Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Teachers and residents urge board to address intent forms, staff climate and early-literacy funding
Loading...
Summary
Multiple public commenters at the Berkeley County Board of Education meeting urged action on workplace culture, the administration of intent and climate surveys, elementary structure and continued funding for reading intervention, highlighting teacher fear of retaliation and strong early-literacy gains at one school.
Several public commenters at the March 30 Berkeley County Board of Education meeting asked the board to address workplace culture and to sustain early-literacy supports.
Sarah Khalil, speaking as a representative of the Berkeley County Education Association, described how the district’s annual intent forms are used as a data-collection tool in January but are not binding. She said teachers sometimes avoid indicating a desire to resign or transfer out of fear of retaliation. "When educators do not feel safe being honest, the data cannot fully reflect reality and teachers are fleeing," Sarah Khalil told the board, citing a district sample she described as 100 teachers in which about "30% reported they did not indicate resign or transfer despite that being their true intent due to fear of retaliation."
That concern about staff safety on campuses was echoed later by Amanda Hebel, who said principals have sometimes asked staff to complete the climate survey during supervised meetings. "This practice is highly unlikely to make teachers feel secure about answering honestly," Amanda Hebel said, reporting staff comments that completing the survey in that setting can feel coercive.
On instruction and student supports, Jennifer Smallars, a reading interventionist at Whitesville Elementary, told the board her intervention students showed large gains: "Over the past 2 years, struggling readers at Whitesville Elementary who received reading intervention have demonstrated a 92% growth," she said, and told the board Title I funding that supported her position can no longer sustain it. She urged the board to keep the reading interventionist role at Whitesville and consider districtwide supports so schools identified by ATSI maintain reading interventionists.
Lindsay Drago criticized forced departmentalization in grades 3–5 and frequent PLC requirements for K–2 teachers, saying those structures reduce planning time and interrupt the stable relationships young children need. "The issue is structure, and right now that structure is cutting into the most important thing elementary teachers have, time for their students," Drago said.
Marcus, who identified himself as a poet and mentor to high-school poets, urged the board not to eliminate Goose Creek High’s creative-writing course and said arts programs help students process emotions and build skills.
Board members did not take immediate action on the public comments at the meeting; chair and staff acknowledged the concerns and noted budget and policy constraints. Several speakers asked administrators to consider policy or budget changes that would protect staff survey anonymity, sustain early-literacy staffing and review elementary scheduling practices.
