In defense of school board

[cointent_lockedcontent] Dear Editor,

I have been reading in the newspaper about the test scores for the School District of Pickens County. They have improved. High school students who are bound for college take the SAT and/or ACT college entrance exams. Pickens County students scored an average of 1501 combined in math, reading and writing on the SAT.

That was a 12-point improvement this year, and our district ranked fifth in the state out of 84 districts. On the ACT college entrance exam, students scored 22.4 combined in math and English. Our students ranked fourth in the state on that test.

All high school students had been required to take the high school exit exam, but the state legislature replaced that with the ACT Workkeys test. This exam tests all 11th graders and measures their qualifications for hundreds of entry-level jobs, focusing on applied math, reading for information and information location. Our district ranked eighth in the state on the Workkeys exam.

Our students are some of the brightest in the state.

These are superior achievements, and credit belongs to our students, teachers, parents, administrators and the school board.

But the AdvancED monitoring report dated March 24, 2015, is about the board of trustees. In an earlier report, they threatened to withhold accreditation. AdvancED’s focus should be on academics. Has it occurred to AdvancED that a more-involved school board that listens to the public is the reason for the improving academics?

Dan Winchester

Pickens

Panama and Turkey can wait

Dear Editor,

I have read two articles lately about Easley Rep. Neal Collins. Seems he has recently been to Panama and Turkey “representing” South Carolina. OK, that’s fine. Nice vacation spots, I guess. He said the widening of the Panama Canal would help Charleston. But Mr. Collins was elected to represent Pickens County at the state level. Roads, bridges, education, local government funding, DSS and so many other core functions of the state are in a mess, according to the news I read.

Why is Mr. Collins traveling all over the globe, at least partially on the taxpayer dime, when there is so much that needs attention here at home? I believe there is plenty of work to do right here in South Carolina, and there is no justification for a state representative to travel anywhere in search of things to do. Mr. Collins, I say stop ignoring your Statehouse duties in favor of searching the globe for busy work. Please stay home and resolve the problems right on our front door. People are suffering in South Carolina. Panama and Turkey can wait.

Weldon Clark

Liberty

[/cointent_lockedcontent]