considering move to Manning/Sumter area

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by Linnie

Hi CarolinaBred! My child was in District 2 and I have to say, the experience from beginning to end was horrible. She still doesn't like to talk about her time there...and for that matter, no one in our family does.

First of all, I wanna say that I was VERY involved with the schools that my daughter attended. I volunteered on a regular basis so I was there and I experienced what was going on firsthand. And I also wanna add that my kiddo was lucky enough to have a few good teachers...teachers that did truly care. But overall, I think the entire system needs an overhaul. I witnessed children who should NEVER have been promoted but somehow were each year. I remember working with a little girl in particular...it was the saddest thing to watch her struggle. She SO obviously needed help and wasn't remotely close to being at the level she should have been...but yet she was promoted. And this wasn't an isolated case. MANY children failed to do their homework, classwork, or have any kind of respect for their peers or teachers for that matter. And yes, that's a parental failure. But it's also a failure of the school system if they continue to pass these children who are lacking in required skills.

Disrespect ran rampant in the schools while we were there...from the students toward their teachers and vice versa. I heard so many ugly things...even teachers telling the kids to shut up. Nice, huh? I walked down halls and heard yelling...even witnessed teacher/student shoving. It scared the crap outta me!

And I have to bring up the bullying. My daughter was bullied...often. In fact, my neighbor pulled her son out of the school where he and my daughter attended because of bullying. Why were they targeted and harassed? Because they were extremely bright students who actually wanted to learn and who displayed respect toward teachers and others around them. For no other reason. The teachers did NOTHING to try and stop it...and until I had a mad screaming fit in a busy school office, the administration did nothing to stop it either. Sad. After speaking with many parents, I found that bullying was quite a common occurence. Disgraceful in my opinion as bullying should NEVER be tolerated in any way, shape, or form.

Another issue was the amount of homework. I know that sounds odd but my poor kid had hours of homework each night...in elemenary school. Now this is a smart kiddo we're talking about. She was in the Gifted and Talented program to boot but the amount of homework was unbelievable. And this homework was nothing more than repetitive 'busy' work. I'm assuming this was a desperate attempt on the part of the school system to bring up test scores and national averages. What it was was silly nonsense. And even with all the 'homework' and extra guidance in the so called Gifted and Talented program, my daugher STILL had a tremendous amount of catching up when we moved of of state.

So anyway...that was our experience with the Sumter school system. I do hope that things have improved since we left in 2001. I really do!

That's terrible, and I'm really sorry to hear it. I know it seems like I'm passing the buck here, but I am not terribly surprised to hear that. I'm sure there are those who would trash Districts 2 and 17, but I went to District 17 schools (the city district) and had a great experience.

After I graduated, my folks moved into District 2 and my brothers had a REALLY rough time. One brother found himself in "honors" classes covering stuff he had 2 years before in "CP" classes. CP, or "college prep" was designed as a cut above regular classes, but below honors and AP. He should have been playing catch up, but instead was terribly bored. He was an "ok" student in District 17, but ended up graduating near the top of his class in D2. Good news, right? Sure, except for he said he learned very little he hadn't already covered in D17. The other brother was so disenchanted, bored, and lonely that he started cutting school and ended up not being able to graduate due to absences. (He had around a 3.5 gpa). He went back in the summer and made up an entire semester in a month and a half.

Now, there are many who would accuse D 17 of being just as bad, I'm sure. Maybe some of them will post here. From my experience, though, there's a world of difference between the two districts and am terribly glad I finished my time in D 17.

Thank you for being so frank. I wish you and your family all the best.

[savednhappy]

I sponsor a child through a well known charity in Clarendon County and can confirm the following: The County has a population of 33,157 and about 30% of the pop ages 18-24 have not received a HS Diploma or GED. South Carolina ranks 49th out of the 50 states with only 57% of children graduation high school. 1 out of 4 children live below the federal poverty line. It is a very poor area which unfortunately means crime is high but some success stories have come out of that area. Best way to decide, take a road trip and drive through the area....eat in a local diner..you'll get a general feel.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

Now, there are many who would accuse D 17 of being just as bad, I'm sure. Maybe some of them will post here. From my experience, though, there's a world of difference between the two districts and am terribly glad I finished my time in D 17.

