
How This HR Director Pushed for Pay Increases for Teachers Teachers are getting paid more in the Charleston, S.C. district--thanks in part to their champion in administration.
Our Mission:
We are committed to promoting the well-being of every student by advocating for student-centered measures that prioritize safety and inclusivity.
Mission Statement
Established in 2018, The Safe Schools Project is a nonpartisan, grassroots advocacy group led by educators dedicated to fostering safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments in South Carolina schools. Our goals encompass three key pillars:
Enhanced Mental Health Support:
Recognizing the pivotal role school counselors and mental health professionals play in students' li
Operating as usual
How This HR Director Pushed for Pay Increases for Teachers Teachers are getting paid more in the Charleston, S.C. district--thanks in part to their champion in administration.
Teachers! Please fill out this survey from SCDOE: Thank you for taking time to complete this short but vital SC educator survey. Your voice matters, and the valuable insights you share will shape critical decisions ahead. PLEASE NOTE: THIS SURVEY IS ENTIRELY ANONYMOUS. While there is an OPTION to provide your district and/or school (which is helpful to identify data trends), that is NOT required information to complete the survey. This survey should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete. You may leave the survey and return to it later if you keep the browser tab open. However, your answers will be lost if you close your browser tab prior to hitting “Submit Form.” Please be sure to click “Submit Form” at the end of the survey for your feedback to be registered! This survey will close on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.
Some questions in this survey are utilized in the South Carolina School Climate Survey, the North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey, and school climate studies published by Hanover Research. This will allow us in some instances to compare results to existing longitudinal data.
Happy Thanksgiving to all the incredible teachers, students, parents, and advocates who work tirelessly to support and strengthen public education. Your dedication to fostering a brighter future through learning, creativity, and community is inspiring. Today, we give thanks for the passion, resilience, and care you bring to this vital work every single day. Together, you remind us of the power of education to transform lives and create opportunities for all. Wishing you a joyful and restful Thanksgiving filled with warmth, gratitude, and connection.
Our last Teen Support Group is right around the corner! Join December 11th at 7 p.m. This group is facilitated by therapists who specialize in working with youth!
Share this with someone who would benefit by joining!
Link: tinyurl.com/highschoolgroup4 to join!
Spots are filling up! Join us on December 3rd & 17th for Art Therapy with
Our Art Therapy program is for middle and high schoolers in the Charleston area who are looking to find healing through art to improve their health and well-being. Email our Director of Mental Health Programs with any questions or concerns at [email protected]. Art Therapy program is for middle and high schoolers in the Charleston area who are looking to find healing through art to improve their health and well-being. Email our Director of Mental Health Programs with any questions or concerns at [email protected].
As you gather for Thanksgiving, it’s important to remember to ask friends and family—especially if they’re not used to having kids around—if all fi****ms in the home and in vehicles are securely stored before visiting.
This holiday season, help normalize discussions about secure firearm storage. Learn how to start these critical conversations with this Be SMART guide: bit.ly/AskEnglish.
One80 Place’s 12th annual Turkey and a $20! From now until November 26, help us reach our goal of $80,000 and 180 grocery store gift cards. Donate online or come by 35
Walnut Street on November 26 from 10:00-2:00. In the short time it takes to drive through, you can help feed hundreds of people experiencing homelessness.
Can’t make it in person? Donate anytime between today and November 26 by visiting our website or text TURKEY to (469) 457-8723.
Want to do even more? You can easily create/host your own online fundraiser so your friends, families, and colleagues can join you in supporting One80 Place. Visit the link in our bio to learn more and donate.
It doesn’t take much to make a child feel safe. 🏳️⚧️
🌟 Support Safe Schools & Mental Health Advocacy! 🌟
Friends, we’re excited to share that Noah Kahan, founder of the inspiring Busyhead Project, will be visiting Charleston on November 30! Noah has been a tireless advocate for mental health and youth empowerment, and his work aligns beautifully with the mission of The Safe Schools Project.
To honor his visit and show our appreciation for his support of local organizations like We Are Family and national efforts to promote mental health, we’re encouraging our community to make a donation to the Busyhead Project.
Let’s give Noah a warm Charleston welcome by demonstrating how much we value his commitment to our shared goals!
Donate today: 👇👇👇👇👇
https://giving.classy.org/campaign/588404/donate
Every contribution—big or small—helps support vital mental health resources and advocacy for young people across the nation. Together, we can make a difference. 💙
https://giving.classy.org/campaign/588404/donate
Donate to The Busyhead Project Fund The Busyhead Project Fund https://giving.classy.org/campaign/588404/donate
Policy JICJ - Prohibition of Personal Electronic Devices During the School Day: The Board approved the second and final reading of revisions to Policy JICJ, which brings the district in
alignment with State Proviso 1.103. The state regulation outlines the prohibition of personal electronic
devices used by students during the school day.
