Darlington finds cheaper bus fuel solution

Again, a good idea comes from the Pee Dee region.

While lawmakers look for ways to privatize the state's school bus system and turn another part of public education into a profit-making enterprise, the leaders in Darlington County's school system are innovating and solving problems within the public school system.

Which seems to prove the old notion once again: Empower professionals to solve problems, and they'll do it.

From the Florence Morning News online:

The Darlington County School District is going into the oil business.

Not crude oil, cooking oil.

District officials announced a plan Monday to convert used cooking oil gleaned from the district’s 19 cafeterias into “biodiesel” fuel that will be used to power DCSD activity buses. Those are buses that ferry students to athletic events and other extracurricular events, not the familiar yellow buses used for daily transportation.

The plan helps the district both go green and save some green. Recycling the old oil is good for the environment and because the district can make the fuel for about 75 cents a gallon, it’ll save almost a dollar per gallon in fuel costs. The district would save more, of course, if it could burn pure biodiesel, but that’s not recommended by engine manufacturers due to biodiesel’s increased viscosity. Biodiesel fuel needs to be burned in an 80-20 mix (80 percent regular diesel).

Still, district officials said they’ll save up to $17,000 per year, with regular diesel at its current price of around $4 per gallon.

Dr. Rainey Knight, Darlington School District Superintendent of Education, said she is excited about the innovative qualities of the program.

“I think it’s really neat,” said Knight. “We know it’s saving us money and we’re going green with it and we want to take it to the next level. Buses are expensive so if we can help reduce those costs and reduce the cost to our schools that’s our ultimate goal.”

The district said that it’s the only school district in the state that’s using biodiesel in its school buses.

And why is that? Why can't other school districts accomplish the same thing, and realize the same level of savings?

Here's a suggestion for the folks in Darlington: Ask the professionals who made this innovation a reality to draft a summary of their process, and post it on the Darlington public school district's website. Email it to other transportation officials across the state. Trumpet this document to everyone who will read it.

Not only will Darlington get tremendous credit for innovation, but the state's public school districts will benefit from the increased savings.

The whole project was made possible by a one-time grant from the United States Department of Energy in the amount of $40,000. The district will use the funds to pay for setting up its own “refinery.” No bus engine modifications are necessary.

See what happens when we allow federal funds to get into our state?

Are more of these grants available?

If not, this is a perfect opportunity for Darlington's legislative delegation to propose a pilot program to legislative allies, and get several of these refineries set up throughout the region and across the state. What a boon to local economic development!

The National Biodiesel Board defines biodiesel as a clean burning alternative fuel produced from domestic, renewable resources such as plant oils, animal fats and used cooking oil. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It’s in use by a number of organizations and businesses around the country. The key component for most is access to a ready supply of used cooking oil.

Darlington County School District Transportation Director Eddi McKenzie came up with the idea for starting the program in the DCSD. McKenzie has been using biodiesel in his personal vehicle for three years.

God bless this man, and someone give him an award today.

“When I saw how well the biodiesel worked in my own personal vehicle and how much money we saved as a family, I thought it would be worth exploring for the school buses as well,” he said.

McKenzie said that some people have expressed concern about the chemicals involved in making the biodiesel but he said there’s nothing to be worried about.

“When we make it we feed the chemicals, such as lye, into the processor individually and the machine mixes them together,” McKenzie said. “By themselves they are not dangerous. It’s a pretty safe and easy process.”

The oil processor is about the size of an industrial-sized ice machine. McKenzie and company used part of the grant to install some solar panels that will help power the machine – yet another tip of the green hat.

Darlington has a budget of some $60,000 per year for activity bus fuel, so the new fuel will save nearly a third of that.

“You figure $17,000 saved each year over a five year period will add up,” said McKenzie.

That's money that can be converted to salaries to hire more educators in Darlington.

The district could save more if it burned biodiesel in its regular school buses (assuming it could produce enough fuel to do that). But it’s prohibited from doing so because the state owns those buses.

Legislation is currently before the House and Senate that would change that, but for the time being those buses are off limits.

Why, South Carolina?

Why does it take so long to move a single step in the right direction, but we're ever ready to race backwards in fifth gear?

Congratulations to Darlington Superintendent Rainey Knight

It appears that Darlington's public schools have discovered and are using some effective strategies to reduce its high school dropout rate. The question for the rest of us is, What is Darlington -- and Superintendent Rainey Knight -- doing that can be replicated elsewhere?

The Darlington County School District lowered its high school dropout rate by 0.2 percentage points in 2009 – 2010 from 1.4 percent to 1.2 percent, the seventh lowest rate in the state among South Carolina’s 85 public school districts, according to data released by the S.C. Department of Education.

South Carolina’s high school dropout rate for grades nine through 12 decreased from 3.4 percent to 2.9 percent in 2009 – 2010.

Since 2006 – 2007, Darlington County’s dropout rate for grades nine through 12 has declined from 2.7 percent to 1.2 percent, according to State Department figures. The state’s rate for the same period has dropped from 3.8 percent to 2.9 percent.

“We’re very excited about the improvement in our dropout rate,” said Superintendent of Education Dr. Rainey Knight. “This is one additional factor that shows we’re doing a much better job helping our students stay in school and continue their education until they graduate from high school. I’m very proud of the job our teachers are doing.”

