Gerrita Postlewait, superintendent of Lexington County School District 1, spoke at the Lexington Chamber’s Business Over Lunch meeting March 1, touching on the state of the district a day after its Board of Trustees gave final approval to its first dress code change in nearly 20 years.

Postlewait, who was hired as the full-time superintendent in October after serving in an interim capacity since May 2022, talked to the crowd at the Corley Mill House in Lexington about the services the district provides, its strategic planning process and its priorities moving forward, emphasizing that all these efforts center on the student learning experience.

“We first empower learning,” she said. “The more we learn, the more confident we are.”

The district is in the midst of framing a new strategic plan, having just completed the listening phase of the process, collecting community feedback after asking for a one-year extension on submitting the plan to the state Department of Education.

The draft plan is set to be revised in April and then endorsed in May. The priorities it lays out are, in order: 

• Increase safety/security vigilance through effective protocols and practice
• Increase the percentage of students who are progressing on time with the requisite skills for success at their current grade levels
• Improve conditions that lead to student success by facilitating healthy behavioral and mental growth
• Expand strategies to attack the staffing shortage
• Implement strategies to improve customer service, parent engagement, and community involvement 
• Use resources wisely to address 2022-23 priority and longer-term strategic plan goals.

Everything is subject to change, Postlewait said, except that safety will remain the top priority.

An expected change was formally enacted the night before the chamber lunch, as the Lexington 1 board gave unanimous final approval to amend the school dress code for the first time since 2004. One board member, Michael Anderson, was absent for the vote.

The updated dress code alters the district's responses to those who violate it, increasing the number of infractions before punishments such as detention, suspension and expulsion are recommended.

Other notable changes to the policy include allowing headwear and adding student ID requirements.

Also at the regularly scheduled Feb. 28 meeting, Clark Cooper, interim chief of student services, recommended a change to the district’s cell phone policy.

According to Libby Roof, chief communications officer for the district, the new consequences create a more leveled system.

All consequences would change from the existing policy, under which the first three offenses are met with detention and the fourth results in in-school-suspension and the student being unable to bring the device on campus during the school day for the remainder of the school year.

The revised consequences are:

• On first violation, the student is brought in for a conference, and the specific directive for the student to receive detention would be removed. 
• The second violation would be met with a student/parent conference with the specific directive for the student to receive detention removed.
• The third violation would again be met with a student/parent conference and the student receiving detention.
• Additional violations are again met with a student/parent conference. Under the revision, a specific directive for the student to receive in-school or out-of-school suspension would be stiffened, adding that “continued violations may result in a recommendation for expulsion.”