Latest news with #BerkeleyCountySchoolDistrict
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Berkeley County School District announces 2025 District Teacher of the Year
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Berkeley County School District announced Friday morning that the district's 2025 Teacher of the Year comes from Berkeley High School. Alex Wharton is a special services educator who has more than 33 years of experience. She was honored at the annual Teacher of the Year Breakfast for her work as a champion for her students and for incorporating district skills into her teaching. After the announcement, Wharton took the stage to discuss educators' impact on their students and the importance of building relationships with them. 'By continuing to build meaningful relationships, we give our students more than grades or guidance; we give them a foundation for healing and a launchpad for thriving,' she said. 'Sometimes, what a student needs most isn't a better test score or a new strategy. What they need is someone who becomes, even for a season, an umbilical cord – a life-giving connection that supplies them with what they may not yet produce on their own: motivation, encouragement, confidence, and hope.' Wharton's son, Berkeley High senior John Wharton, was in attendance to cheer on his mom. Berkeley High Principal Heather Ducker also stepped up to say a few words about how lucky the school is to have Wharton. 'Mrs. Wharton loves all kids,' she said. 'She leads through God and her heart. She teaches some of our most vulnerable students, and they just cling to her. I learn from her daily, our faculty learns from her daily, and we're just really blessed to have her.' The educators who won teacher of the year at their individual schools were also honored at breakfast. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
BCSD temporarily blocks research platform for students due to concerns over access to sexually-themed content
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – Complaints about a research platform have prompted the Berkeley County School District to temporarily block student access. The district said it decided to make some changes to the program following a wave of complaints from parents. 'The Discus system is provided at the state level, and it is used for student research,' said Katie Tanner, chief communications officer for the district. 'It is one of many platforms students utilize for research.' According to the program's website, the platform provides all South Carolinians with access to an electronic library of 'essential information resources.' It's basically a state library computer system that allows students to search for things within that network. 'We did have parents raise concerns specifically about the age-appropriates of content that was available to students. Parents had access to their students, and they were very concerned specifically about what they believed was age-inappropriate material with regard to sexual content and information concerning sexual content. This is a research platform, so it is presented in that mode, but there were legitimate concerns about what was available,' said Tanner. Multiple parents reached out, complaining about things like news videos about sex shops, books on the history of smut, sex education stories, and journal entries about rape. 'When those concerns were brought to the district's attention and they were investigated, we were able to confirm that those concerns were in fact, legitimate. In order to fully understand how expansive that is, and what are our steps to resolve that, we paused the student access to Discus at this time,' she explained. Teachers can still access it. One issue is there's no way to filter certain content for older students only. 'In the district, we have filtered content through keywords and other mechanisms if you're on our network, but with Discus, there is no ability right now in the way that it exists to filter content based on age. So, we have to be concerned about state regulations with sexual content,' said Tanner. The Berkeley County School District is meeting with discuss officials to determine how they can put filters in place before deciding whether to turn the access for students back on. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
BCSD students invited to design postage stamp for Black History Month
BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The Goose Creek NAACP is inviting Berkeley County School District students to design their own postage stamps to celebrate Black History Month. Organizers say students can design a commemorative stamp in honor of the contributions of Black Americans and the important events associated with their history. Students can also submit a poem highlighting a Black American and their contribution to society as another option for the contest. The poem must be original, the work of only one person, and under 75 words. According to the Goose Creek Cultural Arts Commission, the following must be on the stamp: USA 48 The name of the person, place or event, and the image The deadline is set for March 3 at 5 p.m. Submissions can be sent to gcculturalarts@ Organizers say submissions will be displayed at the Goose Creek Recreation Center, and winners will be honored at the Goose Creek City Council Meeting on Tuesday, March 11 at 6 p.m. To learn more about the contest, call 843-695-7215 or email goosecreeknaacp@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
