Granite Countertops in Georgetown, SC

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – The first-day bell will soon ring for the 8,000 students in the Georgetown County School District (GCSD) as they head back to class for the 2023-24 school year.

But there is one big change for both students and teachers this year. It’s an early start date because the school calendar is very different – Georgetown County schools will operate under a year-round modified calendar.

It’s a big change for the school district as they become the first in the Lowcountry to use the new schedule. “It’s not what you would traditionally think of with year-round. Students still go to school 180 days. Teachers still work 190 days. All of our principals still work 240 days,” said Georgetown County School District Superintendent Keith Price.

The Georgetown County School District is one of 64 – out of the state’s 73 school districts – now operating under the year-round modified calendar.

“By law, you can’t start school before the third Monday in August, unless you’re on a year-round modified calendar. There are really four key differences between this calendar versus a traditional calendar. One is that we start earlier in August. We start the first week in August rather than the third week in August. One is when we end, we end the last week in May, rather than the first week of June, and we have two extra weeklong breaks, one in October and one in February, everything else is the same,” Superintendent Price explained of the new schedule.

Superintendent Price is beginning his fourth year as leader of the Georgetown County School District and said another key difference is for middle and high school students.

“They will actually end semester one now before winter break; so, before on a traditional calendar, they didn’t end semester one until about mid-January. So, they come back from winter break and have to pick up where they left off learning and prepare for an exam. Now, they can do their exams before they leave before winter break. When they return, they will start a new semester two,” he said.

The district held community engagement meetings and conducted a survey before implementing the new calendar. Parents, students, teachers, and members of the community overwhelmingly approved of the changes.

“Early when we were discussing this to see if there was any interest, people saw the words year-round and were like no, no we’re not interested in that, but that’s why we wanted to do some awareness campaigns to show what a modified calendar is and is not,” said Superintendent Price.

Price said that some of the pros of this new year-round calendar mean summer is shortened by a few weeks, which he said will reduce the summer learning slide. A week off at the end of every nine-week period gives teachers and students a chance to take a break and get back on track.

He hopes this will help retain teachers as well and feels they will be able to target students who need additional help.

“With these weeks what we’re doing in Georgetown County, we’re trying to build in a couple of academic support days along the way. So, our plan is to target students who are not being academically successful and invite them to come in and do some remediation- make-up work,” said Price.

The superintendent says one of the challenges is some students see it as less time off during the summer. “We’re certainly cognizant of the fact that. We are in a high tourism area, so there is a challenge with that. Another con is when you have other districts around you on different school calendars than you are, it presents challenges,” he said.

Also big for the district this year: for the first time they will have five magnet schools, thanks to a nearly $15,000,000 grant.

“We applied for a magnet school assistance program grant two years ago, and we learned last fall we were one of 19 recipients in America to earn the MSAP grant, so we will be starting five magnet programs this fall in our five schools in the Carvers Bay attendance area,” he said. “That’s Plantersville Elementary, Browns Ferry Elementary, Pleasantville Elementary, Carvers Bay Elementary, and Carvers Bay High.”

He went on to say, “Lots of new programs, and opportunities that we are going to be bringing to these students and the teachers at those schools for the first time. This grant is allowing us to bring opportunities to the students in this area otherwise we would not be able to do.”

With all the changes, Superintendent Price said the district is excited to begin this new chapter.

“Now we’re moving forward. Everyone enjoys a fresh start, coming in with new goals and new initiatives, and new priorities. Our teachers, our administrators, all of our school employees are ready to make this an absolutely wonderful year,” he said. “Fresh starts are always exciting, and we’re ready to get going.”

The first day for students in the Georgetown County School District is Thursday, August 3^rd.

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GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCSC) - Known for its rich maritime history, Georgetown County has announced its game plan to bring in redevelopment, while also embracing its roots.

The Georgetown Ports deeded their around 40-acre property at no cost over to the county in June of last year. They officially closed this deal at the end of last month. The Georgetown Ports make up the last undeveloped coastal community in South Carolina and Georgetown County is hoping to change that.

