Dr. Brenda Schrantz should have “taken a day” between jobs. But, she knows, having grown up on a dairy farm, there are no days off when the cows need milking.
The work is important.
The work must continue.
The work won’t wait for you to get around to it.
For that reason, Schrantz left School District 56 last Wednesday, as the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction; and on Thursday, she moved full-time into her new office at the State Department of Education heading parts of the curriculum department.
Not surprisingly, she already had used some of her District 56 accrued vacation to go to the office in Columbia to get acclimated. The first time she meets with the directors working under her, these Education officials are going to hear the message that drives District 56 educators and students every day:
“The Experience Matters”.
Schrantz suggested it - 10 years ago - as District 56’s driving message.
She will drill it into the people assigned to be led by her at the South Carolina Department of Education.
She will be the Executive Director for … well … lots of things.
Similar to the role she defined in Curriculum and Instruction at the local school district, Schrantz will be accountable for things like teaching and learning, academic standards and assessment, careers and technology, special education, instructional support, interventions, and Virtual SC.
And, it’s a good thing for State Superintendent Ellen Weaver that Schrantz had already signed her new-job paperwork prior to last Friday. That was Grandparents’ Day in the Clinton-Joanna schools; and Schrantz, of course, had an assignment as she visited schools.
She was the stand-in for grandparents who couldn’t make it to breakfast.
Sitting in those places, with those children — was she SURE she wanted to trade all this, for a desk?
Not to worry. In her new role, Schrantz (often) will be encouraging Weaver and others to get out into the schools, something that the state superintendent already has shown she loves to do.
“It’s exciting,” Schrantz said. “Getting to do what I do for everybody, not just 56. It’s the chance to move the needle for the state.
“Our children in South Carolina deserve the best - what does that feel like in a school?
“It is exciting.”
It is tough saying “see you again, some time,” to the District 56 Family, however. “I so appreciate the opportunities that Dr. O’Shields* has handed me - it has made me who I am.”
One thing that Schrantz is passing off to her successors in the curriculum department is the idea of a dedicated Careers & Technology Center for School Districts 56 and 55.
“Our students (in both districts) 100 percent deserve a career center,” Schrantz said. “To have a voice about that at the state level is exciting.”
She is leaving the agreements between the two districts and Laurens County related to a location, funding proposals, and preliminary designs. Schrantz said “it’s not fair” that surrounding counties and school districts have these centers, and Laurens County does not, to encourage cooperation among industry leaders, educators, and today’s students.
The toughest thing for Schrantz to do, in her final days at District 56, was composing a parting e-mail to the staff. “My heart is here,” she said, “in District 56.”
She said her new boss, Ellen Weaver, is “willing to listen” to new perspectives about improving education in South Carolina. “When I met with her and her chief of staff, they were open to new ideas to continuing to challenge South Carolina. How do we make that impact? It’s going to be fun. It’s exciting work, to keep us going where we can go.”
And, Schrantz brings other things to the table in her Columbia role. Leaving college, she couldn’t find an education job, so she had work experience at Blockbuster, Disney, and Discovery Zone. She said Disney, especially, helped her refine her leadership skills.
“I grew up on a dairy farm. There wasn’t a lot of money. Education helped me to know where I was, and led to the opportunities I’ve had.”
This was her 10th year in the curriculum role for District 56, coming into education here in 2001 and spending two years in District 55, before coming back to District 56. “It’s been amazing here in District 56. We have amazing teachers here; we have amazing leaders here,” she said.
“We have seen a lot of growth in 10 years.”
In the accountability and testing area, District 56 scores of meets or exceeds state standards once in the 15 - 20 percentiles, now are in 40 - 50, and in same cases 60 percentile.
Reading is vastly improved - math is still a challenge (here, just like on the state level). New Social Studies standards are out for public review, and all districts will be tasked with how to teach civics - “how to build citizens,” Schrantz said. And, then there are the students with a passion for bringing art to life — for the past 10 years, District 56 has sponsored ArtsMix 56 to showcase all the schools’ performing arts students and instruction.
Now, Brenda Schrantz will be on the frontlines of bringing that potential for success in Reading, Math, Science, and Citizenship to successful and hoping-to-be-successful districts, alike. “A Zip Code should not matter to a child (where education is concerned),” she said. “We are one of the fastest growing states in the nation - how do we harness that. We need to make sure all our children are ready to be adults.”
*Dr. David O’Shields is the Superintendent of School District 56, and a former chairman of the State Board of Education.
