CFO Will Review Small Purchases Reasonable and Allowable Quire Formal District Office Approval Petitive Price Quotes Requirement
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ENTERTAINMENT: Lady Gaga documentary begins streaming on Netflix C4 CLARENDON SUN Main Street Manning brings event vendors together A7 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 | Serving South Carolina since October 15, 1894 75 cents CFO will review small purchases reasonable and allowable quire formal district office approval petitive price quotes requirement. Griner says his goal is for programs’ use. and price quotes. A state Department The district has already paid all that District CFO Chris Gri- of Education audit report released last money back to the state Department to look at district orders ner made the remarks week detailed that two employees in of Education and implemented a pro- Thursday at Sumter the district’s Early Childhood Educa- grammatic corrective action plan that under $2,500 randomly School District’s Board of tion Program allegedly misused about includes conducting a monthly review Trustees’ monthly Fi- $177,000 in state funding in recent of all purchases under $2,500 for the BY BRUCE MILLS GRINER [email protected] nance Committee meeting years, at least in part because the cost early childhood program to determine at the district office. of the transactions was less than the if they are reasonable and allowable Sumter School District’s new chief According to the school district’s $2,500 threshold. items for program use. financial officer will make it a stan- procurement purchasing code, pur- The audit report details the early Griner said similar efforts on his dard procedure in his job to randomly chase orders for transactions below childhood program director split pur- part will be done randomly across all look at small purchases in all district $2,500 can be approved by a depart- chases on at least two occasions at programs to ensure expenditures are ment head or director and don’t re- Staples in late 2016 to avoid the com- SEE PURCHASES, PAGE A11 Shaw Family Housing volunteers ACT give back to Sumter community scores higher locally BY BRUCE MILLS [email protected] Like statewide trends, public high school students in the tri- county region generally made improvements in the second year that the state required all students to take a college read- iness test. Among the five public school districts in the tri-county re- gion, Clarendon School Dis- trict 3 — which represents East Clarendon High School — registered the highest compos- ite score average on the ACT. Test scores were released re- cently by the state Department of Education. East Clarendon graduating seniors in the class of 2017 had a mean ACT score of 17.9, which was the same score graduating seniors at the school tallied in 2016 on the test. The highest possible score on the test is a 36, and the composite score is the av- PHOTOS BY TREVOR BAUKNIGHT / THE SUMTER ITEM erage of the four sections of From left, Lauren Davis, Micha Ambrose and Herb Simmons cut vinyl siding for one of the two Sumter Habitat For Humanity homes the exam — English, math, going up in the Fuller Gardens neighborhood off Red Bay Road. The three were representing Shaw Family Housing, which oversees reading and science. housing at Shaw Air Force Base, taking advantage of the opportunity to volunteer on Wednesday. For perspective, the statewide mean score for 2017 was 18.7, up from 18.5 the year before. 2 new Habitat for Humanity homes being finished Sumter School District was next in the region with a mean BY TREVOR BAUKNIGHT that handles base housing, to install composite score of 17.3 for se- [email protected] vinyl siding and do whatever needed to niors last year. That was a rise be done as the homes near completion. from a 16.2 mean score for the GPS instructions for finding Habitat Sumter Habitat for Humanity hopes to class of 2016, but the number Drive, which winds through Fuller Gar- have families moved into both homes by of district test takers dipped dens, a neighborhood of 46 homes built December, according to a news release by 360 students or about 33 by Sumter Habitat For Humanity, direct from Shaw Family Housing. percent. visitors to a pitted gravel emergency exit “It’s corporate-wide,” said Davis, who David Trombly, Sumter beyond the end of the street that con- helps plan volunteer efforts as part of School District’s director of nects to Boulevard Road. The attractive her duties. “All of our military commu- assessment and accountability, main entrance off Red Bay Road, at the nities pick a certain day to go and help attributed the drop in partici- other end of the street, is more befitting out in our local community. This year, pation to