Electrician in Clover, SC

Summer will end sooner next year for Clover students. More, longer breaks will make up the difference. Teachers will get more time as students, on select days, will head home earlier.

Those changes highlight a new calendar adopted Monday night by the Clover School District.

The district turned to a modified year-round calendar to address an issue in Clover and neighboring school districts for years. Districts have wanted to start school earlier than state law allows.

A 2006 law sets a uniform start date for public schools in South Carolina. It can’t come before the third Monday in August unless schools operate on a year-round modified calendar.

Next year, school will start on Aug. 8 in Clover. The last day of school and graduation will come May 30, 2024. In addition to typical Thanksgiving, winter and spring breaks, the district will have two “intercession” breaks on Oct. 9-13 next year and Feb. 19-23 of 2024.

The district also will have four early release dates. Students will get out of school two hours early on those days to allow time for teacher planning. All Fridays, those dates are Sept. 1 and Nov. 17 of next year, and Feb. 9 and April 26, 2024.

The calendar changes come with considerable community and staff input.

A district survey generated more than 3,500 responses. About 2,500 of those responses were parents, the remainder district employees.

About 1,700 overall responses — nearly half — picked the chosen calendar from three options. Fewer than 170 responses listed that calendar as the worst option.

The survey found 78% support the intercession breaks, compared to 11% who disagree. Among listed concerns within that smaller group were the disruption to learning, childcare availability, impact on band or athletic teams and a summer that’s too short.

About 71% of responses favor the early release dates, something that already is utilized this year in Fort Mill schools. About 12% of responses disagree with early release. Childcare was the main concern.

Superintendent Sheila Quinn said childcare is a concern, and she met with principals to address the issue for parents who can’t accommodate the two hour difference.

“The early release days are two hours early,” Quinn said. “The principals all assured me that they would have childcare available in their school. We’re going to have to do that for staff children anyway.”

School districts in the region have stated in recent months that time for teachers to plan is critical, and that concern led to changes like early release dates in Fort Mill and now Clover.

“We just felt very strongly that the early release was important to our staff,” Quinn said. “It was the number one thing our teachers asked for, is time.”

The district also swapped a professional development day for a teacher work day to allow more classroom planning time. Quinn said now that the new calendar is approved, information will come in January on calendar plans for the following school year.

CLOVER, S.C. — Students in the Clover School District will be experiencing some major changes to their schedules this fall.

District leaders voted in favor of what they call a modified, balanced calendar for the 2023-2024 school year.

This means that classes will start earlier in the year on Aug. 8

The district said it will add two more school breaks to the calendar, a fall intercession in October of 2023 and a winter intersession in February of 2024.

School leaders said they hope the additional breaks will help enhance student performance.

“We hear a lot about mental health. This allows people to step back and step away from it. Reset things so very positively. Good feedback from parents when we reached out,” Bryan Dillion with the school district said.

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Parent Carlee Lane told Channel 9 that she has mixed feelings about the new calendar.

“I feel bad for some moms that are complaining, that aren’t married and have no one to watch kids or pay for additional child care. Then there are other moms like me, who work from home and have help from a spouse,” Lane said.

In a survey, the district said a majority of parents voted in favor of this calendar change.

They also believe this new structure will give teachers more time away from the classroom to destress, as well as allow students who have fallen behind to catch up.

“If you’re missing some assignments, you can come in. If you need some support, you can come in. We will have some staff available on-site during those weeks to do that, but students will be off as well,” Dillion said.

District leaders said at least 10 other school districts in South Carolina already have this type of calendar. Clover will be the first district in York County.

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‘It should never go’: Group fights to preserve historic Black school in Gaston County

Neighbors say they have been for two years now but that is causing trouble for the people living in the area.

WBTV's South Carolina reporter Morgan Newell talked to the neighbors and reached out to the homeowners to get some answers.

Published: Mon Nov 21 2022

CLOVER, S.C. (WBTV) - Rats, snakes and roaches. That is what one neighborhood in the Town of Clover has been dealing with for the last two years.

They say these pests are coming from two abandoned houses in their neighborhood, but they cannot seem to get the homeowner to do anything about it.

A house on Stanton and a house on Park in Clover are both abandoned. Neighbors say they have been for two years now but that is causing trouble for the people living in the area.

