DARLINGTON COUNTY, SC (WBTW) – The Darlington County School Board voted on a state-wide requirement for students who want to transfer from a school considered “persistently dangerous.”
Darlington County Spokesperson, Audrey Childers said the rule falls under the Unsafe School Choice Policy.
“It’s simply updating the expanded school choice policy to include the wording for persistently dangerous schools,” said Childers.
The State Board of Education considers a school persistently dangerous if conditions expose students to injury from violent criminal offenses over a period of three consecutive years.
“Homicides, weapons charges, kidnapping, and things like that,” Childers said.
Junior at Mayo High School, Landen Allen, said he thinks it’s important for students to have a choice in which school they attend if they don’t feel safe.
“A school is a place to learn, it’s not a place to fear that somebody’s going to hurt them,” Allen said. “I believe that transferring schools would actually help that student because they could get away from the problem.”
Childers said the Darlington County School District does not currently have any schools that would fall under the “persistently dangerous” category.
“If however something ever changes and we do have any schools that fall under that category, then this gives students the opportunity to move,” she said.
Allen told News13 the policy makes him feel safer as a student.
“I believe that it would help somebody who needs it, and that it’s a good policy in general,” said Allen.
The complete policy for persistently dangerous schools can be found here.
