School Improvement Council (SIC)
SIC Members-under construction
|
Richard Eppes |
Principal |
|
Angie Harms |
Asst. Principal |
|
David Cheske |
Asst. Principal |
|
Caryn Scroggs |
Asst. Principal |
Meetings will be on the third Tuesday of each month at 4:00pm in the GHMS Media Center.
2025-2026 Minutes
April
Gold Hill Middle School
School Improvement Council
2025-2026
Meeting Agenda
April 28, 2026
Attendance: Wagner, Norris, Isenhour, Kennedy, Kiggans
Motion to approve March minutes:
- Motion - Kiggans
- 2nd - Wagner
GHMS Administration Report:
- Palmetto’s Finest
- Did not win Palmetto’s, but happy with how the pep rally went. Good lesson for students, have to be able to win and lose as a family.
- Looking at possibly trying again next year
- Honors Chorus trip to Atlanta, won 1st Place at Music in the Parks competition
- Baseball, soccer lost last night
- Trips coming up! Disney (8th Grade Band), DC (8th Grade)
- 8th Grade Dance on May 8
- FSI Teacher All-Stars - Congrats to Mr. Sims and Mrs. Reiter for winning their month, wild card. Mrs. Reiter won Teacher of the Year for FSI - $5000 and a classroom makeover!
- GHMS won NAMM Greatest Community in Music Education Award
- 6th Grade Parent Night - Wednesday, May 6
- Band Concerts - Thursday, May 7
- 5th Grade Tours - Friday, May 8
PTO Update: - Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week
- Bingo Event was successful
- New Board elected!
Open Discussion/New Items:
- BFF Night Recap
- Success - lots of kids!
- Music Bingo was a big hit
- Weather was fantastic this year
- Invited the 5th graders was great!
- Seemed to be more 8th graders there
- Parent Night on May 12 from 6-7pm
- Shared at principals meeting, invited all administrators
- Is being advertised at the 5th grade level as well
To Do Items:
Close:
March
Gold Hill Middle School
School Improvement Council
2025-2026
Meeting Agenda
March 24, 2026
Attending: Caryn Scroggs, Angie Harms, Scot Kiggans, Alicia Dasch, Lisa Kennedy, Rachael Shriver, Richard Eppes, Daney Hughes
Welcome:
Motion to approve February minutes: approved
GHMS Administration Report:
-Mr. Eppes and Dr. Rodriguez attended the Palmetto’s Finest Finalist Luncheon today. We find out April 23rd what the result is.
-Musical this past weekend was phenomenal.
-District Professional Development day this past Friday.
-Athletics are almost halfway thru the season. Spring sports are succeeding.
-Hiring season! We will be gaining at least one growth position.
-Adding onto our band room with approval pending. Looking to add an additional room into the media center.
PTO Update:
-Looking into DailyRaiser for fundraising next year.
-Looking for new board members for next year.
Open Discussion/New Items
1. Finalize Parent Night-flyer is ready, will send out RSVP to teachers, will invite elementary school 4th/5th grade parents too as well as district staff.
2. BFF Night-Kauffman/Booster’s handling concessions, Beta Club will help, rising 6th graders have been invited.
3. Reminder to have president sign SIC plan
4. Beta Club Points-signs up are often filled up as soon as they are released. Ms. Shriver explained the rule that if you have 10 hours already you have to wait 24 hours before signing up.
To Do Items
Reminder of Meeting Times:
-April 28
Close:
February
Gold Hill Middle School
School Improvement Council
2025-2026
Meeting Agenda
February 24, 2026
Attending: Stacey Wagner, Bridget Norris, Scot Kiggans, Maggie Bowers, Lisa Kennedy, Jennifer Isenhour, Rachael Shriver, Angie Harms, Stump Eppes, Caryn Scroggs
Welcome:
Motion to approve January minutes:
GHMS Administration Report:
- Palmetto’s Choice Finalist!
- February break a success, great feedback from teachers and students
- Polar Plunge a success, came in 2nd to Nation Ford. Raised about $12000
- Bulldog Shake on Thursday!
