Board reviews OE-12 instructional program; adds it to consent agenda and designates Health Advisory Committee as OE12.18

The academics committee of the Beaufort County Board of Education on Sept. 23 reviewed Operational Expectation 12, a 179-page packet of evidence staff says documents how the district designs, monitors and evaluates instructional programs; the committee voted to add OE-12 to the consent agenda and later approved including the Health Advisory Committee's work as OE12.18.

Doctor Stratos, the staff presenter, opened the packet: "What you have in front of you is o e 12. If you go to page 2, I wanna make note that we have our table of contents." She guided members through the binder's structure and evidence sections, saying the operational expectation contains 17 subparts and that she began the evidence package at page 36. "I do know it's a 179 pages," she told the committee.

The packet, according to Stratos' presentation, links instructional programs to South Carolina Department of Education standards and to locally developed course documents. "The state has done an outstanding job at the development of instructional standards," she said, noting the district uses the state's standards, Rubicon curriculum maps, math textbook adoption materials and crosswalks for new programs such as Project Lead The Way's Project Launch.

Why it matters: OE-12 is the district's formal documentation of how instructional programs align to state standards, how student progress is measured, and how program decisions are supported with evidence. The committee was shown examples of curriculum unit pacing, test blueprints, and district monitoring tools intended to help principals and instructional directors track alignment and pacing.

Key facts and program details - OE-12 is composed of 17 subparts and was presented with an evidence binder the presenter described as roughly 179 pages. - The presentation emphasized mathematics examples, curriculum crosswalks (Project Launch/Project Lead The Way), and the district's use of Rubicon to store unit plans and pacing. - Assessment tools mentioned include I-Ready (diagnostic administered three times per year) and state end-of-course (EOC) exams; Dr. Stratos cited Hanover Research work evaluating I-Ready. - Dr. Stratos described the district's master schedule process (referred to as "MasterBoard"), housed in PowerSchool, which is reviewed annually to ensure course assignments and advisory time comply with system expectations. - Career and technical education partnerships were noted; Karen Gilbert, named in the presentation as "our director for career technical education," was cited for CTE program expansion and a planned January partnership allowing students to pursue college culinary course credit.

Board questions and clarifications Colonel Gough asked whether teachers and PLCs would have access to the Rubicon materials; Stratos replied, "They would they should have it within their work that they're utilizing in their PLCs. So the answer to that is yes."

Pastor Gordon asked about the effect of EOC results on course grades. Dr. Stratos explained: "So the end of course exam, pastor Gordon, is 20% of a student's grade. So if Mary walks in with an 80 and fails the exam with an f, she walks out with a 60." She clarified that if a student fails the exam but still passes the course, the district does not provide a retake of the EOC in that circumstance; if a student fails the entire course they must retake the course and retake the EOC.

Committee action - The committee voted to add OE-12 to the consent agenda after the presentation; the transcript records a motion, a second and multiple "aye" responses from members. The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript excerpt. - Later in the meeting, a separate motion was made and approved to "include evidence of work of the Health Advisory Committee to Operational Expectation 12 and to be referenced as OE12.18." The motion was moved, seconded and approved with recorded "ayes."

Other operational and implementation details - Instructional monitoring tools discussed included observation tools (referred to as LEO), instructional leadership dashboards, and an academic return-on-investment (AROI) framework the district has developed and assigned staff to maintain. - Classroom practice and workload: Stratos and other staff described teacher data-entry workflows (PowerSchool as the student information system and Google Classroom for instructional delivery), and noted planning periods and duty schedules are used to allocate time for grading and administrative tasks. - Technology and data privacy: the presentation referenced a district "magic school" AI repository (described by staff as controlled and internal) and the district's need to meet security standards to maintain E-rate funding.

What comes next OE-12 will proceed on the consent agenda for the full board packet as provided. Staff indicated the binder and supporting documents will remain available to board members for review. The committee also requested that the Health Advisory Committee's agenda and annual work be included as evidence under OE-12 (OE12.18).

Ending note: The presentation ran more than an hour and included multiple follow-up questions from committee members on assessment policy, classroom access to curriculum materials and workload for secondary teachers.