ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Orangeburg County School District superintendent Dr. Shawn Foster has been invited to be on the educator advisory board for the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching (NIET).
Foster says this isn’t the first time the school district and National Institute for Excellence in Teaching have partnered up.
“Here in Orangeburg we have been extremely intentional where we have had NIET," said Foster. "And we’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with them with consulting but also coming in and doing evaluations."
Foster took over the superintendent role in 2020 during the pandemic and wills serve on the Educator Advisory Board for two years.
He says the school district's accomplishments have been a community effort.
“It’s about the collective work so that we can insure that regardless of what school your child goes to he or she can be guaranteed a high quality education experience," said Foster. "The level of education whether you be at a school in the eastern part of Orangeburg should be just the same quality as the central or the western part it shouldn’t deviate we want to be a school system and not a system of schools and that requires us to maintain a level of excellence across the board.”
Over the past four years the school district has established their magnet programs, earned district wide accreditation and passed a $190 million dollar referendum bond for new construction, renovations and more.
Dr. Teresa Jennings is the former principal at Whittaker Elementary and she is currently the director of primary and elementary.
“Our students will graduate from high school with a certificate that prepares them for next level experiences in college and just imagine what that would do for Orangeburg County," said Jennings. "Because now we’re graduating students ready to work or our students are entering college and not having to face mountains of debt because they’re entering already perhaps their second semester of being college students.”
Superintendents from Iowa, Texas, Alaska and Indiana will also be joining the board this month as as well.