confusion in the dis- of the tidy row of homes, presently get- we decided to do Habitat for Humanity trict about the test being man- ting two new additions. so we could get out and get our hands datory one year, and a lot of The homes are Sumter Habitat for Hu- dirty. We love that they have a corporate manity’s 120th and 121st since the orga- day so we could bring all of our team out SEE SCORES, PAGE A11 nization’s inception 30 years ago, accord- and get everybody in one accord. ing to construction leader Bob Brown, “It’s a day when we can shut down the Area School Districts and Wednesday’s group volunteer day whole office and all of our operations 2017 average ACT scores was a bustle of activity as volunteers and come out and do community ser- from Shaw Family Housing came out to vice,” she said. “It’s giving back. It’s vol- Clarendon 3: 17.9 pitch in and give back to the community. untary, and the whole team came out to Sumter: 17.3 Shaw Family Housing maintenance According to Kiara Davis, resident re- give their time.” Clarendon 2: 15.9 technician Quinton Medina installs lations specialist for Shaw Family Hous- Davis said Wednesday’s volunteer day Clarendon 1: 15.7 vinyl siding trimwork on one of the two ing, every member of her team came out was typical of the things her company Lee: 14.3 new Sumter Habitat For Humanity as part of a corporate initiative called does to foster good relationships between STATE: 18.7 houses going up in the Fuller Gardens Hunt Helping Hands Day, sponsored by U.S.: 21.0 neighborhood off Red Bay Road. Hunt Companies, a military contractor SEE HOMES, PAGE A11 VISIT US ONLINE AT DEATHS, B4 and B5 WEATHER, A12 INSIDE Betty Jean S. Bethel Cecil W. Launius REPEAT OF YESTERDAY 3 SECTIONS, 28 PAGES the .com William J. Clark Jr. Amy D. Butler VOL. 122, NO. 244 Sadie R. Duke Michelle Dinkins A storm in some areas will be Mary Jane G. Dow Sonia D. West possible this afternoon; partly Classifieds B6 Sports B1 Michael J. Taylor Clayton Plowden Sr. cloudy and humid tonight Comics C6 Television C4 Thomas Gathers Jr. Rosa Lee Charles HIGH 88, LOW 66 Opinion A10 Mattie Y. Gore Mary Gibson Courtney S. Lucas Roosevelt Harvin Sr. A2 | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 THE SUMTER ITEM Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: [email protected] LOCAL BRIEFS FROM STAFF REPORTS Protect yourself after breach Morris College’s soft skills seminar open to public FROM STAFF REPORTS formation. Identity theft laws vary by 90 days and does not completely bar state, so many S.C. consumers are access from the credit report like Morris College will sponsor a South Carolina Department of Con- often unintentionally given misinfor- the freeze does. The fraud alert also STEM Soft Skills Seminar on sumer Affairs wants to arm consum- mation by the credit reporting agen- entitles consumers to an additional Wednesday in the Neal-Jones Au- ers with the knowledge they need cies and national outlets. The best free credit report — the freeze does ditorium on campus. Student ses- after the Equifax security breach: source for S.C.-specific identity theft not; sion will be held from 1 to 2 p.m., • Know the tools. SCDCA has a information is SCDCA’s Identity Theft • My information was exposed; I and the faculty/professional staff/ short guide dedicated to helping con- Unit. must be an identity theft victim. community session will be from sumers whose information was ex- Some common misconceptions are: Whether your information was lost, 2:15 to 3:45 p.m. posed. From security freezes to non- • A security freeze costs money. It is stolen or exposed, it doesn’t make you The main presenter will be De- traditional monitoring tools to the free to place, temporarily or perma- an identity theft victim. A criminal rius D. Swinton, the CEO of Swin- signs of ID theft, the guide will help nently lift a freeze for S.C. residents. has to use your information for you to ton and Associates Group, also get consumers on the right track. Ac- If an S.C. consumer is charged, he or be a victim of identity theft. This dif- known as the SOAR Group. The cess it on the Identity Theft Unit’s she should file a complaint with ference is important, affecting the group “specializes in leadership webpage; SCDCA; road map you take to address your and organizational performances, • Call SCDCA’s ID Theft Unit. Every • Looking at my credit report hurts situation. strategic planning, facilitation, case of identity theft is different. Con- my score. Consumers are entitled To view the newly released short motivational speaking and consul- sumers with questions about how to under federal law to a free credit re- guide on avoiding identity theft and tation services.” Swinton, who is prevent or address identity theft are port each year.