McCallum Named Stover Asst. Principal

At the July 18 Board of Trustees Meeting, the Kershaw County School District Board of Trustees approved the hire of Lawrence H. (Mac) McCallum as an assistant principal at Leslie M. Stover Middle School.

McCallum joins the Stover Middle administrative staff after working as a special education teacher for more than 20 years. Most recently McCallum taught special education at Camden High School for seven years, serving as the instructional leader for the special education department since 2019. Prior to this, he worked at Pine Grove, Inc., Camden Middle School and Charleston County School District.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in special education from the College of Charleston and a Master of Education degree in school leadership from Columbia College. He has done post graduate work at The Citadel, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern University and Columbia College. He is certified in mild and moderate special education and in secondary administration.

McCallum completed the Kershaw County Developing Administrators Program, and was part of the 2019-2020 Kershaw County Leadership Academy cohort. He was named the 2021-2022 Camden High School Teacher of the Year.

McCallum is a 1991 Lugoff-Elgin High graduate, and he and his wife, Martie Gail McCallum reside in Lugoff.

Will drop off still begin at 6:55am?

Drop off will begin at 7:00 AM. We simply do not have anyone on duty before 7:00 AM and that would create a significant safety issue to students. They must be adequately supervised at all times. Too many things can happen even in the span of five minutes. Be Great has an early drop off program that may be an option, and we are talking about opening that up for parents that need to get to work earlier. We plan to do a survey among parents to see the level of interest, because to start Be Great early drop off, we have to commit to the program. There is a weekly fee for this service. In the afternoon for Be Great, there is a limited amount of availability, but she does not often have to turn people away. In the mornings, we can accommodate as many kids as needed as long as we know in advance so that we have enough staff here to supervise students. Completing the parent survey will help us determine the coverage needed.

What will you do to ensure parents don’t need to look multiple places to keep up with school information?

The first line of communication will come from the classroom teacher via Class Dojo. They keep parents informed on a daily/weekly basis. I will also send out weekly schoolwide Class Dojo reminders and phone calls as well as a monthly newsletter. If you are on social media, Facebook is a great place to get information as well as the school website.

How will you make Blaney more education centered than social centered? Do you plan on making all school related activities inclusive to all children from all backgrounds?

I would expect that we have activities for every student; no one should be excluded from a school-sponsored activity. We always try to consider everyone’s home life/situation/background to make sure our events are inclusive. For example: instead of “muffins with mom” or “doughnuts with dad,” we do “pancakes with pals” to make sure that all students are included. Regarding archery activities, our program is governed by the NASP which has its own rules. It’s not that kids are excluded from that program, but instead, they have to qualify for that program, and there are a limited number of spaces available. We seek teacher and administrator recommendations for this program, and we also consider academics and behavior. We strive to include as many students as we can, but for archery, we only allow a maximum of 24 students to be able to coach the students well. If you have a specific concern, please let me know so that I can address it. It would never be okay with me for a student to be excluded from any school-sponsored activity.

Will you bring back some of the clubs that were dissolved by a former principal, such as Running Club?

This is definitely something that I would be interested in doing. Clubs, like sports, can create a space for students to grow and thrive. It may not happen immediately, because you have to have teachers who are willing to sponsor the clubs, but I do think it would be a great thing to incorporate back into the school.

What are your plans to further develop students who are advanced?

Of course, we have our gifted and talented program: SEAGUL; However, our teachers know that they are expected to meet the needs of each student in their classroom. Teachers are trained to incorporate small group instruction into their classrooms daily. This is not just to meet the needs of low performing students, it’s also to provide appropriate interventions for all students. Every day in every classroom, we have 60 minutes of differentiated instruction. This is where students who are advanced should receive instruction that meets their individual academic needs.

Do you plan to be outside in the morning and afternoon car rider lines?

Absolutely! These are my favorite times of the day. I will likely alternate between the car riders and the bus riders because I believe it’s important that all students have the opportunity to see and get to know me during these transition times.

What can I do to be more involved?

We would LOVE for you to volunteer. It doesn’t take much time. You can volunteer to read with a child who needs additional help. You can volunteer to help monitor the cafeteria during lunch or recess. I would also suggest getting involved with the PTA! Teachers will ALL have a volunteer sheet for parents to fill out during Meet the Teacher night. Please email me if you want to volunteer and we can determine how you can become involved.

Dr. Evans invites parents to reach out with further questions and concerns at chastity.evans@kcsdschools.net, or by calling the school at (803) 438-3241.