Parents upset after Lancaster County Schools cancels freshman orientations

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — Parents in Lancaster County are upset after the school district canceled orientation for hundreds of students.

Lancaster County Schools cited the weather when it decided to cancel Friday’s orientation for 6th and 9th graders district-wide and for 5th and 7th graders in Indian Land.

The district says it was concerned about Tropical Storm Debby and the damage it might cause at some of the schools. But some parents are concerned their kids won’t be prepared when school starts on Monday.

“Yeah, she’s nervous a little bit. I’m nervous as well,” said Joshua Cherry. His 14-year-old daughter Zamiya is transitioning from middle school to high school. The rising 9th grader’s orientation was supposed to be held on Friday.

But on Thursday, school leaders posted a message on Facebook that said orientations were canceled due to the storm. Dozens of parents complained on social media, however, saying the cancellation would put one of the largest freshman classes ever at a disadvantage.

“Yes, I was kinda upset, so was my daughter because both of us were prepared,” Cherry said. “I took the day off work to see her off to the 9th grade and I wasn’t able to. They do need to figure out where their lockers are or where their classes are whenever school does start.”

The district’s Director of Communications, Elizabeth Bryant, told Channel 9′s Tina Terry: “We talked about the safety issue of just making sure the facilities were ready for Monday. Making sure that we didn’t have students come on campus today with facilities that may have had leaks or those types of things so we could deal with it.”

Bryant says school officials are working with all schools to make sure new students get all their questions answered on Monday.

“We’ve talked with the leaders across the district about having a plan in place so if they have students that are new students that feel like they don’t know where things are in the building, or any student, even a returning student, that they have something set up and ready where they have people that can assist them to find classrooms,” Bryant said.

Some parents complained about students not having bus routes or Chrome books. Leaders told Channel 9 that parents should have access to the bus routes on Friday and students who would have gotten a Chrome book on Friday will receive it on Monday.

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