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Berkeley County schools report low general-education vacancies; superintendent cites summer reading progress and facility reuse
Summary
At its July 21 meeting the Berkeley County Board of Education heard Superintendent Dr. Dixon report the district's lowest certified general-education vacancies since before the pandemic, ongoing special-education shortages, preliminary summer reading outcomes and plans to repurpose the former J.K. Gourdine Elementary building.
At the July 21 meeting of the Berkeley County Board of Education, Superintendent Dr. Dixon told the board that “certified general education vacancies are at the lowest since before the pandemic,” reporting nine high-school, six middle-school and two elementary openings districtwide.
Dr. Dixon said the district remains focused on filling critical special-education positions and gave specific vacancy counts: 17 elementary, 10.5 at middle school and 11.5 at the high-school level. “We remain committed to fully staffing all classrooms and continue to focus on filling our critical special education positions,” he said.
The superintendent also summarized summer reading support for third graders, describing the district’s summer reading camp. He said 272 students participated in the camp and that 55 students achieved an I-Ready score meeting the state’s criterion to avoid retention; he reported 100 students were retained based on reading performance. The transcript records additional counts Dr. Dixon mentioned about students scoring “does not meet” on the SC Ready ELA and students who qualified for good-cause exemptions, but those particular totals were not clearly stated in the public record available in the meeting transcript.
Dr. Dixon told the board the district has received embargoed SC Ready state testing results and is “extremely encouraged by the progress shown,” noting that “many of our schools saw significant, some even double digit improvements in performance.” He said the district will wait for the statewide embargo to lift in September before releasing full results and intends to revise its 2026 academic-achievement goals in ELA after the unembargoed data are released.
The superintendent reported that the former J.K. Gourdine Elementary School building was the site of a ribbon-cutting ceremony and has been repurposed to support district initiatives. The building, he said, “will be available for use by approved outside organizations through our facility use process.” He thanked board members who attended the ceremony: Mr. Ramsey, Ms. Davenport, Mr. Borden and Ms. Bradley.
Dr. Dixon closed by announcing the 1 Berkeley Back to School Festival, scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 2, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Muntz Corner Regional Recreational Complex; he said the district will distribute several thousand book bags on a first-come, first-served basis.
The superintendent’s remarks were informational; no formal board action was taken on the staffing counts, the summer reading camp outcomes or the repurposing announcement during the meeting.
