Wedding & Event Venue Near Chesterfield, SC.

The district is now under a modified, year-round school calendar.

CHESTERFIELD, S.C. — Nearly 7,000 students in Chesterfield County are headed back to the classroom.

They are the first district in our area to head back to school and there are some big changes as districts across the Palmetto state look to recruit and retain teachers.

This year, the district is moving away from the traditional school calendar and kicking off a new modified, year-around school calendar.

The unique schedule also comes with more days off spread out throughout the year, including two intersession weeks where school is out for one week in October and another week in February.

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It’s a move some districts are transitioning to help out teachers at schools work to fill vacancies across the Palmetto state.

"There's been an increasing number of vacant teaching positions in South Carolina. Last year, it was a 39% increase over the prior year and what I'm hearing anecdotally from teachers around the state right now, makes me think it's not gotten any better," Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association said.

It's an issue counties across the state are experiencing.

To attract talent, some districts are increasing pay, school stipends and even adding uninterrupted time for lunch with some at or near full staff.

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"While pay isn't the only factor that contributes to teacher shortages,” Kelly said. “You're foolish to not acknowledge that pay is a significant way to recruit and retain talent in any sector."

Chesterfield County is looking to hire teachers, instructional assistants, bus drivers, and food service operators.

Contact Jesse Pierre at jpierrepet@wcnc.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Natalie Neysa Alund

Three South Carolina law enforcement officers have been criminally charged after fake calls about dead bodies in four small towns last week sent first responders on a wild goose chase, state officials announced Tuesday.

Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office deputies Justin Tyler Reichard, 28, Darien Myles Roseau, 25, and Killian Daniel Loflin, 26, were arrested Monday on charges of misconduct in office, criminal conspiracy and aggravated breach of the peace, according to information from court records and state officials.

The sheriff's office is in the small town of Chesterfield just south of the North Carolina border, about 80 miles northeast of the state capital, Columbia. As of the 2020 census, the town's population was less than 1,500 people while the county's population was just over 43,000 people.

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Five phone calls reporting dead bodies turned up empty

Chesterfield County Sheriff Cambo Streater said he learned about “possible misconduct by three of our deputies” last week.

"Based on the nature of the allegations, I requested the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate,' Streater wrote in a statement posted on the sheriff's office's Facebook page. SLED has begun their inquiry and the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office is cooperating fully."

Streater did not release additional information the statement but wrote he plans "to make a formal statement once SLED completes their investigation.'

According to warrants filed by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, on Feb. 4 , five phone calls reporting a dead body were made to convenience stores and to respective law enforcement departments in Cheraw, Chesterfield, McBee and Pageland − all small towns in Chesterfield County.

In each case, officers and other emergency workers said the reports were unfounded, investigators wrote in the warrants.

Records show all three law enforcement officers − a deputy and two sergeants −were booked into the Chesterfield County Detention Center Monday, and criminally charged by prosecutors Tuesday.

A motive for the calls was not immediately clear and remained under investigation on Wednesday.

A statement from state law enforcement called all three charged offices "former" deputies. USA TODAY has reached out to the sheriff's office for more information.

All three defendants free on bond

Records show all three defendants posted a $15,000 bond Tuesday.

The deputies could not immediately be reached by USA TODAY Wednesday and it was not clear whether they had obtained attorneys.

The officers' first scheduled court appearance date was not yet posted online Wednesday.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

Three Chesterfield County sheriff’s deputies have been charged after allegedly making hoax calls about a dead body, according to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

On Monday, SLED charged First Sgt. Justin Tyler Reichard, 28, Sgt. Darien Myles Roseau, 25, and Deputy Killian Daniel Loflin, 26, with misconduct in office, criminal conspiracy, and aggravated breach of peace.

The three deputies were terminated, said Chesterfield County Sheriff Cambo Streater.

Warrants released by SLED accuse the three deputies of calling convenience stores and municipal law enforcement agencies in Cheraw, Chesterfield, McBee and Pageland to report a dead body on Feb. 4. The deputies were on duty at the time, according to the warrants.

