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Published: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 / Updated: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 07:20 AM

Callicutt helped Fort Mill school district thrive

Callicutt's last day will be June 30

FORT MILL -- 

When Keith Callicutt was picked in 2005 to lead Fort Mill schools, he took control of one of the state's highest achieving districts at a time when its reputation was drawing a crush of newcomers. His top challenge was managing the growth while focusing on academics.

During his four years as superintendent, colleagues said, Callicutt maintained that focus and strategically positioned the district for future success. On Monday, Callicutt, 59, citing family considerations, announced that he is retiring. He has worked in education for 36 years. His last day will be June 30.

In his opening remarks to the school board, Callicutt called the district “one of the best in the country” and said he'll “forever cherish the opportunity” he had to lead it.

“I am absolutely confident it will continue to excel long after I'm gone,” he said.

He'll leave during a trying time for public education, in which state money for schools continues to shrink. The school board plans to meet within the next two weeks to decide how to find a successor, school board chairman Patrick White said.

Since Callicutt took the job, the number of students in Fort Mill schools has surged by 37 percent, from 7,288 in 2005 to 9,964.

One of his biggest initiatives was crafting a building plan that's periodically updated and looks 10 years ahead at when new schools will be needed to keep up with growth. That was a shift in strategy.

“Before him, there wasn't a long-range building plan,” White said.

Schools would get crowded, mobile classrooms would be added and then voters would be asked to approve construction bonds for a new school. “It was reactionary building, as opposed to being proactive,” White said.

The plan “made a huge difference,” school board member Diane Dasher said. “He's always looking to the future and what our needs would be.”

Last year, voters overwhelmingly approved some $96 million in bonds for school construction projects.

One of his proudest accomplishments, Callicutt said, was remaking the district's alternative school, Fort Mill Academy, off Banks Street.

The program operated as a night school. “It was kind of a GED-type factory,” White said. “We didn't have good success with it.”

Callicutt hired Marty Conner from Rawlinson Road Middle in Rock Hill as principal and reopened the academy as an all-day campus for middle and high school students struggling with grades, attendance or behavior problems.

“It's for kids who really don't fit in a traditional school,” Conner said. Classes are small — eight to 12 students who stay for at least a semester, then go back to their original school.

The district's high school drop-out rate soon fell sharply, White said.

Callicutt has become known among state lawmakers as an advocate of public education.

“One of his main strengths is working with the Legislature and staying on top of bills that affect schools,” Dasher said.

In the last two years, Callicutt has often lambasted a 2007 state law called Act 388 that exempted most homeowners from paying property taxes for school operations. The law increased the sales tax by a penny, ostensibly to offset the property tax loss. But as the economy tanked, school districts, especially growing ones such as Fort Mill, saw drops in revenue.

“Let's assume the economy improves 100 percent in the next two years,” Callicutt told the school board Monday night. “Fort Mill and others will still fall farther behind because of Act 388.”

“It put all fast-growing districts in a losing position,” he said.

Principals said Callicutt stresses “invitational schools” that make students and families feel welcome. Among employees, he has cultivated a “family atmosphere” that enhances that effort.

“The thing that just blows people's minds away, when I tell them is when he offered me the job, his very next word was ‘Put your family first,'” Pleasant Knoll Elementary Principal Travis Howard said. “That was huge. That family atmosphere at the top trickles down.”

He also is there for staff. “He's a visionary leader,” Conner said. “A very strong individual who allows the principal to be the principal.”

“When you think of the superintendent,” Howard said, “you think of (him) off on an island and away. He was always accessible. He was always a phone call or an e-mail away.”

“There have been several occasions when you feel defeated as a principal,” Nation Ford High Principal Beverley Bowman said. “He's really provided me with a lot of support.”

An issue Callicutt has pledged to focus on is the achievement gap between poor and minority students and more affluent and white students.

While gaps in some subjects have narrowed in the last year, they're pervasive and have reached double digits in some cases.

According to the most recent state report card data, 63.7 percent of white Fort Mill students in third through eighth grade scored proficient or advanced in English and language arts on state tests. That's compared to 36.8 percent of black students and 50.3 percent of Hispanic students who scored the same.

The gap between whites and blacks in science is 31.4 percentage points. The divide between whites and Hispanics is 29.1 percentage points.

Narrowing gaps even more will be one of his top priorities before he leaves, Callicutt said.

After he retires, Callicutt said he plans to spend time with family. But he won't be away from the classroom forever.

“I intend to stay involved in public education,” he said. “I don't know what that will be.”