Marion County readies for a new school year

There are changes ahead for the Marion County public school system.

The Marion County Board of Education’s decision to consolidate administrative services of Marion School Districts 1, 2 and 7 will be implemented for the coming 2011-12 school year. Hiring in various positions has begun, a countywide superintendent is beginning his tenure along with a deputy superintendent, and local school board members are learning their role in the transition.

Marion 1 is based in Marion, Marion 2 is based in Mullins and Marion 7 is based in Centenary.

In January, county board members selected Dan Strickland, a former superintendent of Columbus County Schools in Whiteville, N.C., to serve as the county’s consolidated school district superintendent. Strickland served as superintendent of Columbus County Schools in North Carolina for the past five years and worked for the school district in various teaching and administrative positions since 1972.

Strickland said the intention is to have “one team” for all the county’s schools, but reaching that goal will involve some transition.

“This year, everything is going to stay intact with the Marion 2 and Marion 7 offices but we are going to start hiring and letting them be liasons over the district until next July 1,” Strickland said. “As we hire the (departmental) directors, over the next few months, they will be hiring their office staff from the three districts and take over July 1, 2012.”

Strickland said, for the upcoming school year, consolidation efforts will include pooling personnel and finance staffs along with sharing ideas among administrators.

“It’s going to be a process and we don’t want to do it too fast at one time,” Strickland said. “Take those small steps so we do it right and it’s going to be a good process.”

Marion 2 and Marion 7 had special meetings this year to review and approve a restructuring of local board duties and responsibilities. The ccounty board, which oversees the three local districts and appoints local board members, held a special meeting this past week featuring a roundtable discussion on the issue.

Marion 2 board vice chairman John Hughes, who has served more than 20 years, said the new system will be different. The local boards will, for instance, drop most of the financial duties.

“We will be doing staff and student commendation, public participation and hearings,” Hughes said. “It’s a big change because we used to do everything.”

Hughes said the local boards should be united in a supportive role.

“I’d rather take the positive attitude of we’re going to do whatever they request of us as being needed in education in Marion County,” he said.

Newly-appointed M 2 board member William Penn Troy said, as a new member, he still feels the same about the role the local board plays. “I believe we can make a difference and I believed we will make a difference,” he said.

The local boards approved a suspension of board policies that conflicted with the new county board policies. Meeting schedules also have been changed, with Marion 7 meeting at 5 p.m. the first Tuesday of the month, followed by Marion 1 meeting at 7 p.m. Marion 2 will meet at 5 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month, followed by the county board meeting at 7 p.m.

Board members said the consolidation not only will streamline the county’s education operations, but also save about $150,000 in the first consolidated school year.

Board members also said moving to one countywide superintendent and consolidating certain administrative services would provide further cost savings to the school districts without compromising the quality of the education being delivered to students. According to the 2009-10 projected per-pupil funding of public schools, Marion County has 4,784 students total.