Sullivan Middle School Improvement Council A State Finalist

COLUMBIA – The School Improvement Councils (SICs) of five South Carolina public schools
have been named statewide award finalists for their work to engage parents, community members
and educators in strengthening their schools.

The S.C. School Improvement Council’s annual Dick and Tunky Riley School Improvement
Award was created in 2002 to recognize the significant contributions made to public education by
the nearly 15,000 local School Improvement Council (SIC) members who volunteer in the state’s
1,100-plus K-12 public schools.

In alphabetical order, this year’s Riley Award finalist SICs are:

Brennen Elementary School, Columbia (Richland School District 1)
Burgess Elementary School, Myrtle Beach (Horry County Schools)
Jesse Boyd Elementary School, Moore (Spartanburg School District 7)
North Augusta Elementary School, North Augusta (Aiken County School District)
Sullivan Middle School, Rock Hill (Rock Hill School District 3) 

“We commend these School Improvement Councils for the significant work they are doing to
bring broad-based support and resources to their local schools,” said SC-SIC Board of Trustees
Chairman Carlos Primus. “Such active and collaborative efforts of our SICs have a lasting and
positive impact on the lives of our schools and our children.”

Among the SIC initiatives undertaken in 2009-10 by this year’s finalists were: developing
numerous multi-media strategies to better share information with parents and community
members; implementing improved ways for the local community to donate time, materials and
funds for local school needs; creating programs to encourage healthier eating and exercise habits
for students; working with local and state officials on projects to improve student safety for drop-
off, dismissal and walking to school; and partnering with community-based resources to increase
parental involvement and support from families speaking limited or no English.

In the past year, local SIC members across South Carolina turned in over 230,000 volunteer hours
in their local schools at an estimated value of nearly $3.8 million – a substantial return on the
state’s current SC-SIC budget allocation of about $224 per school per year.
 
The winner of the 2011 Riley Award will be selected from this year’s finalists and announced at
the SC-SIC Annual Conference, Saturday, March 19th
, 2011, in Columbia.

The SC-SIC Riley Award is named in honor of former South Carolina Governor and U.S.
Education Secretary Richard Riley and his late wife, Tunky, and recognizes the couple’s
longstanding commitment to quality public education.

Located in the University of South Carolina’s College of Education, the S.C. School
Improvement Council was established in state law more than three decades ago to provide the
member training, technical assistance, statutory accountability, and other operational resources
necessary for the continued success of the community-based SICs in each of the state’s K-12
public schools.