Greenville Co. Schools Seek to Broaden Magnet/IB Benefits

At Tuesday’s Greenville County School Board meeting the Trustees began their public discussion of the district’s Magnet and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs.

Following a presentation by Deborah Carrero, the district’s consultant for K-12  Foreign Language, Select, IB Schools, & Advanced Placement, the board took up the topic of Magnet/IB education in the county, which was brought about by requests from Trustees Tommie Reece and Roger Meek. Carrero’s presentation can be viewed here, scroll to the bottom of the page.

The Trustees made a point of saying that the $3.2 million in funding the Magnet/IB programs is not on the chopping block. Rather, the board is seeking ways to bring the successes of the programs to a wider number of students.

Generally speaking, magnet schools specialize in a particular area such as the arts, communications or engineering and teach the core subjects through the prism in which they specialize. The IB programs intend to give students an education that is international in scope.

When the magnet programs were introduced in the mid-1990s they were characterized to be a way to revive sagging inner-city schools. But Trustee Lisa Wells, who represents Area 28 which includes part of Mauldin, never saw them that way.

“I know they were meant to revitalize some schools in our district,” said Wells, who was elected in 2010. “But I thought of them as examples of choice. They provided choice and that is what parents and families want. They want options.”

The magnet programs have transformed several schools in the district, and Wells and other Trustees would like to see programs become more available to more students. The biggest challenges to making that happen are logistical. Moving a student from one part of the county for a single magnet program or a teacher to a specific school to teach, for example, Chinese, can be a costly undertaking.

At present, 9,000 students, or approximately 14 percent of students in Greenville County, attend a school outside their zone. Of those, 2,000 attend magnet or IB schools.

Wells would like to see that number rise.

 “I think we can do better at the marketing piece in terms of letting parents know what’s available,” she said.

Wells said this is true not just for the magnet and IB programs, but for single-gender classes or classes that allow more than one grade level in the same course of study, such as those at Bethel Elementary.

 With more parents aware of specialty programs the demand will increase at individual schools, thereby reducing the necessity—and the cost—to transport students throughout the county.

The board passed a motion to “direct the administration to consider and recommend to the Board improvements/refinements for the current magnet and IB systems which would broaden the benefits of these initiatives and embrace/encourage other schools with a special focus or approach.”

Supt. Phinnize J. Fisher will lead the effort. According to Wells, the process should take between 3-6 months.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In other schools news, the board unanimously approved SCDOT’s proposal to add slopes to the area in front of and to the west of Mauldin High School. See the map here.

The proposal is part of a larger effort by SCDOT improve the area near the intersection of Corn Road/Bridges Road and East Butler Road. The project is expected to impact the Mauldin Open Air Market, a development that has the .

Wells was sympathetic to the owner’s concerns, but also said the area is in need of an upgrade, if for no other reason than safety. “Before and after school starts that area is a nightmare. It needs to be safer,” she said.