Charles Angel - ACSD School Board

05/03/2025

The future is bright in Abbeville County! Aubrey's acceptance to Harvard (Molecular & Cellular Bio., Pre-Med) is a testament to the potential within our top 10 school district. By supporting every student's unique path, we are building a generation of innovators, leaders, and dream-achievers.

03/10/2025

Congratulations to the AHS Academic team!

Congratulations to our Academic Team on finishing 3rd in the state today at the State Meet! Go Panthers!

02/27/2025

This has been a long time coming! Abbeville County has a united school board focused on building a sustainable future for the education of our most valuable resource (our children).

The school district is creating a comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The end result will be a transparent vision to help ensure we fund and prioritize future capital needs that align with our mission (this is about buildings and infrastructure, not the operating budget).

This plan will help us prioritize capital improvements for the upcoming fiscal year budget, prioritize the next 5 years, be aware and prioritize 5-10 year timeframe, and ensure we are aware of critical future needs through 2050.

Being a rural school district, we have very limited funds to work with. This will greatly help us prioritize and make sure Abbeville County residents know well ahead of time of any large capital projects that need creative funding.

"Society grows great when people plant trees whose shade they may never sit beneath"

12/13/2024

Way to go AHS! Coach Nickles along with his team of coach mentors and student athletes make Abbeville County School District proud!

Abbeville wins state title 58-20

10/22/2024

Update from our wonderful Superintendent

Dear Abbeville County School District Families and School Community, On behalf of the ACSD Board of...

10/17/2024

I have seen several people asking who is running for the school board this November and hope to give people a starting point. I will not post any personal opinions, other than my belief that the school board is in a good place and you have good candidates to choose from. Five of the nine districts are up for election. Once elected, the candidate will serve 4 year terms (except for District 6...that candidate will finish the last two years of Mr. Evan's term...Mr. Evans is running unopposed for County Coroner and can only serve in one elected role)

Two things you need to know
1) What geographic district your are in (this determines who you can vote for and who represents you)
THIS MAP SHOWS THE DISTRICTS
https://rfa.sc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/Abbeville_SD_S-01-00-22.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawF-f_BleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHSy3SJwyXXrAoWvUUfgdmzkAWKzeElfU30hvBhHe6Cy1UlwctcPIJt1ZlA_aem_KJoAnQ3cxPAozAypicOe8Q

2) The Candidates
THIS SITE LISTS THE CANDIDATES FOR EACH DISTRICT
https://ballotpedia.org/Abbeville_County_School_District,_South_Carolina,_elections

LAST, THESE ARE THE CURRENT MEMBERS (half of the district is up for election every 2 years, so if your district is not up for election this year, your representative will be on the board for 2 more years before the next election)
https://www.acsdsc.org/page/board-of-trustees

10/03/2024

Red Cross site @ Diamond Hill Elementary today

Beginning at noon today at Diamond Hill Elementary School, the Abbeville County emergency preparedness and the American Red Cross will have an 18 wheeler to distribute water to the community. This is for anyone who is in need. Please stay safe!

08/27/2024

ACSD District 6 Trustee is open for a "special election" in the upcoming election. Interested candidates should call and visit the county offices to register. This is a special election and will be for the remaining 2 years of the term (through 2026). See the image of the map in purple with a "6" in it to see if you are eligible to represent that area. You can also visit the following link to find out which area you are in (see 2nd picture of mine as I represent District 7) https://vrems.scvotes.sc.gov/Voter/VoterInfo

03/27/2024

The decision to move Cherokee Trail Elementary and Diamond Hill Elementary 7th graders to the Dixie High campus is official. This is great news in my opinion! This will help resolve longtime issues where students (especially at Diamond Hill) were unable to participate in after school extracurricular activities such as athletics. This also solves issues of overcrowding at CTE and DHES.

During the board meeting, there was discussion about whether 6th graders should move as well. Some board members felt that was the plan all along. It was discussed in the past, but no decision was ever made. Another board member wondered if we didn't move 6th graders, would it add to past trust issues with the public, since he believed that was the plan presented to the public.

During the last referendum (before I was on the board), we asked board members and the former superintendent what grades would be moving from the elementary schools to the new campus. This was asked many times and we never received a clear answer. There were many questions that went unanswered, which was a large part of the "trust" issues regarding the referendum. After I was elected to the board, I asked the former superintendent directly and he told me either option was on the table and he would do what the board wanted. It was never officially decided.

In regards to trust, I said that many of the residents that lost trust in the board during the referendum were in the district that I represent and that I have not heard a single resident advocate for moving 6th graders to the new campus. I also said many residents have expressed they have more trust in the board now than they have had in awhile. There is more work to do to gain more trust, but we have been more transparent and are on the right track moving the district forward.

