Food Service Questions for the Rock Hill School Board

What procedures are in place to prevent fraud by those requesting free or reduced lunch? 
A percentage of free lunch program applications are audited annually as required by law (district office, and audited households are required to provide proof that the income is stated correctly). Applications are subject to audit by the district’s external auditors. The Federal Government and the S.C. Department of Education also audit free and reduced lunch applications in districts across the country on a rotating basis.

Why do you continue to use Free & Reduced as an excuse? Why do F&R students not have to pay fees? 
State law does not allow school districts to charge fees to students eligible for free lunch. Students eligible for reduced-price lunches may only legally be charged reduced fees.

What are we doing to reduce food waste, have healthier choices, and improve lunches? 
Food Service tries to provide enough food so every student can have the same choices, yet have limited amounts of leftovers. A student only has to have three of the five meal components (meat/meal alternate, fruit, vegetable, bread/grain, and milk) for a meal. If a student does not want an item, the student is not required to take it.

Food Service regularly samples new products with students and have switched hamburger/hotdog buns to whole grain along with pizza crust, rolls, and cookies. So far, $85,000 has been spent this year to purchase fresh produce in comparison to last year where we spent about $110,000 for the entire year. We have switched to brown rice from white rice and added sweet potatoes, carrots, and leafy green vegetables (collards/turnips) weekly. Very few items are fried.

Schools of Choice and Late Start Questions for the Rock Hill School Board

What is the impact on the "non" schools of choice? What are we doing about feeder schools with schools of choice? How are choice decisions made? Do we have a strategic plan for schools of choice?

The Administration  limits student movement to prevent a major change occurring at an "non" school of choice in a single year. So far, school choice has not had an impact. The York Preparatory Academy, a charter school, has had an impact on our  enrollment.

Currently, the proposed Oakdale to Saluda Trail  Middle School STEM program will be the only feeder system for choice.

The district’s School Choice Committee meets about once a quarter to discuss Rock Hill's choice options. Previous to this year, school choice was driven by the schools, now it is directed from the district level. Contact a school principal to see about being on the choice committee.

Why do we have late start days? What gets done on late start days? Can we show that late start days are helping? 
Late Start Days were requested by school principals to allow for teacher professional development time.  Because this is driven by principals, your child's principal will be the best person to explain what is being done and how this is helping improve the school.

School Calendar and Climate Questions For the Rock Hill School Board

Will high school students be able to take exams before Christmas in future years? 

Getting the exams in  before Christmas is difficult, especially since schools cannot, by law, begin the school year earlier than the third Monday in August. Elaine Baker is working with a committee, which includes high school students, to come up with a calendar for next year. Exam timing is one of the issues they will be addressing. If you have a strong opinion on this, be sure to let the board know.

What are the schools doing about bullying? 

School Counselors have small group instruction on the topic of bullying.  The high schools are hosting Rachel’s Challenge.

What are the schools doing to create a safer environment? 

We have  cameras on our campuses and  school buses. Resource Officers (local police) are in all middle and high schools and an officer is available for elementary schools.

Academic Questions For the Rock Hill School Board

What academic clubs are in place and what are the plans to add more? 
Each school has its own set of clubs. Some at the high schools include Beta Club, National Honor Society, Environmental Club, Robotics Club, International Club (or language-specific clubs like Spanish or French), History Club, Junior Marshals, Future Business Leaders of America, Thespians, Model United Nations, Kitty Hawk Air Society, Literary Magazine, and Yearbook. Parents can get a complete list from their child’s school and can work with the principal to form more clubs. Forming a new club requires student interest and an adult willing to sponsor.

What successful school districts are we benchmarking? 
We benchmark against other districts and schools with a similar poverty index such as Oconee, Kershaw, Lancaster, Anderson 5, Spartanburg 2, and Beaufort.

How do Rock Hill Schools rank nationally? 
We do not have national rankings per se. We do have nationally normed test data such as the SAT and ACT. The district administration will be posting a district dashboard on the web site with comparisons to schools similar to ours. Target for this to get started is the first of 2012. You can click here to see some SC state report card comparisons for the York County School Districts.

What are the schools doing to improve graduation rates? What are we doing to improve test scores?  We are reducing failure rates by offering mastery based credit vs. seat time; offering courses for credit and content recovery; allowing alternative instructional time (Phoenix Academy) to improve literacy abilities K-12; differentiating instruction; responding to the individual needs of students in math and reading; and increasing 4K programs to improve readiness for school. However, progress has been very slow.