Horry County school board saves jobs

Horry County school board members spared five district jobs and named one new principal during Monday's county school board meeting

School board members voted to keep four teacher positions and one nurse after board member Joe DeFeo, of District 3, brought the issue up for a vote.

DeFeo said the five positions were slated to be lost under the district's current staffing formula. But he said he expects that permanent positions can be found for those people by the start of the next school year.

Board members also decided not to renew three annual contracts citing lack of performance. District officials must issue teacher and staff contracts for the next school year by April 15.

Also Monday, the school board voted to approve Steven Fitch, principal of Courtland High School in Spotsylvania, Va., as the new principal at Conway High for next year.

Fitch will replace Conway High School's current principal, Porter Kennington, who will retire at the end of this school year.

Horry County Schools spokeswoman Teal Britton said Conway High has a history of inconsistency in its administration and district officials are hopeful that Fitch can help change that.

The school was a National Blue Ribbon school in the 1980s. In the 1990s the school lost students when part of Conway's attendance area was moved to the then-new Carolina Forest High School.

Britton said the district is looking for more growth at Conway High in areas such as more students taking Advanced Placement courses and more students going to college.

"Conway is one of the schools that always has been an anchor," Britton said. "The community wants that school resurrected as a point of pride."