District 17 has its bad schools. Lemira, Croswell Drive, and Chestnut Oaks are all just as bad as anywhere in District 2, and all of them eventually feed into Sumter High. SHS has its share of bad stuff, I'm sure you know that.

I agree that motivated students can do well at SHS. It is a huge school with a lot of resources. But the students reflect the people of Sumter, and Sumter can be a rough town.

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by anonymous

District 17 has its bad schools. Lemira, Croswell Drive, and Chestnut Oaks are all just as bad as anywhere in District 2, and all of them eventually feed into Sumter High. SHS has its share of bad stuff, I'm sure you know that.

I agree that motivated students can do well at SHS. It is a huge school with a lot of resources. But the students reflect the people of Sumter, and Sumter can be a rough town.

I went to both of the elementary schools you named, and would have gone to Chestnut Oaks, had it existed when I was growing up.

Both Lemira and Crosswell had issues, but also had some amazing teachers. I was lucky enough to have several of them in my time there.

Life is full of differing perspectives. Perhaps I'm just one of those rough people from a rough town, but my experiences in Sumter have never hindered me. Perhaps the opposite is true.

[anonymous]

Originally Posted by CarolinaBredChicagoan

I went to both of the elementary schools you named, and would have gone to Chestnut Oaks, had it existed when I was growing up.

Both Lemira and Crosswell had issues, but also had some amazing teachers. I was lucky enough to have several of them in my time there.

I agree, there are some amazing teachers there. My mom taught at both. Both my grandparents spent their careers working for district 17. I always thought that their collective decision to put me & my brother in private schools said a lot.

But I'm interested in your experiences. You say there were 'issues' - what kind?

[CarolinaBredChicagoan]

Originally Posted by anonymous

But I'm interested in your experiences. You say there were 'issues' - what kind?

The issues one might expect when you put a bunch of relatively poor kids into a school together.

When I was in elementary school, we lived just outside of town. We were still in D17, so we went to Crosswell until I was in 3rd grade. Then they built Kingsbury Elementary and redrew the lines. That sent me to Lemira.

Zoning-wise, D17 is gerrymandered to ensure that school zones include a variety of neighborhoods. The folks in more expensive areas tend to send their kids to private school (e.g., the area around Sunset Country Club was zoned for Wilder Elem., which was arguably rougher than Crosswell and as rough as Lemira), which is fine with many, because the property taxes are part of the whole idea.

At Lemira, the school was maybe 80-90% black. I'm white, and was definitely in the minority. Financially, we were as poor as the rest, so that wasn't really an issue.

My statement about 'issues' was sort of a concession that it wasn't a completely lovely experience like something from the Disney Channel where everyone gets along and wears brightly colored polo shirts and trades lunches. Lower incomes mean higher stress levels at home and less parental focus on education. Still, I learned so much from the experience.

As we speak, I am a college graduate living and working in the third largest city in the nation. I have a good job and a nice car (that I never drive! I take the train) and lots of other trappings of success. Some would say this is in spite of my experiences in Sumter. I say it is because of them. Good education is where you find it. The experiences, though... learning how to connect with people from different neighborhoods and races... learning that we are all just people, with far more that makes us alike than different... that's something I couldn't have gotten just anywhere.

Keep in mind, that was at one of the roughest schools in the district. Experiences at Alice Drive or Millwood or Willow or Kingsbury were considerably tamer. I know literally hundreds of people who went to those schools, and they're (again, literally) now doing everything from serving in the diplomatic corps to running fashion lines to working as attorneys and surgeons. It's a town of varied experiences, but I want to make sure people understand that it's not some sort of provincial, backwater town with no connection to the outside world.