DCSD recognizes board member accomplishments
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
During their regular monthly meeting, July 10, the Darlington County Board of Education approved a resolution for a general obligation bond for $7.6 million. This bond is would be used for the acquisition of technology improvements as well as other capital needs in the district. These bonds are issued at regular intervals to help with needs in the district that would not fall under a yearly budget need.
In other business, the board heard from Diane Sigmon, DCSD Director of Technology, about her recent visit to the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Conference in Chicago. Sigmon, along with 13 others members of the DCSD family including principals and teachers, took part in the conference not only as participants but also as presenters.
There were nearly 24,000 people at the conference, including people from all fifty states and more than 80 countries.
“It was a massive conference and an incredible experience,” Sigmon said. “It is virtually impossible in the time that we have to convey the magnitude of this experience. It was really amazing.”
DCSD was involved in five presentations throughout the conference on a variety of topics. One of their presentations was a panel discussion during which the faculty talked about the district’s 1-to-1 initiative and how that translated differently into each of their roles.
“We sat down with Mr. Morphis before we went and then we shared a video of what he had to say so that the people could get his perspective as a board member,” Sigmon said. “Then we went down our panel and had each of our perspectives shared. The information technology folks shared parts about their role in the process…We had Ms. Johnson and Mr. Hughes who shared their perspective. It was a pretty comprehensive group.”
There were over 100 people in the room for the panel presentation, Sigmon said.
Dr. Josh Bastean did a presentation on gaming and how gamification increases engagement; his session was one of a select few that was recorded and broadcast during the conference.
Two board members were recognized during the awards and recognition portion of the meeting. Morphis and boardmember Wanda Hassler completed a new level of training under the South Carolina School Boards Association (SCSBA) Boardmanship Institute. There are six levels of training. Morphis completed level two and Hassler completed level four.
