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District crams to avoid testing mistakes BY RAYTEVIA EVANS revans@theitem.com (803) 774-1214 With the High School Assessment Program testing right around the corner, Sumter School District is preparing to properly administer the test in early April to its high school students and avoid any mishaps in the process. Last year, the South Carolina Department of Education launched an investigation into testing procedures
at Sumter High School, and after its findings, it in turn asked the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate what happened on the campus leading up to and during HSAP testing in April 2013 at Sumter High School. According to the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, investigators were unable to find any criminal activity, and the case was officially closed in October. During last year’s investigation, auditors with the education department
described the conditions during the exit exam for high school students as “one of the worst and unprepared buildings to give a test that they have ever seen” before they requested SLED investigate the testing procedures. David Trombly, director of teaching and learning, testing and accountability for the district, said the district is currently making sure testing coordinators are prepared and is also training testing administrators at the high-
school level before testing begins for all schools in the county. It’s important to him and the district that they avoid repeating errors previously made at Sumter High during testing. “It’s a big deal to me to avoid situations like that (at Sumter High),” he said. “So how this works is the state contracts the Data Recognition Corp., and they’re our testing providers. They train me, then I’m responsible
CRISIS IN UKRAINE
Power play: Crimea could join Russia
SEE TESTING, PAGE A8
Penny tax committee underway BY BRISTOW MARCHANT bmarchant@theitem.com (803) 774-1272
talks. Both Washington and the EU said they were discussing further sanctions. “I am confident that we are moving forward together, united in our determination to oppose actions that violate international law and to support the government and people of Ukraine,” Obama said. Crimea’s parliament rammed through what amounted to a declaration of independence from Ukraine, announcing it would let the Crimean people, 60 percent of whom are ethnic Russian, decide in a March 16 referendum whether they want to become part of their gigantic neighbor to the east. “This is our response to the disorder and lawlessness in Kiev,” said lawmaker Sergei Shuvainikov. “We will decide our future ourselves.” Ukraine’s prime minister swiftly denounced the action. “This so-called referendum has no legal grounds at all,” said Arseniy Yatsenyuk. The
All the stakeholders are in place and the projects submitted. Now the process has begun to prepare a formal list of proposals for spending a new capital penny sales tax. The 20-person committee tasked with formulating that project list held the first in a series of meetings Thursday to consider a wide array of proposed projects. But this was more of an introductory meeting for stakeholders drawn from different proposal groups to familiarize themselves with the project list, mostly behind closed doors. In the course of a one-hour meeting over lunch in Sumter County Council chambers, about 50 minutes were spent in executive session closed to the public, discussing proposals too sensitive to be disclosed ahead of time. County attorney Johnathan Bryan, whom the committee designated as its public spokesman, said certain projects require secrecy so the county can acquire the space for infrastructure and building projects confidentially. “Some of these will require the purchase of privately held land,” he said, “so we have to go out and negotiate with the property owners to get a reasonable price.” In fact, no list of proposed projects was released at Thursday’s meeting, and participants were presented with confidentiality agreements requiring holding meeting information in “strict confidence.” “Now, someone might ask, ‘why can’t the rest of the projects be released?’” Bryan said. “Because we’re not able to discuss the more sensitive ones in isolation. Inevitably, there will be comparisons made between different projects, on the expense, the impact on the public and the cost of public maintenance.” Drawn from nine “lead groups” representing different constituencies that each compiled their own lists of potential projects, the stakeholders’ group, or steering committee, will now review all the proposals and edit them into one list. That proposal will then be reviewed by a joint city-county commission of six members, who will approve the final version to
SEE UKRAINE, PAGE A6
SEE PENNY TAX, PAGE A6
PHOTOS BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Wednesday. In a move Putin is almost certainly behind, on Thursday, Ukrainian lawmakers in Crimea unanimously said they wanted to join Russia.
West answers with sanctions SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine lurched toward breakup Thursday as lawmakers in Crimea unanimously declared they wanted to join Russia and would put the decision to voters in 10 days. President Obama condemned the move, and the West imposed the first real sanctions against Russia. Speaking from the White House, Obama said any decisions on the future of Crimea, a pro-Russian area of Ukraine, must include the country’s new government. “The proposed referendum on the future of Crimea would violate the constitution and violate international law,” Obama said. “We are well beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders.” Russian President Vladimir Putin was almost cer-
From left, Olena Grygorii, Taras Firman and Igor Ivaskiv, all natives of Ternopil, western Ukraine, join other Ukrainians and their supporters at a rally to protest Putin’s “invasion of Ukraine and aggression in the region” Thursday in front of the White House in Washington. President Obama declared Thursday that a referendum in 10 days on the future of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula would violate international law. tainly behind Thursday’s dramatic developments, but it was not clear whether he is aiming for outright annexation or simply strengthening his hand in talks with the West. The U.S. moved to impose
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financial sanctions and travel restrictions on opponents of Ukraine’s new government, and the EU also announced limited punitive measures against Putin’s government, including the suspension of trade and visa
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