2nd, final reading on grade floor is before Sumter school board on Monday

Second and final reading on a policy requiring teachers to give students at least 50% as a grade as opposed to final grades based on performance will be before Sumter school board on Monday.

Public participation, board committee reports, the superintendent's report and a presentation from the district's Office of Student Support Services also made Sumter School District's Board of Trustees agenda, which was posted online Friday by a district staff member.

Two weeks ago, in a proposed reversal, the school board passed first reading on reinstating the quarterly grade floor for students after the previous board removed the floor seven months ago. The vote from the March 24 work session was 4-3 with one trustee (Tarah Johnson, Area 4) abstaining and another (Matthew "Mac" McLeod, Area 6) not present.

If present Monday, their votes will make the difference in whether reinstating the grade floor for district students in grades 3-12 passes or fails with the nine-member board.

Those voting to reinstate the 50% floor at the last meeting included board Chairman Shawn Ragin, Vice Chairman Brian Alston, Brittany English and Gloria Lee.

Trustees voting against the measure included the Rev. Ralph Canty, Bonnie Disney and Phil Leventis.

Sumter school board attorney Allen Smith of Halligan, Mahoney and Williams of Columbia confirmed with The Sumter Item on Friday that a policy adoption only requires two readings.

At the last meeting, the majority in the vote said the grade floor allows students a "second chance" to eventually pass a course, while the dissenting voters emphasized numerous supports are already in place to help students, saying the minimum grading does not promote excellence, but instead mediocrity.

Ragin, the chair, did not voice his opinions at the meeting but told The Item later that he and other trustees were reinstating the 50% floor because the previous board, in place until the November 2024 election, was "railroaded by that new policy" and it was done "a little bit behind our backs."

"Right now, we are reinstating because the way that policy was enacted was a little bit behind our backs," Ragin said on March 27.

He was referencing previous former board member and Policy Committee Chairwoman Shery White, who, acting as an individual board member and not as a recommendation from the committee, introduced a motion against the grade floor for first reading to the full board on June 10, 2024. Ragin, a member of the Policy Committee at that time, said he took offense in that meeting to White's actions.

White said then that she had received counsel from the South Carolina School Boards Association, state Department of Education and Smith, the board attorney, before pursuing the measure.

It passed first reading that night in a 5-4 vote and passed second reading two months later on Aug. 12, 2024.

Monday's meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the district office, 1345 Wilson Hall Road.

Regarding public participation, any member of the public wanting to make a comment to the board on any topic must arrive before the 6 p.m. start time - as early as 5:30 p.m. - and complete a form to speak.

For those not physically attending, the district continues to broadcast meetings live on YouTube.

Anyone wanting to attend the meeting virtually can do so via YouTube Sumter School District Board Meeting and the district's Facebook page, @SumterSCSchools.