Serving Barnwell County and it's neighbors since 1852
Dr. Vallerie Cave, the new superintendent of Allendale County School District, speaks during a recent community and board meeting. She is a native of Allendale County.
In August, the South Carolina Department of Education announced Dr. Vallerie Coath Cave as the new superintendent of the Allendale County School District (ACSD).
Cave, who was born and raised in Allendale County, is a 1978 graduate of the ACSD and went to Charleston Southern University. Cave has been a teacher, principal, academic coach and an academic administrator in states throughout the southeast.
In the wake of the pandemic, K-12 school districts across the country are dealing with struggling students and teachers, as found in the declining attendance and performance of both. In Allendale County, the school district is addressing the teacher shortage by increasing compensation and introducing programs to create local teachers. Additionally, the school district has been increasing educational access and opportunities for students to remediate learning gaps.
Allendale County reporter Elijah de Castro spoke with Dr. Cave about her vision for the school district, some of the educational challenges it faces and ongoing changes within the local community.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. A video version of the interview will be on The People-Sentinel’s website.
Elijah de Castro: What is your vision for this school district?
Cave: If you look at Allendale County schools in the next few years, you'll see a group of students and scholars that are very progressive. I’d like to see that [by then] the community has changed. Our schools are only as strong as our communities make them, so in order for that to happen I have to instill in children educational advancement and educational attainment. Regardless of the path they choose in life, I want them to know that they can do something, [and that] there is hope for all of them to be successful.
De Castro: What kind of relationship do you want the community to have with the school district? It’s not just that students and teachers are here, it’s also a huge employer for the county and it’s a big center for the community.
Cave: I want the community to know that the schools exist for them. We are a community school. Schools are really to be a 24/7 service organization that serves the community, not only just educating students, but educating the parental community as well. Community centered schools are the best way to change the broader community as a whole. It's not my school. It's our community school.
De Castro: You’re in an interesting position because there’s all these different changes that are happening within the ACSD and within the community [of Allendale]. How are you going to navigate those changes as you step into this role?
Cave: We are beginning to train more of our students and get them [into the] certification process for college and career jobs so that when industry comes, they will be ready to take those positions. We are hiring our own students that can tutor other students, because children learn best from each other. Not only that, we're getting ready to enter into teacher performance pay here, which is going to be a game changer for all of the teachers. It's the opportunities that you present to teachers and the opportunities that you present to students that changes lives.
De Castro: The school report cards [from the South Carolina Department of Education] came back about a month ago and they showed that students are definitely falling behind. What do you attribute those scores in the report card to and how can that change in the future?
Cave: One thing that has impacted the [test] results has been COVID. With the literacy rate, we have focused on changing our curriculum so we use an open core curriculum, which allows for the early intervention to be able to address those phonetic skills that children are missing. We changed our math curriculum this year as well, which allows them to work on numeracy and those basic facts that they need because computation skills impact all of the other algebraic and quadratic formulas that you have to know. When we build those core skills, our children will continue to progress. We’re really doing some things to target those gaps in learning for children.
De Castro: Can you tell me a little bit more about how the teacher shortage is affecting the district and how you want to bring more teachers into Allendale?
Cave: We have a substantial number of international teachers and they are some of the best teachers I’ve ever seen, but we would like to be able to hire some of our local persons. Something we have also done is enter into the Carolina CAP program with the University of South Carolina, it’s like growing all of our own teachers to address our teacher shortage.
De Castro: How do you want parents to engage with the school district?
Cave: I want the parents to feel as though the school is a place that they can come to not just when their child is misbehaving but when their child is doing great. I want to make sure that the parents as well get the training that they need so that they can get some of the jobs because the way that you break generational poverty [is getting people] employed. Whatever the parents need, the school is here to address their needs.