Board of Trustees Unofficial Recaps Board of Trustees Unofficial Recaps - Charleston County School District
Conexiones Positivas Leadership Camp 2024: WAF Signature Event In September 2024, We Are Family hosted our Conexiones Positivas Leadership Camp, a three-day camp is focused on increasing the leadership development of que...
COMMENTARY
Hicks: Charleston schools are seeing great success, but Huggins says they can achieve more
By Brian Hicks [email protected] (https://www.postandcourier.com/users/profile/BrianHicks)3 hrs ago
��Charleston County schools Superintendent Anita Huggins would be well within her rights to take a victory lap.
By nearly any measure, the statistics — and anecdotal evidence — coming out of 75 Calhoun these days paint a portrait of a school district making significant strides.
In just the past two years:
• The percentage of students reading at grade level has increased by 10 points.
• The number of high school graduates considered college ready is now greater than 80% — a 10-point jump.
• The number of eighth graders proficient in algebra has jumped 5 points.
• For the first time in modern history, Charleston classes began this year with no teacher vacancies.
Also, some schools with a high percentage of students living in poverty have shown great improvement. Frierson Elementary went from a state ranking of “unsatisfactory” to “excellent” in a single year, and Sanders-Clyde Elementary is one point away from a “good” rating for the first time in its history.
Any one of those things would be reason to celebrate. But Huggins used her State of the Schools address Thursday to push for more improvement.
She wants more bilingual and multilingual teachers to better reach the district's growing number of non-English-speaking students. And she's advocating for another bump in teacher salaries to help with recruitment and retention.
Huggins says all fifth graders should be reading at grade level by June 2027, a goal set by former Superintendent Don Kennedy. That's a big lift, even if state law says students should be reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
Point is, Charleston schools are measurably improving. The district’s latest report card shows a diminishing achievement gap for African American and Hispanic students. But it's not closing fast enough for the superintendent. She wants to direct more resources to improving those students' education.
That's not just common sense, it's strategic.
“While we are thriving, I don’t want where we are now to be the pinnacle of our success,” Huggins said in her address.
The timing of her message cannot be coincidental. A new school board takes office this week, and the superintendent urged its members — all but one of whom were in the audience — to work together, keep the focus on kids and stick to basics.
Board members would do well to listen, because the surest way to halt the district’s recent momentum would be a repeat of the 2023 partisan culture wars.
All that was so contentious and counterproductive that area mayors came together to publicly shame board members.
Note that Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie and North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess sat in the front row for Huggins’ address Thursday — a strong show of support from two of the district’s largest municipalities. County Councilman Teddie Pryor and Charleston City Councilman Jim McBride notably showed up as well.
The school board should take that as a message.
To the outgoing board’s credit, things settled down after its 2023 meltdown particularly when board members appointed Huggins, a veteran local educator, as superintendent. She persuaded the board to make some of the most significant decisions in district history.
At Huggins' request, the board raised teacher pay by an unprecedented $8,000, which was critical for retaining veteran educators and recruiting new ones. It adopted an innovative funding formula that targets resources at the students in every school who need help the most.
We're just beginning to see the success of that plan, as The Post and Courier’s Valerie Nava chronicled recently.
The fact that an often hopelessly divided board approved that weighted student funding formula unanimously is a testament to just how persuasive — and good at her job — Huggins is.
And that is Exhibit A for why the new board should listen to her now.
Huggins has a folksy, friendly style that belies just how shrewd she really is. Now, the superintendent isn’t acting — she really is as smart, kind and upbeat as she seems. But she’s also absolutely relentless in her mission to keep the district's focus on student achievement ... and to avoid divisive, unproductive ideological battles that do nothing to improve schools.
There’s no telling how the new board — which retains its conservative majority but includes three new members — will work together. But board members should note that voters ousted the most openly partisan member of the current school board (the only one on the ballot), a message that few want school governance to fall into the partisan bickering that's omnipresent in most politics these days.
Instead they want results. You know, like the district is delivering right now. And there's only one way to do that.
“To continue this, we will have to work together,” Huggins said.
Again, that's just good sense.
If these new board members want the district to continue on that current trajectory, they should listen to the superintendent.
So far, it’s worked out pretty well.
—-
The Safe School Project is seeking support from the communities we serve as teachers. We want you to help us in asking our newly elected legislators for more funding for mental health in all our public schools. We need your help in asking the tough questions. We need the support of all stakeholders.