- Spring Sports starting up
- Seussical the Musical almost ready - coming in March
- All-Region Band on Friday - 33 students
- New Interns starting from Winthrop
- 6th Grade field trip to see opera in partnership with the Met Opera
Review School Improvement Plan:
- Parent Communication Rating is going down. Feels frustrating because there have been a lot of effort to
- Another difficult one was that the school was receptive to feedback and change from parents (dropped by 30 points). The way the question was changed caused a large drop.
- Some parents could possibly not be receiving communication. Could be an issue with a PowerSchool update?
- Performance Goal 2.1 D - we’re always trying to score higher on SC Ready. Doing a lot to work on math especially.
- Performance Goal 3.1 - Students say bathrooms aren’t clean. We have created a competition to keep the bathrooms clean to work on fixing this.
- Good attendance rate, but we have a lot of families that take extended trips. This causes a falsely high truancy rate.
- New Improvement Plan after next year. A lot of the goals are set by the district, but we do have some choice.
PTO Update: No update
- No update, staff really appreciate treats!
Open Discussion/New Agenda Items:
- New Parent website coming soon!
- Not a lot of parents visit the website. Working to make it user friendly.
- Goal is to get it out before Palmetto’s Finest visit
- Current directory is not useful. Would be better to list via grade level with subject level.
- Possible issue with Google
- Finalize Parent Night plans
- Initially had a plan for social media, but last meeting changed to the Bark organization who designs programs for grades 4-8
- No cost right now for parent night. Program is starting up.
- Just a Parent Night: goes through internet safety, what students have access, how best to parent in the social media world. Don’t want to scare parents, but give tools to handle these topics.
- Also offer more options beyond a parent night, if interested down the road
- Could invite feeder programs to boost attendance
- Looking at possible dates in May - Caryn will call to schedule.
- 45 minutes presentation, 15 minute Q&A, with time to ask separately afterward.
- Great going into summer when students will be on devices more.
- Safe School Ambassadors Program
- Training 32 students that are strong and involved enough to speak up when they see something.
- 2 Day training event for 6th and 7th graders
- Help to address possible bullying issues
- Pleasant Knoll and Gold Hill are only middle schools in the district completing this training. Fort Mill High School is also trained.
- Lots of great activities - good conversations taking place with students.
- Plans to meet like a club during advisory after this training
Reminder of Meeting Times:
· Mar 24
· Apr 28
January
Gold Hill Middle School
School Improvement Council
2025-2026
Meeting Agenda
January 29, 2026
Attending: Harms, Eppes, Norris, Dasch, Cheske, Kiggans, Shriver, Kennedy, Bowers, Scroggs
Welcome:
Motion to approve December minutes: Approved
GHMS Administration Report:
- Palmetto’s Finest Finalist!!! Going to a luncheon (Shriver, Eppes, and Young)
- IGP date for 8th graders coming up
- 8th graders visited high schools for first look tours
- Winter sports are ending and Spring sports are starting up soon
- Rising 8th pathways night was very engaging and well put together
PTO Update:
- No major updates
- Discussing new vendors and new fundraiser opportunities for next year
Open Discussion/New Items:
- Parent Night - Solidify Speaker and Date - Discussed different parent night options and speakers. Decided to move forward on Bark Technologies.
To Do Items:
- Bowers and Scroggs will work to get on Bark’s calendar
Reminder of Meeting Times:
· Feb 24
· Mar 24
· Apr 28
Close: Motion accepted
December
Gold Hill Middle School
School Improvement Council
2025-2026
Meeting Agenda
December 16, 2025
Welcome:
Attending: Daney Hughes, Scot Kiggans, Maggie Bowers, Lisa Kennedy, Rachael Shriver, Dave Cheske, Angie Harms, Stump Eppes, Caryn Scroggs, Stacey Wagner
Motion to approve November minutes: Approved
GHMS Administration Report:
- Palmetto’s Finest Update-The visit was 12/15. It went well, we won’t know any results until Mid January
- ESPN Honor Roll School-for special olympics. Video on ESPN of them announcing it. Have been awarded a Unified Champion School, Banner School, and now ESPN Honor Roll School for this. We are the only school in South Carolina to have been named this year.
