District outlines 5-year strategic plan updates and teacher recruitment efforts

Sherry Forrest presented the district’s strategic renewal plans, explaining the five-year development cycle, annual update deadlines (due April 30), and the district’s 45-day progress monitoring cadence used to track interim goals.

"The district's strategic plan and school renewal plans include an accountability system that directs an annual needs assessment," Forrest said, noting many updates are procedural (signature pages, interim goal data) and that the final year of the current plan will be used to develop the next five-year plan.

During discussion of the related desegregation agenda item, Superintendent Dr. Gauss asked chief human resources officer Kalu Kalu to outline the district’s recruitment and retention efforts. Kalu told the board the district uses college and virtual recruiting fairs, partnerships with the University of South Carolina and Coastal Carolina University, grow-your-own programs, paid internships and tuition assistance, and noted the district qualifies for some rural recruitment incentive funds though not the full rural recruitment incentive classification used where turnover exceeds 11 percent.

Board members pressed on minority recruitment, HBCU outreach and leadership development. Kalu said the district has targeted recruitment at diverse campuses and runs programs (teacher cadets, plans for a middle-school Proteams program) and leadership capstone projects to grow internal staff into administrative roles.

The presentation concluded with board members noting local housing availability and other community factors affect outside recruitment; staff said they would continue to refine outreach and retention strategies and provide additional data as requested.