Chiropractorin Whitesville, SC

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Berkeley County School District officials say school bus transportation will continue to be affected this week with a current driver shortage.

"BCSD will continue to operate buses with all drivers available; however, it is important for our families to be aware of current transportation challenges and to prepare as much as possible for continued delays with services," district officials said in a statement.

The district is currently experiencing a staff shortage of about 30 drivers at a transportation lot which serves Berkeley Elementary, Cane Bay Elementary, Foxbank Elementary, Whitesville Elementary, Berkeley Intermediate, Berkeley Middle, Cane Bay Middle, Berkeley High and Cane Bay High.

Officials said CDL certified drivers are now helping with transportation, in addition to their regular roles. The district's efforts to contract external bus service providers has not provided a solution, as those services are also facing staffing issues.

To recruit and retain drivers the district said it has implemented "financial incentives, budgeted pay increases and increased promotion of job opportunities via digital platforms and career fairs." Officials claim these recruitment efforts have shown some results, however, the need for more drivers is still there.

Parents of a bus rider are asked to transport their children to school or coordinate carpool transportation amongst themselves if possible, to allow buses to be utilized by those students with no other options.

“We know this is a difficult time for everyone and that many organizations are experiencing staffing challenges,” said BCSD Superintendent Deon Jackson. “We also understand the transportation barriers of many of our families, and we recognize how much we are relied upon to get students to our schools and back home safely. We will continue to operate our buses with every driver available, but do ask for assistance from our parents and guardians to provide or arrange transportation for their children, if they are able.”

If district bus service is your sole option for safe transportation to and from school, check www.bcsdschools.net/busdelays regularly for updates concerning delays, the district said.

Staff shortages and impending delays were first announced Friday.

Leaders were informed from the Berkeley area transportation lot supervisor that crews were working to cover afternoon transportation routes for approximately 30 drivers.

One family said their student did not return home until 8 p.m., more than four hours after his usual drop-off.

“He was afraid. He said a lot of the children were afraid. They were afraid they weren’t going to get dropped off in their regular place. It’s not their regular bus driver," said Christine Hancock, on how her 11-year-old brother felt after he finally got home.

SETH — For Randy Herron’s computer science students at Sherman High, setting the bar high for achievement is part of the motivation process.

“Sometimes students avoid this class as an elective because they think there is too much math in it or it may bring their GPA down because of the difficulty involved,” said Herron. “For the ones who take the leap, they are always glad they did because, while it is challenging, it’s incredibly rewarding. We have smart kids in this county capable of great things, given the chance.”

Herron, 65, has been the computer tsar at Sherman High for over 40 years and remembers the first computers in the lab located on the far end of the school near the junior high. He was thankful at the time for the early IBM and Apple II Ds that he was provided to work with, but with technological advancements over four decades, he could have never dreamed what technology would be available in 2021. He is also thankful that Boone County Schools were ahead of the curve and pushed technology in the early years.

He has seen former students reach success in technology industries, and some of them remain in touch and give back to his classroom in various capacities.

“The thing about what I do is, if I don’t stay relevant and on top of technology, I become a dinosaur,” he said. “I tell my students that continuing education is always important. Don’t ever stop learning or think you know it all. There is something bigger, better and faster at every turn.”

Herron’s students learn a variety of skills. In the GMETRIX (Microsoft Office Training Specialist) Training modules, Jackson Foster and Colten Doss focus on computer applications.

“What this does is teaches us everything about (MS) Office,” said Doss. “So, it actually it is much deeper than people generally think it is. We have projects that show the skills we’ve learned through the process.”

He said that creating charts through the software is his favorite element that he has learned and can apply to future work.

“I think some of the simple features of (MS) Word can be overlooked and I have learned to save things properly and how to save things in various places, and now I can take my work with me on a drive and those things are really helpful,” said Foster.

The Amazon Engineering Program Project STEM team is supported by the online retail giant as a way to promote skills needed in the field of online retail and related management of digital properties.

The field is growing, and workers are needed to meet the demand for skilled engineers.

“This is a project that Amazon has made for young programmers who may want to do this later on in life,” Mollohan said. So far we’ve been learning Python in this which is a computer programming language and it is very connected to Amazon.”

According to Python, it is “an interpreted high-level general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its use of significant indentation. Its language constructs as well as its object-oriented approach aim to help programmers write clear, logical code for small and large-scale projects.”

Through the overall class curriculum, students also learn the finer points of tried-and-true classic HTML coding, which assists with building web pages.

“I’m more interested in coding and I love gaming,” said Keith. “It is much easier for me to understand versus HTML. We’ve learned QV64 and we can create circles and triangles and unique shapes that can be used in multiple applications. Computer science is definitely the career path I want to go to college for.”

Bryan Mills serves as a computer science assistant, programmer, drone pilot and coordinator.

“The majority of the time I’m doing technical work around the school,” he said. “When I’m not doing that, I’m generally outside working with the drone and taking photographs of the school. Today, we are taking the drone to Whitesville Elementary School and eventually we’ll take it to all of the elementary schools.”

Mills sees computer science as a career path for himself.

