State charter district is set to vote on Sumter STEAM Charter on Thursday

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A public hearing and board vote on the proposed Sumter STEAM Charter School by South Carolina Public Charter School District's Board of Trustees is scheduled for Thursday in a virtual board meeting in Columbia.

Taylor Fulcher, chief of staff with the state charter district, distributed an agenda and spoke on Tuesday concerning the board meeting and application hearing for the local charter that is seeking sponsorship with the state district. Because of the continued spread of the coronavirus, the meeting will be virtual, Fulcher said.

The proposed Sumter STEAM Charter School is led by local private business owner Greg Thompson. The charter's chief of staff, who was brought on last fall, is Trevor Ivey, a former Sumter School District teacher and administrator.

The local charter's planning committee consists of 11 community members with Thompson serving as the chairman and Ivey as secretary. Former Sumter Mayor Steve Creech sits on the committee, with the Rev. Marion Newton, senior pastor of Jehovah Missionary Baptist Church, among several others.

The state Public Charter School District's board meeting will begin at 9 a.m., according to Fulcher and the agenda. With several charter hearings on the day's agenda, the local proposed charter's hearing will begin about 3 p.m., she added.

The state charter district has six board members, and none will be attending in person but will attend virtually via join.me, an app and online platform for video conferences, similar to Zoom and Skype. Sumter STEAM Charter School Planning Committee will also be attending virtually.

For the presentation to the state board, Ivey and Fulcher said the proposed charter sent in a video presentation in the absence of being able to speak in person.

Following the hearing, the six-member board of trustees is expected to make a motion and vote on the charter.

If approved, Sumter STEAM Charter is planning to open in fall 2021 for grades K-1st grade, adding grades in ensuing years. It would be the first public charter school in Sumter County.

THURSDAY VIRTUAL PUBLIC HEARING ON SUMTER STEAM CHARTER

In compliance with recent public health orders, no members of the public will be able to attend Thursday's meeting in person.

Anyone wishing to attend the meeting virtually may watch via join.me.

The website URL is join.me. When on the homepage, click "Join Meeting" and enter "tfulcher1" as the code.

Or, call 1(857) 444-6500. The meeting ID is 790-061-714 #.

In order to use join.me, a person must either have web browsers Chrome or Firefox downloaded on his or her computer. A list of how-to steps to install either is listed on the charter district's website, where the agenda is posted, www.sccharter.org/board-meeting-documents-2020/.

TO SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENTS

According to Fulcher, chief of staff with the state charter district, people wishing to offer public comment can send her an email today (Wednesday) at tfulcher@sccharter.org.

The agenda states that Fulcher will read them aloud to the board on Thursday.

The agenda also states to limit comments to 1.25 double-spaced pages. Charter district administration requests that if multiple people represent one organization to appoint one ambassador to make a statement and for colleagues to sign off their public comment.