Georgetown County Councilor Bob Anderson says he’s been in the county since the 1970s and says this plan has been a long time coming.

“Hopefully, it will be - we’ll use it for commerce,” Anderson said. “It won’t be my decision alone. I’ve only got one vote out of seven. I want to see jobs here, for paying jobs.”

The Georgetown Ports property has not been used since 2016 and when the acres were handed over last year, county officials began doing their due diligence on what needs to be done. They discovered from an outside contractor that they will have to fund $13.6 million to fix deficiencies on the existing port structures.

However, that’s not in their current budget.

Their economic development director, Tiffany Harrison, says although the funding will take some time to get, it’s not something that has to be done in a day.

“We start prioritizing what are the biggest concerns that we need to address,” Harrison said. “Then, we can start looking for funding opportunities and partnerships.”

The county has also identified environmental concerns that will need to be addressed.

“They’re not terrible,” Harrison said. “They’re not things that would keep this property from being redeveloped. It’s just they’re going to be specific ways we have to address redevelopment based on the findings in certain areas.”

Harrison says the sky is the limit for what’s to come at the ports, while not knocking out any option of commercial, industrial or even residential land.

The county will be putting together a team of consultants to create a comprehensive master plan next. Anderson says they probably won’t have a timeline for when the full project will be completed for another 12-18 months.

“I’m just trying to do everything I can do to make it what it needs to be in the time I’ve got left on this Earth,” Anderson said.

Harrison and other Georgetown County officials deem this property as the “land of opportunity.”

“If done properly, this can be a place that everybody in Georgetown can be proud of,” Harrison said. “That they’ll want to share with their family. That they’ll want to share with the world.”

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Four hospitals in Horry and Georgetown counties received top ratings for procedures and conditions in U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-24 Best Hospitals report.

The report was released on Aug. 1, alongside a ranking for the top hospitals in the nation, plus the best hospitals in each state and metro area.

The ratings for procedures and conditions evaluated hospitals on how well they perform a certain procedure or treatment of a condition with the full range of patients, according to the report’s methodology. The rating focused on commonly required individual procedures, such as hip replacement, rather than broader specialties like orthopedics.

The hospitals that were rated were put into three categories: high performing, average, and below average.

A few area hospitals did receive a “below average” rating on some conditions and procedures. A below average rating is based on indicators such as survival, discharging patients directly to home, readmission prevention, number of nurses and whether or not the hospital shared cardiology data through the American College of Cardiology or the American Heart Association.

Grand Strand Regional Medical Center earned 10 “high performing” ratings for procedures and conditions. Here’s what specific conditions and procedures the hospital was rated highly on.

The hospital also earned a “below average” score in the areas of leukemia, lymphoma and Myeloma because of a low percentage of staff who received a timely influenza vaccine, according to the report.

Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital and Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital earned “high performing” ratings in four areas of treatment.

Tidelands Georgetown earned a high performing ranking in heart attack care and treatment as well.

“Earning recognition by U.S. News & World Report is a testament to the care our team provides every day,” said Ashley Capps, vice president of operations and chief nursing officer in a press release sent Aug. 1.

Conway Medical Center received three high performing ratings for three treatments.

The hospital received two below average ratings as well — in colon cancer surgery and heart attacks.

For colon cancer surgery, the below average score was based on a low number of patients, according to U.S. News.

For heart attacks, the low rating was due to a poor survival rate and because Conway Medical Center did not disclose cardiology information.

Mcleod Loris Seacoast Hospital earned four high performing ratings in:

The hospital also received one below average rating in the area of heart attacks. According to U.S. News’ report, it earned this rating because it had a worse than average survival rate and did not share cardiology data with the American Heart Association or the American College of Cardiology.

To view the full rankings, click here or go to health.usnews.com.

This story was originally published August 1, 2023, 1:21 PM.

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – It’s the first day of school for students in Georgetown County and the first year under a new year-round modified calendar.

While the district welcomes students back to the classroom about a week earlier than others in the Lowcountry, the calendar includes extra week-long breaks in October and February and ends the year in late May rather than the first week in June.

