Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Student Discipline topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Horry County Schools superintendent reports rise in high‑school phone referrals, unveils calendar and organizational charts
Summary
Superintendent Clifford Jones told the Horry County Board of Education that a new state rule limiting student cell‑phone use has generated about 1,000 additional high‑school disciplinary referrals, while elementary and middle school referrals rose only slightly.
Superintendent Clifford Jones told the Horry County Board of Education on a February regular meeting that a new state rule restricting student cell‑phone use has produced a sharp increase in high‑school disciplinary referrals and only small increases at lower grades.
"Our high school incidents, they have risen by a thousand referrals," Jones said, adding that elementary referrals rose by "like 10" and middle school referrals were "less than 100" compared with last year. Jones said the district serves "slightly over 14,000 high school students," and that changing the rules midyear contributed to the spike.
Jones said many high schools are already enforcing the expectations — including restrictions during lunch, passing periods and common areas — and that he has visited multiple campuses to review implementation. "We're still ironing out some of the details," he said, and invited policy makers to discuss targeted adjustments for high schools that could reduce staff burden while keeping students engaged.
The superintendent also announced that organizational charts for each division — showing coordinators, supervisors and vacant positions — are now posted on the district website under the superintendent's page. "These are the types of steps that create momentum," Jones said, crediting staff for making the charts available on short notice.
On the academic calendar, Jones described the committee process used to build the 2025 student calendar and said it meets requirements in South Carolina Code of Laws Title 59 for instructional days and makeup days. He said the district's draft includes 180 days, a long weekend mid‑semester to help with high‑school grading, a full week for Thanksgiving, two weeks at winter break, and spring break beginning Friday, April 3, with the last student day currently scheduled for Thursday, June 4.
Jones also highlighted extracurricular recognitions: Horry County had three state wrestling champions and several top finishers; he invited the community to upcoming arts performances. He closed by announcing 23 students named as National Merit Scholarship finalists; staff member Miss Mercier read the finalists' names to the board.
Board members reacted positively to the reports and to the posted organizational charts. Chairman David Cox thanked Jones and noted the board would receive the calendar and data for review in coming meetings.
