South Carolina students head back to school

Thousands of South Carolina students will head back to school this week.

Lancaster, York, Fort Mill, Clover and Chester County Schools will be back in session Monday. Rock Hill schools and Chesterfield County will resume classes Tuesday.

Students will return to school with a new grading scale this year.

The new 10-point grading scale makes 100 to 90 points an "A" which was previously 100 to 93.

Channel 9 reported in April that the State Board of Education voted to change the grading scale to allow students to fairly compete for college entry and scholarships.

In Chester County, security is already a priority. The school board will meet Monday night to iron out an agreement to bring deputies back to county schools.

In 2015, the board removed deputies working as resource officers from all campuses.

Instead, they were replaced with private security guards, leaving parents and the county supervisor concerned.

The sheriff asked the board for enough money for six deputies, but only got enough for three.

That means that right now deputies will only be at three high schools.

Middle school and elementary schools will continue to have private security guards.

In York County, schools are making changes after complaints about buses that ran hours late last year.

The district hopes filling its shortage of bus drivers will help get students to school on time.

State law says a student's walking distance to a bus stop can be no more than three tenths of a mile.

Last year, parents said the shortage in bus drivers caused very long bus rides, or in some cases, buses never showed up for students.

Parents also complained buses were too crowded.

The district studied the 127 bus routes and decided to hire more bus drivers to combat the problems.

Officials said every elementary bus was on time Monday and that they will reevaluate the plan in two weeks to see if routes can be consolidated.

The Fort Mill School District could see a record number of students when school starts next week.

Channel 9's partners at the Rock Hill Herald report that district officials expect nearly 14,000 students on the first day.

Superintendent Chuck Epps said there were 13,821 students as of Aug. 9.

The district said if numbers continue to grow, the district may have to add more staff.

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