DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – More than 27,000 students in Dorchester School District Two are back in the classroom.
News 2’s Octavia Mitchell sat down one-on-one with the district’s new superintendent, Chad Daugherty, who said successful student outcomes, new safety measures, and managing growth are some of the top priorities for the district.
Daugherty is opening schools for the first time as the leader of Dorchester School District Two. He is in his 30th year in education, after serving as a teacher, coach, administrator, and superintendent in Indiana.
He served as Deputy Superintendent in DD2 for the last three years, then as interim superintendent.
“We’re very excited. I’m excited to see students, that’s why we’re here. You can see why this is a great district, because of the people. The connectedness of the people in this community. The people are amazing. They care about you. It’s just a really close-knit community, and we’ve been really blessed on that,” said Daugherty.
DD2 has more than 27,000 students in 26 schools, and around 4,000 employees. This year, the district only has a few teacher vacancies.
“Our personnel this year, fill rate was close to 99 percent, probably the best fill rate we’ve had since 2019. We don’t have any openings for elementary or middle school; we only have, I believe, five for high school, and I believe four for special-ed. Our team did an outstanding job. Our administrative and personnel team, so we’re very happy about being fully staffed there,” he said.
Teachers and staff will receive a pay raise this year. The base salary for starting teachers is $51,500.
“This year, we were able to give all our teachers a 3-percent raise. All of our classified staff certified and classified staff got a 3-percent raise, which is equivalent to about a 4 to 6-percent raise when you’re talking the steps. We’re very excited- our board of trustees was big in trying to make sure we were able to pay not just our teachers but everyone in the district.”
Daugherty says every bus route is covered. “Our transportation department has done a fantastic job. We have 160 routes. We actually have 160 drivers this year, plus three subs, that has never happened for a long time. We don’t have to do any double backs right now,” he said.
And safety and security are always top priority. There are new secured areas, and the district will continue to use Open Gate metal detectors at high schools and high school events. They will also have random metal detector screenings expanding to middle schools.
“The only change we have, we’ve added some 3M film to our windows in our buildings. Also, we have secured all of our vestibules, so when people come in, visitors come in, there are secured vestibules, so they can’t access the rest of the building.”
All schools have resource officers, and the district added a weapons detection dog last year. “The other thing we have at our high schools we also have security officers. We have at least two SROs at each one of our high schools, and believe we have three security officers. They go outside around the building and make sure everybody is going where they need to be. We’re very blessed on that.”
Accommodating growth and alleviating overcrowded schools remains a challenge for the district. “That is one of our challenges, especially when you look at the growth. Right now, we’re building classrooms onto Summerville Elementary next door to us. We’re building classes at Oakbrook Elementary School, Oakbrook Middle School, also Sand Hill, which is out there in the area of Summers Corner. They are going to be getting some additions. That’s going to be done on October 9th, so that’s going to help with a little bit of the overcrowding out there at Sand Hill, because again they keep building houses faster than we can build buildings and additions.”
Two new schools are in the works. “Our community voted for a $200 million referendum to build two elementary schools in the area of Ponds, and the area of Yerby tract. Right now, we are kind of in a hold, waiting just for that land to be conveyed to the district, but we have all our permitting. We’re ready to go. It will be about a year and a half or 18 months once we get that land,” said Daugherty.
This year, the district is offering all students free meals. The superintendent says, “We’re very, very excited about that. This year, all our students are going to be able to eat for free. We’re excited about that opportunity. We have a new food service, Aramark, so we’re excited about the opportunity for all students to be able to eat for free, breakfast and lunch. We’re thrilled to be able to do that.”
Earlier this year, the Dorchester County Legislative Delegation discussed the possibility of consolidating Dorchester School Districts 2 and 4. Daugherty says, “That’s kind of out of our control at this point. They’ve been talking about it for years. Nothing is happening right now. We’re just kind of in a standstill. We’re both looking for what are those revenue streams, that’s the big thing, being able to have enough money to pay our teachers.”
Superintendent Daugherty says he is excited to begin a new school year.
“We’re going to continue to do our mission. Leading the way for every student, every day through relationships, rigor, and relevance. The relationships are the key that connects us to our families, to our students, and to our teachers. Our teachers and all of our support staff, have done amazing jobs of supporting our students, and that’s what we’re here for, and that’s what I would tell our parents, we’re here to help support you to make sure your child is successful, and again we want to see your child come all the way through K through 12 and hopefully they’ll be prepared for those three E’s, Enrollment, Enlistment, and Employment when they come out of DD2, and so that’s what we’re trying to do when we’re preparing students for the future.”
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