Education

By Wendell Nolan, The Sentinel News (8-23-2019)  – Creating and sustaining a successful school district is a gargantuan task, especially since the cost of everything from salaries, supplies and facility construction has steadily risen.  Superintendent Joe Pye is the captain of the ship called Dorchester District Two, which has a student body of approximately 26,000. The mandate from Mr. Pye and the school board to the faculty and staff is to do your best, so no child is left behind.

Mr. Pye was the featured speaker for the August 2019 Summerville Chamber of Commerce Power Hour.  Mr. Pye explained to the audience of businessmen/women, educators and dignitaries; that partnerships have made Dorchester District II one of the highest ranking school districts in South Carolina, consistently placing it in the top10, and most of the time  living in the top 5.  

The theme of the Power Hour was “The Power of People Working Together”. He let the audience know that it is not just the school board, faculty, staff and employees of the district that make Dorchester District II a powerhouse.  Partnerships in the district help in fueling DD2’s success.   

“This is your school system and we need to keep you abreast to what is happening” says Mr. Pye.  “Your tax dollars are being spent wisely to make this a wonderful school district and keep it wonderful.

“All of these programs that we will be talking about is a result of a referendum that passed or welcomed by our community.  That is partnership number one. The community understands our needs and supports us and willing to have their taxes raised to make sure the quality of the school system does not go down. Also, the support we get sometimes from the state and the federal government, we sometimes do not qualify for a lot of the federal dollars. We get their mandate, but we don’t get their dollars.  (It’s the) same thing with the state of South Carolina. Out of the 82 school districts, we are number 80 in the amount of money we get to spend on children. Out of the 82 school districts, we have never dropped out of the top 10; usually in the top 5.

“So how do you get such greats results out of so little?

“ It is because of the people who work here. It’s because of the community that we serve – working together.  It’s the power of people working together on every level that makes great things happen.   So, that is what we are talking about today.

“ To understand and explain our district we have to talk about our core values; our vision and our mission.  Our mission is to lead the way, every student every day through relationships, relevance and rigor. Our vision is, we want to be a world class school system, helping your child reach his(/her) optimum level and to do that we have to make sure that everybody who works for us have the resources, the training and the knowledge to make that happen.

“It is about people – adults serving young people to make sure they have what they need.  It is all built on the core values put in place last spring to be the cornerstone of everything that we do in the coming years.”

 DD2’s Core Values are 1) Students (Children comes first), 2) Passion (Love what you do), 3) Accountability, 4) Integrity, 5) Community, 6) Excellence, 7) Relationship, 8) Diversity, 9) Leadership and 10) Recognition.

The soon to be completed  Summers Corner Performing Arts Center at Rollings Middle School of the Arts will give DD2 students a state-of-the-art facility to utilize and hone their skills.  While the students will have first dibs for dates, the facility will be available to bookings on open dates.