”It’s just not what we want for our neighborhood,” says Williams Jefferis, whose house is between the two abandoned homes.

Neighbors say these two houses in Clover have sat empty for two years now and it is the exact reason why the houses are causing headaches for the neighborhood.

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”We’re at wit’s end. We’re trying to make out neighborhood better,” says Jefferis.

Jefferis’ next-door neighbor Jeff Mansir also lives close to both abandoned houses and has been having the same problems.

They have been dealing with strangers entering the unlocked homes and are nervous that squatters will start to use the homes as a place to live. The latest problem is roaches in their homes. They both say it started when the nearby houses were abandoned. The two are having to use their own money to get exterminators to help get rid of the problem. However, they say it comes back quickly after.

”It’s been a struggle. We can’t afford an exterminator. I have two kids. One of them, he doesn’t want to have friends over because we have the bugs,” says Mansir.

”I can deal with the rats and the snake on occasion we see but the roaches we’re having a hard time with,” says Jefferis.

WBTV checked in with the Town of Clover to find out what is done to help the situation. The building inspector says the town has fined the landowners and is already in the process of finding them again a second time under its nuisance ordinance. Jefferis and Mansir agree and tell Newell the town of Clover has exhausted all efforts to rectify the situation, but it is really on the landowners to make it right.

”I realize the town is doing everything they can but we just want some accountability from the landowner,” says Mansir.

York County records show Charles and Shawn Carr own the properties. Newell reached out to their lawyer who told me there was no comment at this time. So the waiting game continues to see if something, at this point anything, could be done to help this situation.

“She doesn’t have to live here. Both Jeff and I work pretty hard for a living and I think it’s wrong that we have to put up with it,” says Jefferis. “To get rid of these two houses would be a blessing for all of us here.”

The Town of Clover says it has a court date scheduled in a few weeks. That is part of the fining process.

Copyright 2022 WBTV. All rights reserved.

Folks in Clover, S.C., who haven’t seen Aiden Adair for awhile will get their chance on Sunday night. So will the rest of the country.

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The former Clover High School student traveled to Nashville for an American Idol tryout. Adair couldn’t say ahead of Sunday’s new episode how the tryout went, but did say Thursday morning it was a great experience.

“It was a lot,” Adair said. “I’m very introverted and to myself, so definitely out of my comfort zone.”

Adair, 19, was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Clover at age 6. Adair went to Clover High, and followed in siblings’ footsteps through the popular Choraliers singing program.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit when Adair was a junior, which was the last time he sang live in front of crowds prior to American Idol.

Adair started creating music and went through a physical transformation since the pandemic sent him online for his senior year of high school, so even old friends may not recognize him. After high school Adair briefly moved to Los Angeles and just recently to Charleston — both places where he has family — while pursuing passions of music, fitness and boxing.

Adair hasn’t started live music performances yet.

“I just don’t really know how to play instruments, so that’s kind of been the thing that’s holding me back,” Adair said.

Adair began making music during the online days of pandemic. His Tik Tok following grew to more than 350,000 followers. Adair prefers to sing indie, folk music. The online presence led to an invitation to try out for Idol.

Adair watched American Idol with his family when he was younger. He recalls artists like Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips. Adair didn’t watch as much through high school. Then, music became a more serious passion.

Adair covered a song of another Idol contestant who blew up on Tik Tok, Benson Boone. Adair spoke with Boone ahead of the recent audition.

Adair said he was more nervous than he expected he’d be at the Nashville audition. Like other hopefuls, he had to perform in front of Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie. But the invitation fit Adair’s no-regret philosophy.

“I felt like it was a good opportunity for me to take, and I would be dumb not to take it,” Adair said.

As a high school sophomore, Adair vowed to never settle.

“I decided that I would dedicate my life to only doing the stuff I love doing with people I like being around,” Adair said.

Adair didn’t listen if someone said he had to go to college, or get a job straight away. Now Adair plans to live with a friend and continue to pursue music.

“There’s no backup plan,” Adair said. “I believe if you have a backup plan you don’t believe in your first plan.”

Adair said he only has to get a job, until he doesn’t. He said he sees everyone on a rock spinning through space, with one life to live. Adair said he believes people should do what makes them happy, which for him means betting on himself and pursuing dreams.

