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Parents push Berkeley County school board over recent administrative moves and district formative assessments
Summary
During public comment Sept. 15, two parents criticized recent administrative reassignments and the district’s mandatory district formative assessments (DFAs), saying interim appointments remain in place and that tests include content not covered in class. They urged the board to review staffing decisions and testing practices.
Amanda Hebel and Angela Gresino used public comment time at the Berkeley County Board of Education meeting on Sept. 15 to press the district on personnel decisions and how district formative assessments are administered.
Hebel told the board she opposed a series of administrative changes made about a month before the school year and said several interim principal assignments remained in place "one month into the school year." She questioned the rationale for reassigning principals at schools that posted strong SC Ready English language arts results — noting one school's "scores of over 50% getting meets or exceeds" — and said staff morale is low, with frequent coordinator turnover. Hebel also alleged the changes were "meticulously thought out and planned out" by district leadership to "eliminate those that don't follow y'all's narrative." The transcript does not record a direct response to that allegation during public comment.
Parent Angela Gresino, who said she has two children at Marrington Middle School, raised concerns about the district-mandated DFAs, which she described as unit tests given on fixed dates. Gresino said teachers could not cover all the material before students took the tests and provided one example in which just three of 19 social-studies test questions had been covered in class. She said study guides were not provided and recommended the district allow teachers a testing "window" or provide study guides so tests match students' notebooks.
Board members asked clarifying questions: a board member confirmed Gresino's child is in sixth grade, and a staff member offered to meet after the meeting to follow up. The chair invited private follow-up with staff after the session.
Why it matters: Parents' complaints touch on two central responsibilities of a school district — staffing decisions that affect school leadership and the alignment of assessments to instruction. If DFAs are administered before teachers have covered required content, parents said, students' grades and future opportunities could be affected.
What the board said or did: The meeting moved to the superintendent's report after these comments. The transcript records offers by board members and staff to discuss details after the meeting, but it does not record a formal board directive or an immediate staff commitment to change DFA administration or to reverse any personnel assignments.
Next steps noted in the meeting: Staff and individual board members invited the speakers to confer with district staff after the meeting for follow-up. No formal motion on staffing or DFA policy was recorded in open session that night.
