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BMS SIC named to honor roll

1/20/2018

The Blythewood Middle School Improvement Council was named to the SC School Improvement Council’s (SC-SIC) 2018 Honor Roll for their significant efforts to foster civic engagement in public education. BMS’s SIC is one of only 19 public schools in SC to receive this honor.
BMS’s will now continue in the running for SC-SIC’s annual Dick and Tunky Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence. Named for the former US Secretary of Education and SC Governor and his late wife, the Riley Award was created in 2002 to recognize the vital contributions made by more than 1,200 local SICs and their nearly 14,000 SIC members across the state.
“These School Improvement Councils from across South Carolina have demonstrated their hard work and commitment to supporting the success of their schools and students in the last school year,” said SC-SIC Board of Trustees Chair Amelia McKie. “We congratulate them on their outstanding efforts as Honor Roll SICs, and we salute all of our SICs across the state for the lasting and positive impact they continue to make on behalf their school communities.”
The BMS SIC was recognized for its work during the 2016-2017 school year to secure “a more seamless transition” from middle to high school for rising freshman. A plan was set into motion that would allow all eighth grade BMS students the opportunity to visit their zoned or Choice program school. In collaboration with the school administrative team and counseling department, the BMS-SIC helped to plan the visits by arranging buses for each of the school visits and also planned activities for students during their visit to their respective high schools.
“The Blythewood Middle School Improvement Council is honored to have received recognition as an SC-SIC Riley Honor Roll School for two consecutive years,” says Principal Karis Mazyck. “This distinction provides further validation of our efforts to continuously improve outcomes for our students.”
Five finalists from this year’s list of Honor Roll SICs will be selected in February, with one to be announced as the winner of the annual Riley Award for SIC Excellence in April.
SICs were established in state law over 40 years ago. Part of the Center for Educational Partnerships within the University of South Carolina College of Education, the SC School Improvement Council provides the member training, technical assistance, statutory accountability, and other operational resources necessary for the continued success of the community-based SICs in each of South Carolina’s K-12 public schools.
In 2014, Ridge View High School was named to the honor roll and was a top five finalist. Blythewood made the honor roll in 2015. Past district winners include Richland Northeast High School (2003, 2013) and Bookman Road Elementary (2008).

More information on SC-SIC, the Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence, and award winners from previous years can be found online at http://sic.sc.gov.