Ellen Abramo for Fort Mill Schools

09/09/2026

Mark your calendars for 9/27!

On Sept 27th, I’ll be participating in the Fort Mill School Board Parent & Taxpayer Candidate Forum.

Leading up to the forum, I’ll share my answers to the questions posed by The Reaganites, as well as ask the community their thoughts.

First up: preparing our students for the future.

❓Question:
“Given FMSD's strong academic performance, what areas should receive greater focus as AI, workforce demands, vocational opportunities, and special-education needs evolve?”

📝 My Answer:
Fort Mill must protect its strong academic foundation while preparing students for a rapidly changing world. That begins with maintaining rigor in reading, mathematics, science, and civics.

The district should also expand responsible AI literacy, strengthen career and technical pathways, build relationships with local employers and colleges, and ensure students understand both college and workforce opportunities.

At the same time, we must improve support and measurable outcomes for students with all abilities, advanced learners, and students who need academic intervention.

Whether it’s the workforce, college, or the military, we must continue raising the bar for every student, measuring where we can improve, and providing the opportunities and support that each learner needs to succeed in life after K–12.

💬 What opportunity do you think every Fort Mill student should have before graduation?

I welcome your questions and thoughts.

09/08/2026

Texas teachers have a new set of tools for handling classroom disruptions this school year, thanks to a sweeping discipline law that took effect for 2025-26. House Bill 6, passed by the 89th Texas Legislature, lowers the bar for removing a disruptive student from class: teachers can now request removal after a single incident of unruly, disruptive, or abusive behavior, or bullying, instead of waiting for a pattern of repeated interference as under the old law.

Once a student is removed, families must be notified, and a conference is held within three school days to work out a plan before the student can return to that classroom. The bill also expands schools' ability to use in-school and out-of-school suspension, and creates a new virtual education program for students removed from the regular classroom setting.

Read more in the comments...

09/05/2026

09/04/2026

I never expected to run for School Board. When my wife and I had to relocate our family as a result of School Board decisions, I realized that staying on the sidelines was no longer an option.

I’m running because I believe parents’ perspectives are essential to the decisions being made in our schools. Too often, parents feel unheard and disengaged from the process. I want to change that.

I believe our School Board should listen to and meaningfully involve parents, respect sound science and facts, be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, and make thoughtful decisions that prioritize the safety and education of our students. I’m running to bring that perspective to the Board and to help ensure Fort Mill continues to have strong schools with accountable leadership.

My intention is to listen to parents and experts, support our excellent teachers, ask tough questions, connect spending to measurable results, and act proactively when risks emerge—because Fort Mill’s success must be protected, not taken for granted.

08/31/2026

Consistency is key, and clear directives from the top down.

The same national study on phone-ban enforcement found something else worth sitting with: students report real frustration with how inconsistent consequences are, not just school to school, but teacher to teacher inside the exact same building. One classroom might mean a warning. The room next door might mean an immediate confiscation. Students describe genuine uncertainty about what actually counts as a violation, because the answer depends entirely on which adult is enforcing it that period.

That inconsistency isn't really a teacher failure. It's what happens when a district hands down a policy without also handing down a clear, specific enforcement standard everyone's expected to follow the same way. Left to interpret a vague rule on their own, individual teachers naturally land in different places, some stricter, some more lenient, based on their own judgment, their own tolerance for conflict, their own read of a specific kid in a specific moment.

Kids are quick to notice that gap, and quicker to exploit it. A student who gets a warning in one class and a confiscation in another doesn't conclude the rule is fair and consistently applied. They conclude the rule is negotiable, dependent on who's in the room, which undermines the whole point of having a bell-to-bell policy in the first place.

For teachers, that inconsistency creates its own problem. The stricter teacher becomes the outlier, the one kids complain about, even though they're the one actually following the policy as written. The more lenient teacher avoids that friction but is, technically, letting the ban slide. Neither one asked to be put in that position. A vague policy just left them there.

A phone ban that actually works needs more than a rule. It needs every adult enforcing it the same way, with the same consequences, so a student can't just wait for an easier room.

It's also worth naming what a real fix would require: not a stricter rule, but genuine shared training and a specific, written standard every teacher applies the same way, backed by administration when a student pushes back on it.

Does your school actually train staff on a consistent enforcement standard, or is everyone improvising their own version?

08/31/2026

Don and I are looking forward to participating in this year’s golf and Mahjong tournament for MAP International (Medicine for All People) down in historic Brunswick, GA. Don is blessed to be on the board of such a wonderful charity.

08/31/2026

08/30/2026

Seven candidates had filed for four at large seats on the Fort Mill School District Board of Trustees as of Monday morning, hours before the noon filing deadline.
Three of the four incumbents whose terms expire this year appear on the county candidate filing list. Michele Branning, Joe Helms and Lipi Pratt have all filed to keep their seats. Wayne Bouldin, who holds the fourth seat on the ballot, did to file.
Four candidates who do not currently serve on the board have filed. They are Larry Barnett, Keith Griffin, Brandon Langford and Melissa M Maynard.
The seven member board hires and evaluates the superintendent and adopts the annual budget that sets the school portion of local property tax bills in one of the fastest growing districts in the state. Trustees also approve construction projects and attendance zone changes, decisions that land directly on families in Fort Mill, Tega Cay and the unincorporated areas around them.

Full story in comments below