son to be up to par with children his age, wherever he is, because he won’t always be in Denmark, she said.

“But I don’t look at just a good education for my son, but for all children,” Sanders said.

n T&D Correspondent Dale Linder-Altman can be reached by e-mail at jerryanddale@lowcountry.com. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

 

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