“It’s not what you would traditionally think of with year-round. Students still go to school 180 days. Teachers still work 190 days. All of our principals still work 240 days,” said Georgetown County School District Superintendent Keith Price.

Superintendent Price said one pro for the new modified calendar is that a shortened summer would reduce the summer learning slide. And a week off at the end of every nine-week period gives teachers and students a chance to take a break and get back on track.

“We’re trying to build in a couple of academic support days along the way. So, our plan is to target students who are not being academically successful and invite them to come in and do some remediation- make-up work,” said Price.

All students in the Georgetown County School District will also receive free breakfast and lunch during the 2023-24 school year.

The school district served about 828,000 school lunches during the 2022-23 school year and hopes that meal participation will increase by approximately 6% to 875,000 through the initiative.

“Participation in the (Community Eligibility Provision) program will allow all of our students to enjoy a healthy breakfast and lunch each school day,” said GCSD Board Chair William Gaskins. “Providing these meals at no cost helps to ensure our students have the nutrition they need throughout the school day to learn and achieve academic success.”

And to make communication a little easier this year, the Georgetown County School District has launched a new phone app with everything parents and students will need to know from important updates to events, lunch menus, and more. You can download it by clicking here.

Elementary and intermediate schools will start at 7:30 a.m. this year. There is no change in start times for middle and high schools.

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Using the backdrop of a customer and worker appreciation day, Liberty Steel USA officials announced plans to expand operations at the Liberty Georgetown Steel Mill.

The announcements come roughly a year after the city leadership issued an order for the mill to close claiming executives let the mill remain shuttered for too long during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mill and city manager had worked out an agreement that the mill could remain in a shuttered, but maintenance-focused capacity until February 2022.

When that deadline was reached and mill workers returned as did production, the outgoing city zoning administrator declared that the mill violated a local ordinance and should lose its special zoning status grandfathering it into the area where the city has made an effort to reduce heavy industrial activity in favor of more tourist-focused business.

In the summer, the Georgetown Board of Zoning Appeals decided the mill was justified to remain open citing that agreement between executives and the city administrator.

Friday, the city's mayor among other public officials joined mill and union leadership.

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"We have a very good relationship with the executives of the steel mill at this point," said Mayor Carol Jayroe. "Currently Liberty Steel and the city are partnering to beautify the perimeter along South Fraser Street. We are looking forward to working with Liberty on this project."

Mill executives say the landscaping and the efforts to expand are part of a broader plan to show the mill is trying to be a good steward of the community given its roughly 50-year history being a symbol of Georgetown.

"We want our colleagues to have pride in the place they work when they come in," said Executive VP of US Operations Axel Ampolini. "We want this steel mill to be an asset to this community."

Ampolini says the business has slowed some given the economic headwinds consumers face with inflated prices on construction and automotive products. Those are the main industries for the mill's wire rod supply sources. He however says the mill is turning a profit even with its smaller output compared to larger operations like the Peoria, Illinois sister plant. Friday, he announced that they plan to increase production from 120,000 tons of wire rods to 300,000 tons.

"We're going to be expanding from one shift to two shifts so that we can work around the clock," Ampolini said. "We will reach triple digits with this expansion that we are announcing today we will be right around 100 folks."

It's welcomed news for union workers and union leaders who have told ABC 15 News that the contract between the united steelworkers and Liberty Steel calls for roughly 125 full-time workers at the Georgetown Mill by 2025. This expansion and the addition of downstream integration, meaning Liberty will buy its own product from the mill for separate operations, will bring the mill's labor force closer to that threshold.

"Up to 40 additional employees will be coming up here to our plant site and I think that's going to be a win-win situation for everybody involved," said Georgetown branch president James Sanderson with the United Steelworkers.

A spokesperson for Liberty Steel USA says the work to hire new plant workers and staff for the integration will begin in the coming months with a goal to have the expansion efforts complete by the end of the year.

"This is a great day in Georgetown," Sanderson said. "There's no doubt in my mind that I think everybody needs to come together, work together, and start looking out for the best interests of Georgetown and I do believe that we are on the right path now."