“The computer science and technology industry is growing every single day,” he said.

Isaac Mortimer works on the video side as a computer science assistant.

“I think we probably do things that people may not realize and we can end up saving the school system a lot of money, which is great,” he said. “Just recently, we upgraded all of the RAM chips in our computers and we worked one day putting new office chairs together for the classroom. I volunteer for these projects.”

Mortimer also sees computer science as a springboard to a future career.

Brayden Mooney and Madason Snodgrass, first-year students in the program, concentrate on video/programming and both said they have been inspired by a class that they were hesitant to take but found that it has piqued their interest to learn more.

They are glad they took the plunge.

All computer science classes at Sherman High will participate in “Hour of Code Week” from Dec. 6 to Dec. 10.

The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify “code,” to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with one-hour coding activities but expanding to all sorts of community efforts. This campaign is supported by over 400 partners and 200,000 educators worldwide.

“It really gives a young student something to look forward to later on in their educational path and maybe they can do this when they get to high school and it plants that seed in them in terms of what is available to them,” he said. “There are people who do this for a living and it can be a career path. When the pandemic hit, we had invested some money in small drones and (physical education teacher) Mr. (Aaron) Pauley had just started teaching them how to fly them.”

Pauley said the Whitesville Elementary students had been excited all day for the special visit.

“When we have the older kids — especially third-, fourth- and fifth-graders — who finish all of their work and caught up on everything, we will pull them in and do science experiments and set up teams and we compete a little bit. We may create rockets and safely shoot them off outside. They really enjoy it and sometimes it provides an incentive for kids to do better in class. We are going to get back to the drones in the spring and we have a 3-D printer that we are going to do some things with Minecraft that will spark their interest. What the high schoolers are doing here today is a great thing, and these kids love it and the teachers appreciate them taking time out for us and our kids.”

Sherman High Computer Science Instructor Randy Herron can be reached at rherron@k12.wv.us.

Reporter Phil Perry can be reached at 304-307-2401.

BERKELEY COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - A Moncks Corner mother is concerned after learning the students in her child's special needs class may all be moving schools.

Karen Crawford said she got a call Tuesday afternoon saying her third grade special needs son would be moving schools within the Berkeley County School District, from Berkeley Intermediate to Whitesville Elementary.

Officials with the Berkeley County School District said all decisions are made with the best interests of the students as the priority.

Crawford said her son, Garrison, has a language delay and after some testing was moved to a mild special needs class.

Crawford said since joining the class he's been on the honor roll and made improvements, but Crafowrd said she's now worried that moving schools could have an effect on him.

"Even his therapist is proud of his progress. It's just today I felt like I had a shock to my system when they called and said that he would have to go to Whitesville Elementary," said Crawford.

Crawford said that Tuesday was the first she learned her son would be moving schools.

Crawford said the lack of communication, and not knowing her son could be moving schools until now, is what has her upset.

"It wasn't so much that as it was the lack of communication that was given," said Crawford. "I felt they could have either given us a letter or met with all the parents that would be effected by this."

Officials with the district said the decision came from the special services team that's working to transition students back to their home schools, rather than be bused in to a school outside of the area they live.

Crawford said moving her son from Berkeley Intermediate to Whiteville Elementary would actually be further from her home.

"I felt like it was more targeted to the special needs children at Berkeley intermediate, a specific group of students specially children in Garrison's class, the special needs kids there," said Crawford.

District officials also said Whitesville is a K-5 school which will allow students to stay there without having transitioning to middle school.

Crawford said that is already the case for her child's current school.

Officials also said they encourage parents who are concerned to reach out to school and district staff, saying this is not intended to be a hard-lined stance.

Officials said they are always willing to work with parents to determining how to reach each's student's needs.

Crawford said she reached out to her school board member and was waiting to hear back.

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Sixteen seconds.

Craig Parker, the cruiserweight/light heavyweight boxer who lives in Rock Hill, landed a vicious left-handed hook 16 seconds into his match on Saturday night in the Rock Hill Gymnastics Center — and it was the last punch the fan-favorite needed in order to win by knockout and extend his professional boxing career record to 8-0 (with eight KO’s).

“All of these people are the reason why I’m here,” Parker told The Herald after his match, seated among a 20-plus person contingent with black and gold “Team Parker” shirts on. “I like to get to know some new people, and I’m blessed to have people come after the pandemic happened. You know, it’s been hard for a lot of people, who’ve been out of jobs. And they came to support me. And I’m blessed for that to happen.

“When they come around, it brings me joy in my heart because I know I’m putting in the hard work to give them something exciting to see.”

Parker, coached by Hall of Fame trainer Jesse Reid, Rock Hill native Anthony Burkett and accomplished trainer Elijah Thomas, defeated Anthony Williams of Whitesville, W. Va.

Williams stayed on the boxing ring’s canvas after Parker’s punch long enough for the event staff to call for a stretcher. A few minutes after Parker was named the winner, though, Williams was able to walk under his own power.

After the match, the event’s ring announcer asked Reid — who has trained world champions like Roger Mayweather, Johnny Tapia and Orlando Canizales in his career — how good he thinks Parker could be. Reid smiled and spoke to a sea of iPhones recording the moment: “Craig will be my 30th world champion.”

