Collaborating continues on county’s Star Academy

Marion School District 2 Superintendent Nathaniel Miller provided an update on the Star Academy program that will soon be arriving in the district. The eighth grade drop-out prevention program is a two-year curriculum squeezed into one for students with a desire to recover academically to their grade level and finish high school.

“We’re going to have to establish a committee comprising of our three school districts,” Miller said of the collective effort to find students who are one or two years behind and up to the task. The district received $422,000 from the state just before this past week’s Marion County Board of Education meeting, he said. Miller said the program’s package includes funding for two teachers and equipment materials, to the tune of $362,000. The additional $60,000 awarded is to assist in teacher salary for the first year. Miller said the equipment installation could start as early as this month and staff training beginning in September.

“Students must be one or two years behind in their schooling. Eighth graders must be 14 years or older. These students will enter the 10th grade after one year in Star Academy. They must be determined students wanting to catch up with their class. Some ninth graders will also be allowed to attend if they are one year behind,” Miller said. One of the program’s criteria is that students come from any part of the county. Details of the program are being worked out, as the maximum number of students will be 40.

“It’s an ideal opportunity and a well-established program,” Miller said. Coordinating a committee of county representatives to aid in the student selection process and contacting parents with invites will be part of the next phase of the plan. Miller said parents and students will have a choice to participate, but it will be a better choice than they had prior, adding that Star Academy gives a second chance to serious students.  A Star Academy functions as a school-within-a school and was first introduced in South Carolina in 2005.

In other business, Board Chairman Donnie Hill presented a certificate to Board member Mark Sawyer for his completion of level one training with the Boardmanship Institute. Marion County Alternative School Principal Ora Hughes said the school year began smoothly with 72 students enrolled and Marion County Adult Education School Coordinator Candyce Brooks reported that enrollment had increased during the 2007-08 school year and that school met or exceeded all state performance measures.

Brooks said a graduation ceremony was conducted on Aug. 16, during which she awarded 19 high school credentials. Classes will resume on Sept. 25, and REWARD classes, a retraining program that teaches job skills, began Aug. 18 with 50 students enrolled.