CAYCE, S.C. — After an audit of Lexington School District Two by the State Education Department in the 2021-22 school year, the accreditation status of Brookland-Cayce High School has been lowered and Airport High School was found in violation of 6 state codes.
"The findings I don't take as a big shock," parent, Tiffany Joye said. "Just because of COVID and school funding and how that works. I feel like if they audited more schools, they would find a lot more of that going on."
As a mother of eight, Joye says she grew up in South Carolina and says she is not surprised that the school district faced an audit. Joye believed that all schools in the state should be audited to make sure this is not happening anywhere else.
"Not to get anybody in trouble but just to hold people accountable," Joye said.
The South Carolina Department of Education says Brookland-Cayce High was found in violation of 28 state regulations for things like taking classes out of order, giving credits where they were not earned, and students taking courses twice.
The school was previously ranked Cognia Accredited which means the State Board of Education and the Cognia Organization, found that they best exemplify excellence in education and stand out in their service to learners.
Now that the school was found in violation of state and district regulations, the accreditation status has been dropped down to Accredited/Advised for the upcoming school year. The state department of education will drop the accreditation down to Accredited/Warned if the violations are not corrected in the upcoming school year. The school has to attend training and implement processes and procedures laid out by the state in order to remove the advised status.
Andrew Ryal says as a taxpayer in the community, he is concerned that some students may not have been properly prepared for the future.
"I'm assuming that's what these teachers are under, they are feeling a lot of pressure, so if you're being tasked from the top to do something, then you're going to do whatever," Ryal said. "Unfortunately just collecting a check and ultimately these kids are going to be effected by it."
Ryal says high school is part of a foundational education, and he believes that without this, the future for students in Lexington District 2 is in jeopardy.
"If you're just getting passed through high school, you're definitely not going to college, and then your only options are the military, jail, being influenced, or becoming a bad influence," Ryal stated.
We reached out to the Lexington Two School District for comment on the results of the audit but were told they will not speak on the matter until their interim superintendent returns.