Education

Dozens of rising kindergartners, teachers and parents lined up in front of bowling lanes and awaited cupcakes on Thursday to celebrate another successful year of Countdown to Kindergarten at the Lancaster Bowling Center.

For the last 13 years, Lancaster County First Steps’ Countdown to Kindergarten program has allowed kindergarten teachers to visit students at their homes for lessons during the summer, creating connections with families before school starts.

One of his first days on the job, Dr. Jonathan Phipps arrived at the Lancaster County School District office at 6:45 a.m.
The district’s new superintendent sat at his new desk preparing for meetings, reviewing routine paperwork, and returning e-mails and phone calls. Already, the schedule was hectic and varied.
“You never have the same day twice,” he said.
He jotted notes in a journal to keep track of events. He’s kept one for the last 10 years.

Make that list and check it twice. No, not for Santa – for tax-free back-to-school shopping during the annual S.C. Sales-Tax-Free Weekend.
Starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday, Aug. 4, and continuing through Sunday, Aug. 6, book bags, clothing, pencils, paper and other school supplies are exempt from the 6 percent state sales tax.
The S.C. Department of Revenue estimates shoppers have saved between $2 million and $3 million during past tax holiday weekends.

Lancaster High School is the only campus in the county that will have different traffic patterns at the opening of the school year due to construction projects.
Bryan Vaughn, Lancaster County School District safety and transportation director, said there is a new bus loading and unloading area at LHS.
“We’re inverting where the bus loop is and the front loop where the drop-off is,” Vaughn said. “Car traffic, at this point, will remain the same at the upper middle parking lot.”

The lazy days of summer are coming to a close in Lancaster County.
August signals back-to-school time, when bedtimes are pushed up, alarm clocks are reset, pencils are sharpened and schools open to welcome back staff and students. For Lancaster County students, the first day is Thursday, Aug. 17.
Sixth- and ninth-graders head back Wednesday, Aug.16, for a half-day orientation.

A Kershaw hair stylist is offering a free haircut next week for any schoolkid who can’t afford one.
Danielle Beard, a mother of two, works at Hairworks on Hampton Street in Kershaw. She’s offering the free service to students from 5K to 12th grade from Aug. 8-12.
“Kids are so much fun,” she said Tuesday. “I really just want to help those in need.”
Beard has been cutting and styling hair for four years and says she doesn’t want anyone going to school without a haircut simply because they are unable to pay for one.

Our children will be more successful in school – and healthier – if we, as parents, make sure they do some very simple things.
In fact, taking the simple steps below to make sure our children are healthy – both mentally and physically – is probably the most important factor in how they do in school.
Here’s what you can do.

Healthy, balanced meals make so much difference in how well students do in school and how healthy they are when they become adults.
Study after study has shown how much difference a good breakfast can make on a student’s ability to focus and do well in class.
The staff in our school cafeterias work hard to give our students those kinds of meals – meals that taste great and provide the nutrition and energy our students need to grow strong and succeed in school every day.
Here are things you should know about our meal program.

In just a few days, more than 6,000 students will begin boarding school buses to ride to and from school. More than 70 buses will operate in Lancaster County School District to accomplish this task.
When the school year ends, our buses will have traveled more than 1.25 million miles during the 2017-18 school year.
School bus travel is statistically one of the safest modes of transportation on the road. This safety record directly results from the intense training our drivers receive and the safety design of our buses.