BREAKING NEWS!

Here is the text of a news release this afternoon from Oconee public schools:

“SCHOOL DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION TO RECOMMEND SCHOOL CLOSING
Tamassee-Salem Middle/High School the topic of Monday’s Board Meeting
Based on declining enrollment and rising costs, the School District of Oconee County administration will recommend to the school board at the work session on October 12th that the district close Tamassee-Salem Middle/High School at the end of the 2015-2016 school year.
Superintendent Dr. Michael Thorsland said, “At any small school, it is almost impossible to offer all the student opportunities that are available at a larger school, just because of staffing limitations. We work very hard to provide similar course and extracurricular offerings in high schools across the district and we are not able to do that in the Tamassee-Salem area.”
District officials and board members met at the school last spring to address concerns expressed by Tamassee-Salem parents and students. At that time, Dr. Thorsland said that there was no immediate plan to close the school, however; that changed this fall when school enrollment dropped sharply.
At the September board meeting, Gloria Moore, Executive Director of Finance, presented a cost per pupil across all schools in the district based on the last available numbers from the state. Based on her estimate, the cost per student is approximately $4,000 more at Tamassee-Salem Middle/High School than at other district middle and high schools.
Assistant Superintendent of Operations Steve Hanvey explains, “With a 10 day enrollment of 251, Tamassee-Salem is eligible for 13 teachers; however, to provide the required courses for those students, the district has to fund an additional 5 teachers from the district budget. Right now, thousands more per student are spent at TSMH each year when compared with larger schools in the district. So, according to these numbers, closing the school will save the district approximately $750,000 each year.”
Dr. Thorsland continued, “The driving goal of the School District of Oconee County is to be a top 10 school district in the state of South Carolina. To meet this goal, we must achieve two objectives: improve the learning opportunities for all our students and continue to properly manage our available resources.”