South Carolina § 59-18-1625 - Designation as an underperforming school or district; notification; turnaround plan; revised strategic plan.

§ 59-18-1625. Designation as an underperforming school or district; notification; turnaround plan; revised strategic plan.

(A) Upon a school's or district's designation as an underperforming school or district, the department shall immediately place the school or district into a tiered status to provide technical assistance. The department shall notify the underperforming school or district and the district superintendent of the tiered status.

(B)(1) Upon receiving notification from the department, the district superintendent, in consultation with school and community stakeholders, must review and revise the school and district's strategic plan with the assistance of the School Improvement Council, as established in Section 59-20-60, to include a turnaround plan component for any underperforming school or district.

(2) The turnaround plan component of the revised strategic plan must:

(a) be based on data or needs assessments to identify specific improvement strategies related to underperforming school turnaround;

(b) include, at a minimum, specific and measurable goals, actions, activities, resource needs, student achievement goals, professional development plans, and academic interventions that are reasonable and necessary to improve student progress toward achieving the Profile of the Graduate for each school;

(c) include broad-based community input including, but not limited to, input from parents, teachers, principals, local school board members, businesses, community leaders, health providers, social services agencies, school improvement councils, or early childhood providers; and

(d) be submitted by the district superintendent to the local board of trustees for approval.

(C) Upon approval by the local board of trustees, the turnaround plan component of the revised strategic plan must be submitted to the department for review and approval. Thereafter, the district superintendent and the local board of trustees annually shall submit updates to the department regarding the implementation of the turnaround and revised strategic plan, including metrics assessing the impact of the activities included in the plan.

(D) Once approved by the department, the revised strategic plan must be prominently posted on the respective websites of the department, district, and school. The department shall monitor the district's implementation of the revised strategic plan and evaluation of students' academic progress, as provided for in the plan, and shall apprise the State Board of Education of the district's progress once a quarter.

(E) For a school receiving an underperforming rating, the district and local board of trustees must work with the school principal to inform the parents of students of the rating. The notification must outline the steps in the revised strategic plan to improve performance, including the support that the local district board of trustees has agreed to give the plan.

HISTORY: 2021 Act No. 44 (S.201), SECTION 1, eff July 1, 2022.