All four towns are in the area of Chesterfield County. Law enforcement and emergency services responded to the calls but discovered that there were no bodies.

In a Facebook post dated Feb. 10, Streater wrote that he learned of the possible misconduct by the three deputies last week and requested SLED investigate.

“I plan to make a formal statement once SLED completes their investigation,” Streater wrote.

In a phone call with The State, Streater said that he did not have any additional comments at this time. The sheriff referred to SLED’s investigation and statement, which he described as “thorough.”

The warrants were based on interviews with Reichard, Roseau and Loflin and “corroborated by information obtained during the SLED investigation,” according to the department.

The three deputies were booked at the Chesterfield County Jail. They each received bonds totaling $30,000 on their charges. All three posted bond Monday.

This story was originally published February 13, 2024, 5:20 PM.

These Covid tracking pages are no longer being updated. Get the latest information from the Centers for Disease Control, or find archived data from The Times’s three year reporting effort here.

An updated vaccine is recommended for adults and most children. Statewide, 7% of vaccinations did not specify a home county.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: The hospitals map shows the average I.C.U. occupancy at nearby hospitals in the most recent week with data reported. The data is self-reported to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by individual hospitals. It excludes counts from hospitals operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service. Numbers for hospitalized patients are based on inpatient beds and include I.C.U. beds. Hospitalized Covid-19 patients include both confirmed and suspected Covid-19 patients. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023.

How trends have changed in Chesterfield County

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Notes: Weekly county death data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. Hospitalization data is a weekly average of Covid-19 patients in hospital service areas that intersect with Chesterfield County. Hospitalization numbers early in the pandemic are undercounts due to incomplete reporting by hospitals to the federal government.

Historical trends in Chesterfield County

The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated.

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data in these charts has been archived and they are no longer being updated. Weekly county case data prior to Jan. 2021 was not reported by the C.D.C. and is sourced from reporting by The New York Times. The C.D.C. stopped reporting data on cases in May 2023. Test positivity data is based only on test results reported to the federal government and is a seven-day average.

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — The South Carolina Department of Education has placed the Chesterfield County School District under a Fiscal Watch.

The declaration comes after an audit of the district’s finances.

Chesterfield-LetterDownload

The state Department of Education issued the notice after an audit this past December, which looked at the 2022–23 school year.

That was the first year with a new superintendent, Dr. Chan Anderson, at the helm.

The audit found that the district did not have certain internal accounting controls in place.

Program-to-Identify-Fiscal-Practices-Act-23-v.03-1-29-19Download

Auditors say the district did not comply with wage rate requirements on federally funded construction contract language, did not record or reconcile certain purchasing card transactions, and did not properly document personnel expenses.

According to the audit, the district did not timely claim certain federal funds and overclaimed funds, requiring the district to return $114,865 to the SC Department of Education.

2023AuditedFinanicalStatements-Issued12.14.23Download

Fiscal Practices Summary March 2024Download

Chesterfield County Schools released the following statement to Queen City News when we asked about the district’s Fiscal Watch declaration:

“On February 23^rd, the SC Department of Education placed Chesterfield County School District on a one-year fiscal watch designation as a result of the fiscal year 2023 Financial Statement Audit findings. As a result, the district has provided a corrective action plan that has not only been fully implemented but has been approved by the SC Department of Education. The district fully expects to be removed from this designation when we are re-evaluated following the fiscal year 2024 audit next winter.

These findings did not come as a result of any lost or misallocated funds but were simply the result of deficiencies in our internal control framework. All of the deficiencies have been corrected. We want to extend our appreciation for the State Department’s willingness to provide technical assistance and guidance as we navigate this designation.”

A Fiscal Watch is the lowest level of declaration.

If the state finds that the district took the proper steps to fix everything, they can be released from Fiscal Watch after their next audit.

State law allows the state Department of Education to take over the finances of districts that don’t comply and don’t fix issues over time.