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Student alleges repeated IEP noncompliance; volunteers urge district to restore Reading Partners program
Summary
A high school student described years of unmet IEP accommodations; two community volunteers urged the board to reestablish Reading Partners across Berkeley County elementary schools.
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. — During public comments at the March 17 Berkeley County Board of Education meeting, a high school student described repeated failures by teachers to follow her individualized education program (IEP) and asked the board to address the problem. Two community volunteers told the board they want the Reading Partners literacy program reinstated in Berkeley County elementary schools.
Carolyn Jones, who identified herself as a high school student, told the board she had experienced three years of IEP accommodations not being followed. “If someone can't hear you, give them a hearing aid. That is what my IEP is, a hearing aid for me to level the playing field,” Jones said. She said teachers showed materials and films with sexual content and that she had to drop a class after administration failed to secure a textbook. Jones said she feared retaliation for speaking up but that she would not “give up my rights.”
Jan Hirsch, a volunteer Reading Partners tutor and Berkeley County resident, asked the board to reconsider district funding for Reading Partners after the district removed the program from school budgets. Hirsch said she had tutored in nearby Charleston County and expressed a preference to work in her own community; she noted statewide test-score declines as part of her appeal to restore the program.
Dorothy Edmonds, a Goose Creek resident and Reading Partners volunteer, told the board the program currently operates at only one Berkeley County school (St. Stephens) and requested the program be reestablished across county elementary schools. Edmonds cited Reading Partners’ reported outcomes in Charleston County (2019 data cited for Charleston reading center results) and suggested the nonprofit could help secure grants to fund reinstatement.
The board’s public comment guidelines were read before the speakers: comments must relate to programs, policies or procedures, are limited to three minutes, and the board will not take immediate action on public comments at the meeting.
No formal response or board action on the IEP allegations or Reading Partners requests was recorded on the transcript; speakers were invited to speak during the public-comments portion of the meeting.
