Richland 1 superintendent gets raise, extension. Board splits over district’s progress
Richland 1 Superintendent Craig Witherspoon was awarded a contract extension and raise Tuesday night, although board members split over the district’s progress.
The extension came just two months after the district drew the ire of some parents, legislators and the state education superintendent because of the abrupt transfer of 11 teachers to new schools.
The district’s school board voted 5-2 on Tuesday to extend Witherspoon’s contract by one year until 2026, and to give him a 3% raise.
The State has asked the district for a copy of Witherspoon’s contract and for his new salary.
Richland 1 board chair Cheryl Harris and board members Aaron Bishop, Jamie Devine, Angela Clyburn and Tamika Myers voted in favor of the contract extension.
During the meeting, Witherspoon touted the district’s teacher recruitment and retention efforts, district professional development, improving school culture and climate, increased parent engagement and rebounding after the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The district also showed overall academic improvement on the 2022-2023 school report cards, increasing scores from the previous year on three of the four standardized test results reported. But the district lagged behind statewide averages on those scores.
“We see growth,” Harris said in an interview with The State. “We are confident this growth will continue.”
But board members Robert Lominack and Barbara Weston voted against the extension, citing issues like the district’s teacher vacancy rate, poor rates of college and career readiness and district-wide insurance issues.
“I don’t think we’re headed in a direction that justifies both a raise and an extension,” Lominack said.
The board gave Witherspoon, who was hired in 2015, a positive evaluation at a meeting last month, which both Lominack and Weston opposed.
The district administration, including Witherspoon, came under fire in October after 11 teachers were abruptly reassigned nine weeks into the school year. Richland 1 officials were adamant that such transfers were “not uncommon,” and were made to maintain ideal student-teacher ratios in each district school.
“That’s what happens every year,” Witherspoon said in an October interview with the media. “This is a regular occurrence.”
In November, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn weighed in on the controversy, pointing out that Richland 1, similar to several other school districts under criticism, were headed by a Black leader like Witherspoon.
“Why are they unhappy? There were a lot of people unhappy with integrating school,” Clyburn said. “There seem to be a lot of people now that don’t want to see people of color in administrative positions.”
Richland 1 was also put on “fiscal watch” by the S.C. Department of Education last year following an audit of the district’s spending. The state flagged nearly 90 issues, including the district’s excessive use of procurement cards, or “p-cards.” The board voted to appeal the status, but lost that appeal.