“No one really does the out-of-the-ordinary,” Adair said.

The American Idol audition certainly was extraordinary. Adair went to Nashville with his dad and walked the city. Adair isn’t sure if it will show on the coming episode, but the experience opened him up in unexpected ways. Adair also recalls the most beautiful sunset he’d seen -- on audition day.

American Idol is old enough now for generations to have grown up watching it. Perhaps dreaming what it might be like to audition. The show is older than Tik Tok or many of the other platforms artists now use to grow a following. For anyone who may watch the show and consider a tryout, Adair shares his philosophy.

He never wants to be the old guy who looks back and wonders what it would have been like to chase a dream, to truly and wholeheartedly go for it.

“If you’re passionate about something, if you have a dream, just go for it,” Adair said. “No matter what.”

This story was originally published February 23, 2023, 12:56 PM.

CLOVER, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – A sense of pride, that is how Clover High School principal, Rod Ruth says he feels about the success at his school.

Even after the COVID pandemic in 2021 the high school had a record year when it came to its graduation rate.

On Monday Ruth getting a big surprise to honor his dedication to the district.

The South Carolina Association of School Administrators naming rewarding Ruth with the 2023 S.C. Secondary Principal of the Year.

The Principal of the Year Program recognizes three principals–one secondary, one middle and one elementary each year.

Clover School district’s leaders say under Ruth’s leadership Clover High School has earned an “excellent” South Carolina Report Card rating, attained a 96 % graduation rate and many other milestones.

Ruth credits his staff and students for all of their hard work.

Ruth’s family and the entire senior class were there for the announcement.

Ruth adds it was a complete surprise.

Official release from Clover School District:

CLOVER, S.C. – Clover High School (CHS) Principal Rod Ruth has been named the South Carolina Association of School Administrators (SCASA) Secondary Principal of the Year.

The announcement was made Monday, December 5, during a surprise ceremony held in the Clover School District Auditorium at 11 a.m. Representatives of SCASA and members of Ruth’s family and the entire senior class were on hand to celebrate the announcement.

Ruth has served as the principal of Clover High School since 2015. Under his leadership, CHS has earned an “excellent” South Carolina Report Card rating, attained a 96% graduation rate, been named an AP Honor Roll School and been recognized as a Special Olympics Banner Unified Champion School.

“Rod Ruth exemplifies all of the qualities you want to see in a high school principal,” stated Sheila Quinn, Clover School District (CSD) Superintendent. “He is energetic, strategic, and fiercely student focused. I am so proud that he is being recognized alongside the staff and students for the accomplishments at Clover High School.”

Ruth’s leadership extends far beyond Clover High School. He serves on the Olde English Consortium’s Principal’s Steering Committee, the Catawba Regional Education Center Advisory Board, the York County All on Board Coalition and the South Carolina High School League (SCHSL) 5A Executive Committee. He is currently the SCHSL 5A Classification Vice President.

Prior to becoming the principal of CHS, Ruth served as the principal of York Middle School, assistant principal at Oakridge Middle School, principal of Moore Intermediate School in Florence and assistant principal of Southside Middle also in Florence. He spent seven years in the classroom as a teacher at Lake City High School, where he was named the 2007 Teacher of the Year and served as the varsity tennis and wrestling coach.

Ruth holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Francis Marion University, a Master’s degree in educational administration from the University of South Carolina and an Education Specialist degree in educational leadership from Winthrop University. He is currently working on a Doctorate in education systems improvement science from Clemson University.

The SCASA Principal of the Year Program recognizes three principals–one secondary, one middle and one elementary–each year. The process kicked off in September with nominations and was followed up with the completion of extensive applications. After a review of the applications, finalists were selected for interviews in mid-November. Winners were selected following the interviews.

ROCK HILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) – Rock Hill Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department’s Lifelong Learning will present Winter Wednesdays.

Winter Wednesdays with Lifelong Learning on January 11th – 18th and 25th at the Northside Recreation Center in Rock Hill at 11:30 AM. Registration begins Monday, December 12.

The topics range from Author and Journalist Claudia Smith Brinson to How to Protect Your Digital Data.