What are SICs?The School Improvement Council (SIC) serves as an advisory committee to a school's principal and faculty. Unlike PTA/Os and other voluntary school organizations, councils are mandated by law to exist in every public school in South Carolina. SICs play a key role in the education of our state's children, bringing together parents, educators and community stakeholders to work collectively to improve their local school. More than 16,000 people serve on SICs in South Carolina.
Councils work with the school to develop and implement a five-year school improvement plan (school renewal plan), monitor and evaluate success in reaching the plan's goals and objectives, and write an annual report to parents about the progress of the plan. Councils also assist the principal in writing the narrative for the School Report Card. In addition, Councils advise on the use of school incentive awards and provide assistance as requested by the principal. School Improvement Councils do not have any of the powers and duties reserved by the local school board.
The Northwest SIC has been very busy this year working in several areas to improve our school. We are very fortunate to have a group of very dedicated members of the Northwest community, as well as community members who don't even have children at our school! We started over the summer, using information we had gathered from a survey we asked teachers to fill out at the end of the school year, and have continued with monthly meetings throughout the school year. Based on those surveys, and parental input, we created committees to focus on the following areas:
The Northwest SIC is always interested in input from parents, teachers and staff at Northwest Middle School to help us learn more about everyone's experiences at Northwest, and what we can do to support our schools continued growth and development. Feel free to contact any members of the SIC with any comments/questions/input you have about Northwest Middle School, so we can strive to live up to the motto "100% effort, 100% of the time".