District 52 Weighs Seizure, Cardiac Plans in Ninety Six

NINETY SIX, S.C. — Staff in Ninety Six-based Greenwood County School District 52 would learn to spot and respond to seizures, and every school would need a written plan for cardiac emergencies, under two policies trustees took up on first reading Tuesday, Nov. 10.

The board met that evening in Building 300 of the district Multiplex at 605 Johnston Road in Ninety Six. Along with the new safety proposals, trustees gave second-reading approval to 17 policies. Cathy Anderson, the district human resources director, said most of those covered work the district was already doing but had not been able to formalize before the school year because the legislative update came late.

The seizure proposal would teach district employees to identify a seizure, help a student through one and administer medication a doctor has prescribed for it. The Epilepsy Foundation, a nonprofit already approved for the purpose, would run the training online.

That approach follows the Seizure Safe Schools Act, which South Carolina lawmakers passed in 2024 and which took effect July 1, 2025. The law says every district must adopt a seizure training program built on guidelines from a qualified nonprofit that supports people with epilepsy, and districts have to keep records showing employees finished it. The law allows the training to be offered virtually.

The second proposal would require each school to set up a Cardiac Emergency Response Plan, decide where automated external defibrillators go and form an emergency response team that practices its role.

Those pieces line up with the state Smart Heart Act, signed March 30, 2026. The law kicks in on July 1, 2026, but schools do not have to comply until the 2027-2028 school year. Under the act, each plan needs a response team at every school, defibrillators placed and maintained on each campus, continuing CPR and AED training for chosen staff, practice drills, a role for local medical providers and a yearly review. The act also calls for a defibrillator in an unlocked location with signs near each on-campus athletic venue.

Trustees also reviewed a rewrite of the employee conduct policy covering how staff deal with students at school, away from campus and online. Anderson said the state has broadened its definition of what is and is not allowed during and after school hours. Examples of misconduct in the draft include failing to report suspected abuse, leaving students unsupervised and asking students to keep secrets, and an employee who is arrested would have to report it right away.

A separate first-reading proposal would let parents review classroom materials and request that their child sit out lessons that clash with the family’s sincerely held religious beliefs. Families would get notice of syllabus changes that could raise such conflicts at least five days before each semester starts. Superintendent Beth Taylor said the five-day window came out of talks with the district instructional team.

Before the policy work, the board honored an assistant principal at Ninety Six Elementary with the Heart of the Wildcat award, the school’s staff honor, and recognized students with perfect marks on SC READY, the state test for grades three through eight, including a Ninety Six High freshman who scored perfectly in math all six years he took it.

Filed under: Greenwood SC Education News