Palmetto Priority Schools Project holds first meeting

Leadership and coping with change were key topics at the initial
collaboration meeting for the Palmetto Priority Schools project in
Columbia today.

Warren Simmons, executive director of Brown University’s Annenberg
Institute for School Reform, was guest speaker for the session creating
partnerships among 16 schools that have not met state-mandated student
learning goals.  The Priority Schools project was created by State
Superintendent of Education Jim Rex as an alternative to a possible
state takeover.  The move was approved unanimously in April by the State
Board of Education.

Simmons worked on district-wide school reform in Philadelphia as
executive director of the city’s Education Fund before joining Brown
University in 1998.  As head of the Annenberg Institute, he leads
efforts to improve schools in urban communities and in schools serving
disadvantaged children.  The institute focuses on high school
improvement, central office redesign and better K-12 teaching and
learning.

Rex embraced today’s message of change, noting that “what’s
obvious for these 16 schools is that more of the same won’t work”

“The challenge of building high-quality schools is a community
problem, a state problem and a national problem,” Rex said.  “We
need everyone’s skills, energy, creativity and determination.”

Each of the 16 Palmetto Priority schools is represented in the
collaborative’s leadership team by its principal, the district
superintendent and district school board chair.  State Department of
Education leadership team members include Rex, full-time project
coordinator David Rawlinson, and liaisons assigned to each of the 16
schools.  Today’s session was the first in a series of regular
meetings.

In addition to the 16 schools, higher education partners in the
collaboration include Claflin University, Clemson University, the
College of Charleston, Francis Marion University, South Carolina State
University, the University of South Carolina, USC-Salkahatchie, and
USC-Upstate.  Other partners are the Education Oversight Committee, the
Center for Education Recruitment, Retention and Advancement, the
Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, and the Governor’s
School for Science and Mathematics.

The 16 Palmetto Priority Schools are Ridgeland Middle School (Jasper
County); Brentwood Middle School, Burke High School, North Charleston
High School and Stall High School (Charleston County); Mt. Pleasant
Middle School (Lee County); Whitlock Jr. High School (Spartanburg
District 7); Johnson Middle School (Florence District 4); Estill Middle
and Estill High schools (Hampton District 2); Alcorn Middle School, C.A.
Johnson High, Eau Claire High, Gibbes Middle and W.A. Perry Middle
schools (Richland District 1); and Allendale Middle School (Allendale
County).