HARTSVILLE - Ministers from several Hartsville area churches are visiting public schools that serve Hartsville area students over the next couple of weeks. The idea behind the tours is to give local clergy an opportunity to see first-hand what is happening in local schools and classrooms.
It’s also an opportunity for them to see where needs exist and enlist the help of their congregations to help meet them, Darlington County Board of Education member Charles Govan of Hartsville said.
Four ministers, the Revs. Rodger Jackson and Al Murkey of Sixth Street Church of God, E. Robert Thomas of Mt. Calvary AME Church and Tom Gainey of Rivers of Living Water Church, visited Thornwell School for the Arts as part of the tour program on March 10.
Darlington County School District officials want to get churches move involved in the education of the area’s children. They want the ministers to see the good things happening in the county’s schools, but they also want them to see the reality of the impact state budget cuts are having on schools.
“We’re interested in all Hartsville area ministers visiting our schools,” Govan said.
Govan helped organize the tours beginning in 2008 to help make local ministers more knowledgeable about what the schools have to offer. The school district has hosted the tours each year since. Govan said he hopes the effort also helps improve the learning environment in district schools.
“If we don’t do something to change the culture in Darlington County we’re going to lose our children,” he said. “These ministers can be an asset in doing that.”
At Thornwell, the ministers visited regular and magnet program classes and saw teachers interacting with their students. They also were treated to a musical performance by students in a strings class there.
“We’re very proud of all of our children,” Thornwell Principal Julie Mahn told the group of visiting pastors.
“Your children are our children,” said the Rev. Rodger Jackson.
“I want y’all in our school,” Mahn said. She said volunteer opportunities in her school and others are plentiful and welcomed the involvement of the ministers and churches.
She said just spending time with children or reading to a group of children can make a significant difference. “Time doesn’t cost anything,” she said.
On the day they visited Thornwell, the ministers also visited North Hartsville Elementary School, Carolina Elementary School and Hartsville High School.
This week ministers are being invited to visit and tour the Darlington County Institute of Technology (DCIT), Darlington County Intervention School (DCIS) and Mayo High School for Math, Science and Technology. Those three schools serve high school students countywide.
Next week, the tours will conclude with visits to West Hartsville Elementary, Washington Street Elementary, Southside Early Childhood Center and Hartsville Middle.
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