At the Oct. 28 board meeting for Lexington-Richland School District Five, members praised the unified volleyball team, recognized two board members and discussed academic growth.

The Chapin Unified volleyball team competed at the Special Olympics and received the gold medal.

Rebecca Blackburn Hines, board chair, and Matt Hogan, vice-chair, were recognized at this meeting as both announced that their term will end in November.

Throughout her time, Hines has served on several community organizations and committees, including the Chapin Community Engagement Council, the Midlands Business Leadership Group’s Coordinating Council and more.

Hogan has deep roots in the Lexington-Richland Five community, as he is a 2001 graduate of Irmo High School.

In other news

Superintendent Akil Ross presented a report discussing the growing season. Research showed that in the fall of 2023, there was an increase in math scores for grades two through eight, while English Language Arts scores continued to be below grade level.

In state assessment outcomes, there have been numerous increases in the schools. In 2024, college and career readiness stand at 82%, the graduation rate at 98.4%, S.C. ready math at 47.6%, E0CEP-Alg 1 pass rate at 81.1% and EOCEP-Eng 2 pass rate at 94.4%. However, S.C. ready ELA has decreased to 59.9%.

In the new report cards, each school earns points across various indicators, which are totaled to determine an overall rating. The ratings are classified as excellent, good, average, below average or unsatisfactory.

Currently, three schools are rated excellent, 11 schools are rated good, five are rated average and three are rated below average. No Lexington-Richland Five schools are rated unsatisfactory.

Rebecca Dilley, principal of Dutch Fork Elementary Academy of Environmental Sciences, spoke to board members about allocating part of the budget to build a sensory room for students.

Currently, there are 443 students enrolled at Dutch Fork Elementary Academy, with 75.8% of the students and families living in poverty and 21% are served through IEPs for special education.

Many students require support in learning social, emotional and self-regulation skills, which has continued to increase throughout the years. Educators and staff often deal with disruptive behavior, which takes away from teaching time.

A sensory room for Dutch Fork Elementary Academy can help students manage stress and depression, practice self-regulation, assist with overstimulation, teach body awareness, learn coping skills and serve as a skills training center.

The next school board meeting will be on Nov. 18 at the Center for Advanced Technical Studies, located at 916 Mt. Vernon Church Rd. in Chapin.