- Meeting today with the district office to discuss the opening of a new school and how that will impact faculty and staff here. We are not set to lose any positions and may even gain positions.
- Honors Art show is tonight
- Recent chorus and band concerts are a success.
- StarLab (inflatable planetarium) visited 8th grade science.
- Holiday Assembly on Friday
PTO Update:
- Recent spirit wear sales
- Nothing new
Open Discussion/New Items:
- None
To Do Items
- Review survey results for Parent Education Night
- #1-Navigating screens, social media and AI, #2-Raising Resilient Teens: supporting your child’s well-being, motivation, and resilience.
- Investigate and reach out to potential speakers
- Maggie will ask the solicitors office about any available speakers for social media/AI.
- Logistics for Parent Education Night (Date, speaker locations)
- Check speaker availability February 11-12?
Reminder of Meeting Times:
· Jan 27
· Feb 24
· Mar 24
· Apr 28
Close: Motion accepted
November
November 18, 2025
Welcome
Attending: Daney Hughes, Bridget Norris, Scot Kiggans, Maggie Bowers, Lisa Kennedy, Jennifer Isenhour, Rachael Shriver, Dave Cheske, Angie Harms, Stump Eppes, Caryn Scroggs, Alicia Dash
Motion to approve October minutes:
- Motion: Daney
- 2nd: Rachael
GHMS Administration Report:
- Winter Sports up and running! First basketball game: Dec 1
- School Level Spelling Bee - top 5 were outstanding. Went for 28 rounds! Great competition!
- Booster Club Kickball Tournament on Friday and was a success
- Incentives are coming up on December 11. Whole school will break into clubs and will get to choose what they are interested in participating in.
- School musical rehearsals are in full swing (Seussical the Musical)
- Band students are working hard on All-Region Honor Band auditions
- BETA Club letters just went out. Grade level averages must be 93% or higher in core classes and 80% or higher in Related Arts classes
PTO Update:None at this time
Open Discussion/New Items
- Review of parent topics sent by Ms. Norris
- A survey would be good to gather information
- Lots of resources from Parent University. Can pull resources and contacts from that.
- If it is someone who has already presented at Parent University, no need to do vetting.
- Survey needs to have limited options (preferably from Parent University)
- Raising Resilient Teens: Anxiety, Mood (#1, 4, 7)
- Social Media/Game Time/AI (#2, 5)
- #3 & 6 & 9 Independence/Culture
- Substance Use Prevention/Vaping (#8)
- Could potentially be two sessions that switch back and forth
- Timing: 1 hour presentation and 30 minute Q&A
- Survey will ask to rank the four options and have an open-ended question asking for additional potential options
- Mrs. Scroggs will make the survey and it will be sent via separate email and via the Bark.
- After survey, we will review and reach out to potential speakers and lock down a date
- State SIC Training
- Bridget participated. Lots of information and she feels like we are on the right track. Many schools have a difficult time finding parents to participate, but usually our school historically does not.
- Tuesday, December 2nd at 6pm is the next meeting and Bridget is looking forward to the options and information.
To Do Items
- Review survey results for Parent Education Night
- Investigate and reach out to potential speakers
- Logistics for Parent Education Night (Date, speaker locations)
Reminder of Meeting Times:
· Dec 16
· Jan 27
· Feb 24
· Mar 24
· Apr 28
Close
October
Meeting Agenda
October 28, 2025
Welcome
Attending:
Daney Hughes, Bridget Norris, Scot Kiggans, Lisa Kennedy, Jennifer Isenhour, Dave Cheske, Angie Harms, Stump Eppes, Caryn Scroggs, Alicia Dash, Stacy Wagner
Motion to approve September meeting minutes:Motion (Kiggans),
GHMS Administration Report:
- Kate the Chemist visit and very much enjoyed by students, staff and especially Mr. Eppes. She does this for free!
