June 2025 Superintendent's Message

Posted

WE DID IT! Congratulations on a job well done for ending the 2024-2025 school year on an upbeat and positive note! This school year has been filled with opportunities, accomplishments and celebrations! Thank you to all of you for your hard work and dedication! Most importantly, thank you for your commitment to the students and families of the Colleton County School District!

Some of our notable achievements include the following:

Black Street Early Childhood Center:

Enrolled over 370 Pre-K, Kindergarten and 3 year old’s through Child Find, surpassing the enrollment goal for the year

Offered 6 special area classes to all classes – Discovery, Art, Music, Guidance, Library and P.E.

Gave away hundreds of books to Kindergarteners through My First Library

Partnered with TCTC to facilitate the Early Childhood Program with over 60 CCHS student participants

Bells Elementary:

Recognized by the National Beta Association as being a National Beta School of Merit. A 5th grade student placed 2nd in the state during the National Beta Convention

Princesses and Pearls was implemented this school year that brought in over 30 community sponsors. This club was implemented to help young girls mature into beautiful, responsible, and respectful young women.

Cottageville Elementary:

Received a grant for $5,000 to purchase an action based learning cart

Recognized as one of America’s Healthiest Schools

Forest Hills Elementary:

Decreased referrals by 32% year-over-year

Decreased percentage of students who performed At-Risk and increased percentage of student who performed At or Above Grade Level year-over-year

Hendersonville Elementary:

Reduction of students that have scored 2 or more grade levels below standard in i-Ready Math and Reading

Gave away hundreds of books to Kindergarteners through My First Library

Northside Elementary:

All students received math intervention/enrichment based on their academic needs

Reduction of referrals from 950 in 2023-2024 school year to 444 referrals in 2024-2025 school year

Colleton County Middle School:

In preparation for the SCREADY math assessment, students participated in the Math Nation Test Yourself Challenge which is a rigorous, on-grade-level math problems, helping our students sharpen their skills in a meaningful way. The school was named Region Champions for having students score a 6 out of 10 or higher.

Placed second in the entire state in the Math Nation Challenge with school making over 4,200 entries

Colleton County High School:

Number of graduates: 318

The Class of 2025 earned $5,440,821 in scholarships

Number of High School Credentials: 16

South Carolina Academic Honor Award: 1

USC-Salkehatchie Dual Enrollment Associate Degree: 13

Distinguished Honor Graduates (4.9 and higher cumulative GPA): 6

Honor Graduates (4.5 - 4.80 cumulative GPA): 24

Thunderbolt Career and Technology Center:

CATE Completers: 175 completers with 19 double completers and 1 triple completer

100% passage rate for Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Certification

Barbering and Nail Tech officially started with students in January 2025

Automotive program will begin a partnership with Clemson University and the South Carolina Department of Education in the development of an EV Hybrid Technology pilot program

Culinary Arts students won the First Annual Rice Festival Top Chef

JAG Students placed 2nd in the poetry competition at the JAG Career Development Conference

Building Construction Instructor became certified as a NCCER Trainer and can now certify students in the construction trades

Boeing 2025 Manufacturing Student Development Program – 1 student accepted into the 2025 Summer Program

Three students interviewed for Zeus internship program

Colleton Adult Learning Center:

2 perfect scores in Reasoning though Mathematics GED Test and 1 perfect score on the EOC in US History

Assisted 22 students to enter Technical College of the Lowcountry access classes on CALC campus

Thank you to everyone for making these achievements possible! We will continue to make bold improvements and achievements for the students and families of this district because It’s All About the Kids! The Time Is Now!

Please take time to reflect, relax and refresh. You are important! You guide and direct our future generation! Spend time with family and friends or do something that is special to you. However, you choose to spend your summer, please be safe!

Enjoy your Summer on Purpose!

Kind regards,

Superintendent Jessica F. Williams

#ItsAllAboutTheKids!TheTimeIsNow!