County's Largest School District Preparing for Growth

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

The county’s largest district is doing a demographic study to determine where they will need to make adjustments in the next few years.

With 12,500 students, Anderson School Dist. 5 is facing a record number of housing units in their school zones, and T.L. Hanna High School is full, with just shy of 2,000 students last year.

Raises for all employees, and a bonus free lunch on Mondays and Fridays for all employees, were part of the upcoming year’s budget, according to Superintendent Brenda Kelley. Raising the starting salary for all new teachers to $50,000 without raising millage rates was made possible by going line-by-line and cutting the budget in other areas, said Kelley.

The district is also looking at the new state regulations on prohibiting the use of cell phones by students “during the instructional day.” Kelley is part of a state committee which is working out the definition and then will clarify the new law to students and parents.

Kelley talks about growth, the arts, safety, the year just passed and the year ahead in this Anderson Observer interview.