A cursory glance at what Superintendent Rainey Knight told the Florence Morning News shows at least one strategy in effect: Giving education professionals respect and praise for their work.

I wish the Morning News had focused more on Darlington's successful strategies than it did. Rather, it asked for input from General Mick Zais, state su-pretendent of education, and published a paragraph of his talking points.

As Superintendent Knight is the chief educational officer of her district, and her district appears to be making strides in this area, I hope the Morning News will look for another opportunity soon to ask Knight, and the education professionals in her schools, for more information about their most effective dropout prevention strategies.

Darlington adopts fair-minded incentive rewards plan

This is one of the more fair-minded ways of administering "pay-for-test-scores" that has come around recently. It doesn't pit teacher against teacher as a lot of "merit pay" proposals do. And it recognizes that everyone in a school community contributes to children's education, so education support staff and others are eligible for the bonuses.

The Darlington County Board of Education approved a set of guidelines for awarding around $1.33 million in incentives among some 1,400-plus Darlington County School District employees as a reward for the district’s improvement on the 2010 state school report cards.

The money for the incentive rewards is coming from one-time funds that are coming from the state.

The incentive rewards are not limited to just teachers but include support staff as well.

School district employees are getting no raises in the new $63.4 million general fund budget that went into effect on July 1. Teachers are also not getting their annual step increase in pay based on years of experience this year. This is the second straight year the step increase has been eliminated.

But Superintendent of Education Dr. Rainey Knight said she wanted to find some way for the district to reward employees for their efforts in bringing about the improved report card ratings.

Higher test scores on the state’s PASS (Palmetto Assessment of State Standards) and improving the district’s high school graduation rate to the fifth highest in the state among all 86 S.C. public school districts helped make Darlington County the 12th highest performing school district in South Carolina and the highest performer in the Pee Dee region on the 2010 report cards. The previous year, the district ranked 46th in the state in school report card performance.

This, to me, is a sore spot. It is impossible to measure a child's learning based upon a standardized test score. If we really understand and believe that children learn differently and show different competencies -- and if we understand that taking standardized tests is, in fact, a competency -- then we should also allow for and use multiple measures in determining student achievement.

Still, Darlington has done something rational and good for its educators, and that's the point to be commended:

“We just wanted to find a way to say thank you to these employees for all their hard work,” Knight said.

The board approved the guidelines during its regular monthly meeting Monday. The guidelines spell out eligibility for the rewards.

For full-time employees, the guidelines are as follows:

- Full-time employees making the minimum Darlington County School District teacher salary ($31,826) in 2010-2011 will be eligible for a one-time $1,000 incentive.

- Full-time employees making less than the minimum teacher salary will receive a one-time $500 incentive.

- Only personnel employed with the district in 2010-2011 are eligible.

- A full-time employee must have worked at least 30 hours a week in order to be eligible for the incentive.

- Full-time employees must have worked a minimum of 152 days as a full-time employee during 2010-2011 to be eligible for the incentive.

- Any employee who was terminated by the district in 2010-2011 is ineligible for the incentive.

For part-time employees and substitutes, the guidelines are as follows:

- Only part-time employees or substitutes who worked in the district in 2010-2011 are eligible for the one-time incentive.

- Any part-time employee or substitute who was terminated by the district in 2010-2011 is ineligible for the incentive.

- Part-time employees (working less than 30 hours a week) who worked a minimum of 152 days as a part-time employee will be eligible for a one-time incentive of $250.

- Substitutes in the areas of custodial, food service, maintenance, teacher assistant or teacher who worked a minimum of 152 days will be eligible for a one-time incentive of $250.

Knight said district officials will send letters to employees explaining the incentives and the guidelines. State and federal taxes will be withheld from the incentive payments, but retirement will not, Knight said.

Darlington County recognizes custodial staffs at two schools

This is an especially rewarding note: How often do you hear of a school district celebrating its education support personnel? Say the word 'educator' and what automatically comes to mind are classroom teachers and their administrators. But without education support personnel, our schools might not operate at all.

Consider: Bus drivers rise early to drive children to and from schools. Transportation workers keep those buses safe and in good working order. A school's clerical workers are a school's truest administrators, minding and managing every detail behind the scenes. Food service workers arrive at dawn to cook hot meals for breakfast and lunch, sometimes the only hot meals a child will receive each day. Teacher assistants help to stretch a school's certified faculty ever-thinner, often assisting their teachers while working on certificates of their own in night classes or summer school. A district's groundskeepers and maintenance staff are taken for granted until an old school's boiler goes out, or a window-unit air conditioner quits, or a SACS committee comes to inspect the facilities. And a school's custodial workers are the backbone of the school, troubleshooting small problems before they become big ones, and doing their best to make their schools look their best.

It's that last group -- or their work -- that the Darlington County School District recognizes with an annual Clean School of the Year award.

Pate Elementary School and Carolina Elementary School were selected for the honor, which recognizes school and custodial staffs that do an outstanding job of maintaining school facilities. Each school is evaluated monthly and is given points for cleanliness.

Thanks, Darlington County, for spotlighting men and women who often go unrecognized and unthanked for their work to provide safe and clean teaching and learning environments for our children.