Pee Dee principal faces domestic violence charge

A Pee Dee high school principal is facing a domestic violence charge that could put him in jail for 10 years if convicted.

Scott’s Branch High School Principal Bernard McDaniel, 52, of 1917 Effies Lane, Florence, is charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, Florence County Detention Center booking reports show. He was released Friday, but bond information wasn’t available.

Officers arrested McDaniel on Nov. 12 on a magistrate-issued warrant in connection with an incident that happened Nov. 7, Florence Police Maj. Carlos Raines said.

The suspect is accused of pulling out a revolver and pointing it at the victim while making threatening statements, Raines said. The victim feared for her life and reported the incident two days later. Police later arrested McDaniel at his home.

State law defines criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature, a felony, as an “assault and battery which involves the use of a deadly weapon or results in serious bodily injury to the victim” or an assault which would reasonably cause a person to fear imminent serious bodily injury or death.

If convicted, McDaniel faces one to 10 years in jail.

The Florence School District 2 Board of Trustees voted 5-2 in summer 2007 against reinstating McDaniel as principal of Hannah-Pamplico High School.

McDaniel served as the high school’s principal for seven years. During that time, he was named the 2002 Secondary Principal of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators. He also served as principal of Hannah-Pamplico Middle School.

McDaniel was placed on administrative leave pending a recommendation in 2006. A reason was never given publicly. Then-superintendent Dr. Steve Quick previously said McDaniel was still earning his salary and was still employed by the district.

McDaniel requested an appeal hearing in September 2006, but the board voted 5-2 to uphold Quick’s recommendation to not hear McDaniel’s appeal.

McDaniel later filed a discrimination lawsuit against the district. Its status is unclear.

Thadis Calcutt Jr., a board member now serving as its chairman, said in a 2007 interview he voted to reinstate McDaniel because there had been overwhelming support for McDaniel in the community.

Terry McAllister-Timmons, who had children attending Florence 2 schools, said in a 2007 interview McDaniel was the reason she transferred her children from a private school to a public one. She said the parents and the faculty deserved to hear McDaniel’s side of the story. And while McAllister-Timmons said she realized McDaniel’s case is a personnel issue, she said she would still like to know something because it concerns the children in the district.

McDaniel has been principal of Scott’s Branch High in Summerton since 2007, The (Sumter) Item reported. In his first year there, the Clarendon School District 1 school’s state-issued absolute report card rating improved from “below average” in 2007 to “good” in 2008, and the growth rating improved from “average” to “excellent,” according to the report.

Clarendon 1 officials could not be reached for comment on McDaniel’s employment status Wednesday.