After arriving in Orlando, FL on the afternoon of March 9, 2010, M’Aiken Magic Team 1102 spent the next 36 hours working on homework assignments and team building activities. During these hours, the team members and mentors developed a spirit of unity and friendship that would be crucial over the next couple of days.

The Aiken County Public School District held a meeting last night in the gymnasium at Aiken High School to present parents with two options for renovating the school's facilities. Aiken High School is one of six schools in the district which require extensive repairs and renovations. The two options presented to parents last night have an estimated cost of $170 million and $224 million.

A new bill going through the State House could remove the requirement for some counties to have administrative areas within a school district. Aiken is one of these counties.

The school board met on March 3rd to discuss what the bill could mean for Aiken.

USC - Aiken has once again been rated first among public baccalaureate colleges in the South by U.S. News & World Report.

The new $17 million Byrd Elementary School will open its doors for the first time to students on Monday. Students, parents and educators are excited for the facilities change, since the previous Byrd Elementary, built in 1954, had seen better days.

The tragedy which occurred at Virginia Tech this past April prompted many schools to take a good, hard look at their security measures and emergency response procedures. Among them was USC-Aiken, which plans to implement a comprehensive improvement to campus security based on the findings from the Virginia Tech tragedy.

The ING Unsung Heroes Program awarded Margaret Brown, who teaches at Aiken Middle School, with a $2000 classroom prize for her creative teaching methods.

Obviously I'm not a luddite; however, when I see an article such as the one which was published in the Aiken Standard this morning (Area High School Gets Huge Tech Grant), I immediately become apprehensive. I have been reading about and personally involved with these student laptop programs since their inception nearly ten years ago and at best they've yielded mixed results. The success of these programs has never hinged upon the desire or intent of the educators, but on the resources which are available to the program and it's overall implementation.

Mr. David Culp, a science teacher at Schofield Middle School, and 34 other teachers from across South Carolina were selected to participate in a course on Teaching Sustainable Forestry in Environmental Education. The course included a three day workshop at Harbison State Forest followed by a series of tours spanning four days through tree farms, lumber mills, logging operations and timber product manufacturers.

After the resignation of Dr. Linda Eldridge, the school district is searching for a new superintendent. Information can be found at This Page.