STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
MOLLY M. SPEARMAN
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION

June 10, 2022

Mr. Barry Bolen

Interim Superintendent
Lexington School Distict Two
715 Ninth Street
West Columbia, SC 29169

Dear Mr. Bolen,

A letter to Dr. Nicholas Wade on October 8, 2021, outlined concerns of the South Carolina
Department of Education (SCDE) about a student’s transcript at Brookland-Cayce High School
(BCHS) (See attached letter). The concerns raised in the letter resulted in a SCDE audit of
approximately 25% randomly selected transcripts of juniors and seniors at both BCHS and
Airport High School (AHS). The audit of student transcripts occurred from December 2021
through early February 2022. The SCDE cited 28 violations at BCHS and six violations at AHS.
The violations of each school are outlined in the attached document (See attached findings).

The SCDE was notified by Dr. Wade on April 30, 2022 that he had an external audit conducted
at BCHS and AHS. In the notification to the SCDE, Dr. Wade provided the files from the
external audit. We are currently reviewing the findings of this audit. Additionally, the SCDE was
notified on June 5, 2022 that the list of 2022 Spring graduates at BCHS were verified by the
school principal without confirming that each student met the requirements of State Board of
Education (SBE) Regulation 43-234. Information on how to properly verify requirements was
provided to the BCHS registrar on June 6, 2022.

The SCDE findings have been reviewed by our Office of Federal and State Accountability
(OFSA) to determine if each school’s state accreditation status will be affected. The accreditation
status of BCHS will be impacted and lowered to an ‘Accredited/Advised’ status for the 2021–22
school year. At this time, indications are that the accreditation status of AHS will not be
impacted. However, the SCDE will notify the district if the review of the external audit files
reveals further action is needed. A letter with an explanation of the accreditation statuses will be
sent to the district superintendent and local board chair no later than August 31, 2022 when all

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districts and schools receive their accreditation reports. If findings are corrected and no other
accreditation issues occur during the 2022–23 school year, the accreditation status will be
returned to ‘Accredited/All Clear’ for the 2022–23 school year. If not, the status will be lowered
to ‘Accredited/Warned.’

The SCDE met with counselors and registrars from BCHS and AHS in March 2022 for training
on proper documentation to meet SBE regulations. As a measure of further corrective action, the
SCDE is requiring counselors, registrars, and administrators of BCHS and AHS to participate in
additional training by the SCDE (See attached Corrective Action Plan). This training will be
helpful in correcting errors and assisting with achieving an ‘Accredited/All Clear’ rating. SCDE
staff will contact the district to coordinate a schedule for training.

Please contact me should you have questions or want further assistance.

Sincerely,

David M. Mathis, Ed.D.

Deputy Superintendent, Division of College and Career Readiness

Enclosures:
October 8, 2021 Letter
Lexington School District Two’s Transcript Findings
Corrective Action Plan

cc: Molly M. Spearman, State Superintendent of Education

Dr. Brenda Hafner, Lexington School District Two Superintendent-elect
Cathy Hazelwood, General Counsel, SCDE
Dr. Quincie Moore, Director, Career and Technical Education
Anna Duvall, Team Lead, Career and Technical Education
Laura McNair, Education Associate, Career and Technical Education

phone: 803-734-8500 ● fax: 803-734-3389 ● ed.sc.gov