Quotation

Happy New Year to everyone!

Please accept this as my introduction and hello to all of you. I am Dr. Brandon Gantt, the proud principal of Whitesville Elementary School. I come to Whitesville after over a decade in education. I began my career as a reading interventionist in the School District of Newberry County at the middle school level before taking a 4th grade position in the same district. After, I took a year off to play professional football in Germany for the Rostock Griffins (I was the starting Quarterback, and I led my team to an undefeated championship run 🏈).

I returned states-side and began teaching 3rd Grade and coaching football, basketball, and track and field in Richland School District One. I then moved to School District 5 of Lexington and Richland Counties as a 5th grade teacher followed by assistant principal positions at both the elementary and middle school levels.

During my last two years, I was able to experience district level administration as the Employee Development Coordinator in Lexington School District One before going to the State Departement of Education. However, it was during my time as a district level administrator while working for the South Carolina Department of Education, I realized that my purpose and my mission is to work with students, with families, and to be a part of a school community to ensure that every teacher has the tools they need to inspire, instruct, and support their students.

I am proud to call Whitesville Elementary home! This has been a busy summer with my family since moving from Columbia to the Low Country. My wife, Beatriz, and I have four daughters, Lola, Ava, Nora, and Eliza, a bulldog by the name of Rocky, and a rescue cat named Stella.

I look forward to meeting you all and celebrating the wonderful year to come!

Our mission is to cultivate a caring community that utilizes a multitude of teaching and learning experiences to prepare children for their next adventure.

1. We believe that everyone deserves to feel safe, valued, and appreciated.
2. We believe that all children deserve a high quality education.
3. We believe in collaboration and making connections.

August 17 - Meet the Teacher Night

August 21 - FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

August 24 - Thursday Folders Sent Home

We Are!!!!!!

We will host our Meet the Teacher Night event this upcoming Thursday, August 17th from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., here at WES. Come out, meet your teacher, visit the school, meet our wonderful faculty and staff, and join the excitement. This will be a drop in event, so feel free to show up anytime between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Our PTO will be sponsoring an amazing event that will include bouncy houses, games, a food truck, and ice cream for the family. Come feel at home at WES and celebrate the start of the new year with us!

BE SURE YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR REGISTRATION INFORMATION PRIOR TO MEET THE TEACHER NIGHT IN ORDER TO RECEIVE YOUR CHILD'S TEACHER.

*to ensuring appropriate placement of students, we will not be able to provide classroom schedules for parents who have not registered their child(ren).

Students for PK - 2nd grade will be receive the following tags to help ensure our students' safety during transportation from school (Releases will be provided during Meet the Teacher Night):

Red tags are for all students that do not have a signed release form from a parent. For all red-tag students, the parent or guardian has to be at the stop.

* Sitting in the car or standing at the front door does not count as receiving that child. Those students will be brought back to the school.

Yellow tags will be issued to the PK - 2nd-grade students who have a sibling(s) in the 3rd - 5th grade riding the bus and parents have signed the release form for them to get off with that student. When issuing these tags, please include the older sibling's name at the bottom of the yellow tag. The bus driver will match the name on the yellow tag to the sibling with the green tag.

*Quick reminder, this has to be a sibling. We cannot release a student with a next-door neighbor who is in the 4th grade.

Green Tags will be issued to students in PK-2nd grade whose parent/guardian signed a release form for them to get off alone. All these students will get a green tag.

Ride 360 App

Berkeley County School District provides timely and accurate bus route and delay information via My Ride K-12. With My Ride K-12, parents have the option of reviewing bus information via a secure web portal and/or Apple and Android mobile apps. The Apple and Google buttons below will take you directly to the app in the respective stores.

Information found in the My Ride K-12 portal includes but is not limited to:

• bus stop location

• route information

• pickup time

• bus number

For returning WES families, please complete the Google Form to register for a car tag. If you do it now, you will not need to wait in line at Open House. Your car tag will be in your youngest child's classroom at Open House. (Click the Link Below)

Immunizations

Each year the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) provides the South Carolina Immunization Requirements for Childcare and School.

Immunization requirements are regularly updated by DHEC. The following changes have been made for the 2023-2024 school year for students in third grade, eighth grade, ninth grade and 11th grade – this information is also available on DHEC’s Childcare & School Vaccine Requirements website.

• Eighth grade: one dose of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccine on or after the 10th birthday.
• Ninth grade: two doses of varicella. A child with a positive history of the disease is considered immune and is exempt from this requirement.
• 11th grade: three doses of oral and/or inactivated polio vaccine with at least one dose received on or after the fourth birthday.
• Third grade: two doses of hepatitis A vaccine with both doses received on or after the first birthday and separated by at least 6 months.

View full state immunization requirements for childcare 2023-2024 here.

Medications

BCSD would also like to remind its families of the protocol for giving prescription and non-prescription medicines at school:

• In order for a child to be given non-prescription medicines at school, the child’s parent/guardian must sign a permission form. Schools may have special rules for non-prescription medicines and may require parents or guardian to sign additional forms.
• In order for a child to be given a prescription medicine at school, the child’s health care practitioner and the child’s parent or guardian should sign a separate permission form. Because the instructions for some medications require more space than is provided on the form, some health care practitioners may prefer to use a practice specific form.

In both cases, schools may have special rules for prescription medicines and may require parents or guardians to sign additional forms. A responsible adult should deliver the medicine and the permission form to the school. The medicine must be in the original container with the label on it.

New Student Registration

For parents of new students in the district, families were required to fill out a health history questionnaire for nursing services; this form should have been included in the child’s New Student Registration packet. If this information has not been filled out, please do so and provide to your school nurse.

For information, please visit BCSD’s Nursing Services page.

Research shows that participating in your child's school and showing engagement helps them perform better academically.

2. The School Benefits

PTO performs support for school teachers and administrators which in turn creates a positive and caring atmosphere in the school.

3. Make Connections

Get to know the teachers and staff better and make life-long friends with other parents at the school!

4. It's Good For You

Socializing with other parents and volunteering to do good for your child's school is fun, healthy, and rewarding!

READY TO SIGN UP?

Contact our PTO President, Maria Knab at president@wiseowlspto.com.

Download the New BCSD App

NEVER MISS AN EVENT

The event section shows a list of events throughout the district. Users can add an event to their calendar to share the event with friends and family with one tap.

CUSTOMIZE NOTIFICATIONS

Select your student's organization within the app and make sure you never miss a message.

CAFETERIA MENUS

Within the dining section, you'll find an easy to navigate, weekly menu, sorted by day and meal type.

DISTRICT & SCHOOL UPDATES

In the Live and News Feeds are where you'll find updates from the administration about what's going on in the district and in schools right now. Whether that's celebrating a student's success, or reminding you about an upcoming deadline.

CONTACT STAFF & DEPARTMENTS

Find relevant staff and department contacts under an easy-to-navigate directory.