At the District’s 15-day enrollment count this year, there were 5,859 students in Newberry County schools, reported District Superintendent Bennie Bennett at last week’s board meeting.

Within that total at each elementary school is a maximum student-teacher ratio of 21:1.

Three teachers, however, had to be shifted to meet the per class cap.

One second grade teacher from Reuben Elementary was moved to a second grade class at Newberry Elementary, one Whitmire Community School kindergarten teacher was transferred to fifth grade at Pomaria-Garmany Elementary and a second grade teacher moved to fifth grade within Boundary Elementary School, said Bennett.

Having to shift teachers at the first of the school year was new for the district, said Bennett. But because of hard budget times, he foresees more school-start changes.

“I see us having to do this on a yearly basis,” he says.

‘Denied’

Also at the meeting, the board voted on a grievance filed by one district employee against a supervisor. When the employer and employee couldn’t agree on a matter, the employee appealed to Bennett, but didn’t agree with Bennett’s decision.

The employee then appealed to the school board, and six of the seven board members denied the employee’s request for appeal. Councilwoman Lucy Meetze abstained from voting.

The district kept private the specifics of what happened and who is involved because the matter involved personnel, in keeping with the confines of the Freedom of Information Act.



Retreat

Bennett and the board also discussed where and when its annual retreat would take place.

Typically, the group meets for one day in the fall at Piedmont Technical College in Newberry to set goals and discuss school issues.

This year, Bennett said that Mullican Flooring in Spartanburg offered its guesthouse for the group to spend the night in and then talk the next day.

The trip would allow the group to get away without much expense, he said. The board is deciding on a date.

For school, kids

In the public forum section of the meeting, Heather Hawkins of WKDK told the school board that the third Wednesday of every month at the 9 a.m. coffee hour was the school district’s day.

“Please submit ideas for programs,” Hawkins said. “Any suggestion you have for that program, we’d love to have them.”

She also mentioned her involvement with the Newberry Community Players at The Ritz and looked to answer the question: “What can my kids do? What can my grandkids do?”

“That’s one of the predominant questions people ask,” she said.

For kids, The Ritz had three free kids show at the Oktoberfest Saturday, and The Ritz will have youth workshops taught by Ellen Hunt on the art of theater, confidence building, public speaking and audition preparation.