CCSD in brief: 2025-26 academic calendar survey opens, 2 students earn Presidential Scholar Honor
Board members will decide on a final calendar option on a June 24, 2024, board of trustees meeting.
Henry Taylor/Staff 2025-2026 academic calendar input survey opens to public
A survey to gather community input to develop next school year’s academic calendar opened May 21 and will close at 4 p.m. on May 31.
The survey can be accessed through this link.
CCSD said the public survey is not intended to be a vote on the calendar but instead to provide board members with information in making their final decision.
District staff intends to present data gathered from this survey to board members at the June 10 board meeting. It’s anticipated that the board will approve final options at the June 24 meeting.
A link to all three calendars can be accessed through this link.
This year, a committee made up of district and school staff, community and constituent district board members assisted in the process of coming up with calendar options. A video explaining the process and calendar options can be found here.
All three options prioritize breaks throughout the school year to minimize student burnout and extend vacation times among families, although district staff told the board that calendars B and C would cause students to miss out on approximately 147,000 lunches and 77,000 breakfasts.
Board members, Superintendent Anita Huggins and her cabinet extensively discussed the potential loss of meals at a May 13 board meeting when the three calendar options were first presented.
State law does not allow the school district to offer meals when school is out, according to Jeff Borowy, the district’s chief operating officer. Huggins told board members the district would determine how to “best support students and families” if board members decided to select a calendar option affecting students being provided with meals.
Two CCSD students selected as 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars
Seniors Jessie Leitzel from Charleston County School of the Arts and Michael Lee from Academic Magnet High School were selected as 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars.
Leitzel also has the distinction of being one of 20 U.S. Presidential Scholars in Arts.
Up to 161 students are named U.S. Presidential Scholars each year. It’s described as one of the Nation’s highest honors for high school students, where the President of the United States symbolically honors all graduating high school seniors of high potential.
Lee and Leitzel are two of three of this year’s honorees from South Carolina, and two of 11 semifinalists from the state in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Scholars Competition.
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Leitzel said being named a Scholar in the Arts affirms for her that the passion she and her peers pursue here at School of the Arts “not only matters but is vital.” She also said it is an honor and a blessing to represent her school’s creative writing department and the district as both an academic and an artist.
She will attend the undergraduate college of Harvard University in the fall to major in biomedical engineering with a focus in nonfiction journalism.
Lee’s plans for the fall are to study in the field of science at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill).
“Even though I am honored to receive this prestigious award, I wish to commend my fellow classmates on their equally impressive accomplishments,” Lee said. “I feel privileged to represent them and their drive to succeed in life.”
This is the first time in three years that a CCSD student earned the honor. Academic Magnet’s Lily Lassiter was selected in 2021.
The Presidential Scholars Class of 2024 will be recognized for their achievements this summer with an online recognition program.
Murray-La Saine school nurse earns state, national award
Julie McElroy, school nurse at Murray-La Saine Montessori, was honored as South Carolina School Nurse of the Year and the National School Nurse of the Year by the state’s Association of School Nurses.
“School nurses do amazing things every day all over the state,” McElroy said. “The things I have been able to accomplish have only been possible because of all of the people and support that I have available to me.”
McElroy was recognized by CCSD’s board members and Ellen Nitz, the district’s director of nursing services, at a May 20 meeting.
According to Nitz, winning the award was not easy since there are more than 1,500 school nurses in South Carolina alone.
McElroy also holds the world record for the most wellness points ever earned with the Boeing MUSC Wellness Award, which Murray-LaSaine won last April.
She has been a nurse for 19 years, dedicating 10 of those to school nursing. She joined CCSD in 2014.
Nitz said at the meeting that McElroy exemplifies the role of a school nurse.
“She not only cares for students with acute and chronic health care needs but also works diligently with her school to promote health and wellness,” she said.