Under the leadership of our new superintendent (Dr. Brewton), the administration recommended only moving 7th graders (and NOT 6th graders) from CTE and DHES to the Dixie campus next school year. Dr. Brewton and the administration have much more experience in education than myself and I highly value their recommendation. The provided rationale behind the recommendation will be a screenshot in the comments

A board member asked if the 6th graders could be moved to the campus in the future. The response was It could, but it is NOT the administration's plan at this time. If the superintendent determines that it is needed in the future, she will bring that recommendation to the board for approval.

This is an exciting time to be in Abbeville County School District! With the additions to AHS, DHS, and the Career Center we have a lot to look forward to!

01/26/2024

A major change for the better! What is so important about these calendars and How did we get to this point?

In the past, the administration provided calendar recommendations for board approval after each new year. By the time they were approved, teachers and families had a small window of time to know when school would start in the Fall and when breaks were (to plan time off and vacations).

Last year the board approved changing policy so that the calendar could be adopted earlier giving teachers and parents more advanced notice about school calendars.

Until two years ago, recommended calendars based on a "traditional" school calendar. Trends show that many districts are going to a "modified year round school calendar" for various reasons. Change is hard and for the past couple of years the board was split and there was great debate (in the community as well) over the school calendar. The board ultimately approved modified year round for the past two years (which had controversial moments and split votes).

This school year, the administration provided multiple calendar options, while teachers provided input which heavily favored the modified year round calendar.

Keith Dunn and David Brooks advocated for parents/residents to be able to have input about the calendar. I agreed very much with this sentiment, but they deserve the credit. The community survey along with the teacher input changed which calendar I voted for. It made a difference! The community survey ultimately agreed with the teacher's survey for choosing the same modified year round calendar. This provided great insight and ended split votes over the calendar when the board unanimously voted for the calendar. It was a win-win situation!

NOTE: It would be too time consuming to survey the community for every decision that the board votes on and would negate the reason that you elected us, so please understand that this was a one-time survey due to this particular change.

Back to timing: In the past, the board approved the NEXT school year calendar. With everyone on the same page and in agreement, the board decided to approve the NEXT TWO school calendar years. This is HUGE and another positive step forward! To my knowledge it has never been done in ACSD before. The benefits include saving time going through the calendar process, recruiting new teachers since the teachers know the calendar is set, retaining teachers that know the calendar is set, allowing parents and teachers that plan well ahead for vacations the security of knowing when the school year starts.

I'm proud to be a part of this board that is providing more transparency and is being proactive and "future thinking". I am also grateful for our superintendent, Dr. Brewton, and her administration! There is more potential to improve things in our schools and district and we are headed in the right direction

Links to BOTH calendars in the comments and no community input.

01/24/2024

Recently, the ACSD and AHS administration did a great job making a case and appealing the SCHSL decision to move AHS athletics down to 1A. I 100% support that and am proud to to see the administration support ALL student athletes. It has brought up two important topics that everyone needs to be mindful of.

1) Declining enrollment (big concern and reason for moving to 1A). This directly impacts the district's per student funding from the state and is something that we need to be cognizant of in our short and long-term planning. It impacts how we continue to fund education and the vision of maintaining all of our academic facilities. I do not want to overstate the concern, but we cannot ignore it and the potential impact for funding teachers and programs. I'd like to believe that the declining enrollment is temporary and ultimately Abbeville County and city will be growing in the future (but that is not expected over the next several years). Abbeville County is THE best place to educate children and raise a family!

2) AHS athletics will compete at the 1A level next school year. There has been talk about AHS football, which absolutely would still be a top competitor in 2A and will be in 1A. Looking at it holistically, there are a lot of student athletes in other sports and 1A is where they should be based on enrollment numbers. This means AHS, DHS, and Calhoun Falls Charter School will likely be in the same district/region. In the past, there has been division between schools/cities. I pray that these contests become "healthy" rivalries between our schools that make everyone better. I personally vow to

a) Root for Dixie HS any time they compete (that is where all of my kids have gone and the area I represent).

b) IF AHS or CF wins against Dixie, I will congratulate them and be proud of both team's efforts.

c) If Dixie wins, I will be proud and NEVER rub the victory in anyone's face.

d) When any Abbeville County team plays a non-abbeville county team, I will 100% be rooting for the Abbeville County team.

I think those are simple rules to live by and the attitudes we should model to our young people.

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I hope to create a regular cadence of updates and share my personal views (I have a little catching up to do). I will be as transparent as possible, BUT know that one of my personal goals is to use my role and words to help promote positive changes for the future of ACSD. Every one of us has the choice to use words intended to divide or intended to unite. I choose unity.

12/08/2023

I was invited to watch AHS and DHS compete in an Academic Team competition held at Ninety Six HS. It was my first time attending one and I learned a lot! Mainly I learned that we have students far smarter than I am 😄. I even got to keep score in one round of a match. What a great opportunity for Abbeville County students! Thank you to our teachers/coaches that make this possible!