- Would it be possible to do all three grades?
- Athletics Update:
- Basketball Tryouts next week, Football ending, Volleyball finished strong
- Palmetto Finest Award
- Progressed to next level, waiting to hear about two week window
- Celebrated Students of the Quarter and Honor Roll Students
- Sundaes on Monday this month, thanks to Booster Club for helping out!
- Wednesdays - we wear pink!
- Congratulations to our marching 8th graders for earning the Silver Medal at SC State Championships!
- Chorus
- 5 students made the ACDA Honor Chorus
- 7th/8th grade students participated in Winthrop Invitational Clinic
PTO Update:
- Next Meeting: January 13 - (Virtual)
- Book sells: $9000 cleared
- 30% participation, unsure of breakdown
- Many books didn’t appear to make it into backpacks
To-Do Items from last meeting to discuss:
· Review the School Improvement Plan to present ideas for SIC goals
Selection of Meeting Times Reminder:
· Dec 16
· Jan 27
· Feb 24
· Mar 24
· Apr 28
Open Discussion/New Items:
- Newsletter Change
- Data doesn’t show any increase or decrease in viewing
- Would a raffle increase views?
- Bark coming out Friday morning this week with coupons!
- Bulldog Shake
- Usually occurs in February
- School-wide, students decide if they want to participate in the competitive portion
- School Improvement Plan
- Use to identify/plan goals for the schools
- How are parents surveyed? Can we do our own survey? Perhaps quarterly?
- Goal: Find topics for parent nights
- What time of year would be best for a parent night?
- Quarterly seems too much, perhaps halfway through the year?
- Possible topics: AI Use, Vaping, Social Media, Parents of boys (Bridget will brainstorm more)
- Offer a Zoom option for those unable to attend
- Better for the school setting to focus in on one topic than breakout sessions
- Event Dates:
- BFF Night - March 27, 2026 (Friday)
- SIC Chairs Meeting Email
- November Meeting (Virtual) for chairs, learn to run meeting more efficiently
To-Do Items for next meeting:
- Lock in dates for Parent Education Night
Motion to Close:
- Isenhour 2) Harms
September
September 16, 2025
Welcome
Introductions
Attending-Daney Hughes, Bridget Norris, Scot Kiggans, Maggie Bowers, Lisa Kennedy, Jennifer Isenhour, Rachael Shriver, Dave Cheske, Angie Harms, Stump Eppes, Caryn Scroggs, Alicia Dash
Review of Purpose
GHMS Administration Report
- School year well on the way, spirit week this week, sports have started.
- Kate the Chemist coming to 6th and 7th grade science.
- School Report Card data still embargoed, we feel we will be pleased with our results.
- Instructional Focus this year is Growth (using data to guide instruction, diving into intervention and remediation)
- Working on Palmetto’s Finest this year, a very challenging application and a difficult award to win. Our staff has been working hard on providing information for the application.
- New Wiffle Ball Club starting, new Harry Potter Club starting
- Around $8,000 donated for sister school in Uganda.
- Unexpected fire drill yesterday (smoke detector battery change caused the alarms to go off). Students did a great job evacuating.
PTO Update
- Over $8700 so far in fundraising books sold
- Spirit wear sale is going on.
Selection of Meeting Times
- Sept 16
- Oct 28
- Nov 18
- Dec 16
- Jan 27
- Feb 24
- Mar 24
- Apr 28
Selection of Officers (Chair/Vice Chair/Secretary)
- Chair: Bridget Norris
- Co-Chair: Daney Hughes
- Secretary: Jennifer Isenhour
Open Discussion/New Items
- Ms. Norris shared positive feedback regarding the FMSD Parent University and the SAS Middle School Girl presentation/events given recently.
- Consider a survey to parents in the Bark asking what topics parents would like to hear about.
To-Do Items for next meeting
- Review School Improvement Plan to present ideas for SIC goals at next meeting.