‘Excuses are not an option,’ says new Jasper County superintendent

Donald Andrews will spend June 30, his last day as a Tennessee school system leader, presenting diplomas to graduates of Cumberland County’s summer school.

As soon as the next day, Andrews will turn his attention to about 3,000 other students in his new role as superintendent of the Jasper County School District. Andrews, who has spent about 40 years as an educator and 21 as a superintendent, was selected Tuesday to replace Vashti Washington, who resigned in December after a five-year stint.

Andrews inherits a district rife with problems, from an ongoing federal investigation into its operations to chronically low test scores. The state has labeled Jasper County at-risk for the past seven years, in part because its students score about 20 to 30 percentage points worse than the state in language arts, math, science and social studies, according to the S.C. Department of Education.

The district also had a near 7 percent drop-out rate last year, according to the state.

But Andrews says he invites the challenges posed by low performance and funding in what he says is still a good school district.

“It’s all how we perceive it,” he said. “There are good things that go on in that school system.”

Andrews points to dedicated school board members and administrators he met while touring Jasper County as part of the superintendent selection process.

He points to the future Jasper Ocean Terminal, which could open by 2025, and other untapped resources as opportunities for the county’s growth and economic development.

And he points to quality teachers who are asking for more support, like improved technology and staff development, to help kids keep pace with the rest of the country — including neighboring Beaufort County.

Funding will likely be his biggest obstacle. Jasper County belongs to the so-called “Corridor of Shame,” a group of eight rural South Carolina counties fighting the state’s education funding system, which shortchanges areas with dismal property tax revenue.

Though the S.C. Supreme Court ordered the state government to find a solution this year, lawmakers wrapped up and left Columbia after June 2, the end of their session, without doing so. Regardless, Andrews said, Jasper County officials need to work together to improve the county’s standing and attract more affluent companies and residents.

“We realize the funding is a challenge and we can look for excuses, we can say we just can’t do any better because we don’t get this funding,” Andrews said. “But excuses are not an option. Not educating these children is not an option.”

Andrews will receive a $145,000 annual salary with a proposed four-year contract, pending the negotiation of other unknown contract terms. School board chairman Tedd Moyd said in a district news release that the contract should be executed this week.

He previously served as superintendent of Randolph County schools in Asheboro, N.C., and Hartnett County schools in Lillington, N.C., and grew up in Sunset Beach, N.C.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and earned Master’s and specialist degrees in educational leadership from Winthrop University.

The board selected Andrews from a slate of 50 applicants from 20 states.

“We took this job very seriously and we spent a lot of time looking for the right person to lead the school district into the future,” Moyd said. “We’ve made some good gains academically, but we need to speed up those improvements across the board.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2016 at 9:05 AM with the headline "‘Excuses are not an option,’ says new Jasper County superintendent."