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School Improvement Council (SIC)
What is a School Improvement Council (SIC)?An SIC is a broad-based body intended to advise the principal and school, and is focused on helping to achieve school improvement.
Is every school required to have an SIC?
State law requires that every K-12 public school in South Carolina convene an SIC. The law states that it is the responsibility of the local school board to ensure SICs are constituted within each district. This includes career, vocational, and technical schools. Public charter schools may convene an SIC but it is not required by law
What do SICs do?
SIC duties focus primarily on the school improvement process. SICs:
Provide input and feedback during the development of the school's five-year renewal (improvement) plan and annual updates;
Assist in implementation of school improvement programs and activities;
Monitor and report on progress toward improvement goals in the annualSIC Report to the Parentsand with the principal in the narrative to theSC School Report Card;
- Provide other assistance as requested by the principal.
What are the Rules that Apply to SICs?There are two sets of rules that apply to SICs.
The first is existing state laws and regulations. Current state law requirements regarding SIC membership, elections, and duties are set forth in Title 59 (Education) of the SC Code of Laws. 1 Because SICs are technically considered "public bodies," SICs must also follow the rules regarding open meetings and public records contained in the state’s Freedom of Information Act.2
The second set of rules is contained in an SIC’s bylaws. Bylaws are a set of written rules that members of an organization agree to follow in running their organization. Every SIC should have a current set of bylaws that has been approved by the membership and that is consistent with state law. SC-SIC has created a set of sample SIC bylaws that meet all state law requirements and include SC-SIC recommended practices.3 If an SIC doesn’t have bylaws or can’t locate them, it can modify and adopt the sample bylaws. An SIC can also choose to write its own bylaws from scratch. If it does so, however, the SIC must submit the bylaws to SC-SIC for review before they take effect to ensure that their provisions do not conflict with state law.