Parker grew up in Chicago and moved to San Bernardino, Calif., in 2016 to escape poverty and to “be something in life” after two people he was close with, his mother and his first boxing trainer/mentor Terry McGroom, passed away. He soon after moved to Las Vegas, which is where he was introduced to Reid and then Burkett.

In 2018, he moved to Rock Hill.

“I know where I want to go in life,” Parker said on Saturday night. “I know where I came from. And I ain’t trying to go back. So I always just stay focused, man. I just come to win. Whatever I do, I just come to win.”

The event in the Rock Hill Gymnastics Center was put on by SouthPaw Promotions and St. Michaels Boxing Club and featured eight fights, including the nightcap headliner, which was a belt match for the United States Boxing Organization’s lightweight title.

Billy Blea of SouthPaw Promotions told The Herald that 250 people were present for Saturday’s event, the capacity for facilities like the center under South Carolina government executive order. He said he was happy that the event went so well.

“You just look around: People are having fun,” Blea said, adding that Saturday night proved events like these are ones families can enjoy. “Ultimately the goal is to turn SouthPaw Promotions boxing events into a social thing in Rock Hill.”

Blea, in addition to helping run the event with Mike Englart and others, also did the play-by-play commentating on the event’s pay per view stream, which drew in audiences from different parts of the country, including Dallas, Texas, Blea said.

Bout 1: Dell Long of W. Va., defeated Donald Haynesworth of Greensboro, N.C., in a unanimous decision (four rounds).

Bout 2: DeAndre Pettus of Columbia, S.C., defeated Darius Taylor of Wilson, N.C., by knockout.

Bout 3: Rafael Morel of Statesville, N.C., defeated Owen Hylton of Lynchburg, Va., by knockout.

Bout 4: Vaughn Williams of Columbia S.C., defeated Kahlee Williams of Wilson, N.C., by knockout.

Bout 5: Craig Parker of Rock Hill, S.C., defeated Anthony Williams of Whitesville, W. Va., by knockout.

Bout 6: Vit Y of Rock Hill, S.C., defeated Shaquille Harris of Wilson, N.C., by knockout.

Bout 7: Donyeh Cosby of Charlotte, N.C., defeated Jyrell Briggs of Wilson, N.C., by knockout.

Bout 8: Manuel Rojas of Dallas, Texas, defeated Noel Echevarria of Kernersville, N.C., in a unanimous decision (10 rounds).

This story was originally published August 30, 2020 12:46 AM.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — First day jitters and first day traffic jams made up the scene on Cane Bay Boulevard in Berkeley County on Tuesday.

Social media was booming with parents who sat in backups outside the Cane Bay schools. It wasn't just the usual road delays for some Cane Bay Parents. One mother said she had to think fast during pick-up time.

ABC News 4 obtained video of a Whitesville fire truck heading into oncoming traffic.

"We saw it and I had to move to the side. Thank God the guy next to me saw it and he was able to move so I didn't run into him," Cane Bay neighbor Kristina Hunley said.

Hunley added that she had four kids in the car when it happened. She said they were "a little taken aback."

The Whitesville Fire Department said they were responding to two calls when they had to make a decision to take the oncoming lane to get by.

"We obviously did so with due regard. We slowed our response way down. Used the lights and sirens and the horns," lieutenant and public information officer Colt Roy explained.

Lt. Roy added that he expected back-to-school delays.

"We had the same problems last year while responding in this area. It was never quite as bad as it was today. You see the photos on Facebook and that doesn't really paint a full picture until you are trying to get through it in a hurry," he said.

Other Cane Bay parents expected the back-ups too.

"I had not a great experience with the car rider line last year because it never seemed to be set up well. The infrastructure in Cane Bay is just not equipped to take care of the amount of people who live here," Cane Bay parent Shelly Miller said.

Miller drove her kids to school in a golf cart and said she is no stranger to traffic tie-ups in the growing area.

"I want to see if they are going to improve the car rider situation. Unfortunately, I don't know because everyone is leaving for work," Miller said.

It's a challenge for first responders when every moment on the road counts.

"With everything we do, speed is of the utmost importance. Minutes are life. For many calls. Fortunately, these were okay and everything worked out in the end. But, slightly different circumstances and it could have been much different," Roy said.

Crews with the Whitesville Fire Department added, "If you see a fire truck coming, try to move out of the way, and give room to pass."

The department said the Berkeley County Sheriff's Office did a fantastic job to help out when they had to pass into the oncoming lane. Roy said they switched to the fire department's channel and helped to direct schools.

The Berkeley County School District sent ABC News 4 this statement when asked about the traffic delays:

"Changes were made to the pickup process this year at Cane Bay Elementary and Cane Bay Middle as construction on new wings at the schools and other campus modifications impacted the previous car drop off and pick up patterns. We did experience lengthy backups today, and we will be making adjustments until we are able to resolve as many of the issues as possible. As we work to resolve this issue, we will have extra staff on-hand during drop off and pick up at the school."