PACE ACADEMY
RESOURCES
Forms, Handbooks & Policies
FORMS
HANDBOOKS
POLICIES
Admission of Homeless Students Policy [PDF] »
McKinney Vento Awareness Brochure [PDF] »
McKinney Vento Parent Rights (English) [PDF] »
McKinney Vento Parents Rights (Spanish) [PDF] »
In December of 2001, Congress strengthened a law giving children and youth in a homeless situation the right to go to school, no matter where they live or how long they live there. The law is called the McKinney-Vento Act, and it gives children and youth in homeless situations the right to:
- Stay in their school even if they move.
- Enroll in a new school without proof of residency, immunizations, school records or other papers.
- Get transportation to school.
- Go to pre-school programs.
- Get all the school services they need.
- have disagreements with schools settled quickly.
- Go to their school of origin while disagreements are settled.
The McKinney-Vento Act is a federal law, passed in 1987 to help people experiencing homelessness. Part of the law protects the rights of children and youth who are homeless to go to school. The law says that a child or youth without a fixed, regular and adequate residence is homeless. It does not matter how long the child or youth has been without a home. It also does not matter if the child or youth is living with a parent or is separated from parents. Under the Act, students are homeless if they are:
- Living with a friend, relative or someone else because they lost their home or can’t afford a home;
- Staying in a motel or hotel due to lack of affordable housing;
- Living in an emergency or transitional shelter or a domestic violence shelter;
- Staying in substandard housing;
- Living in a car, park, public place, abandoned building or bus or train station;
- Awaiting foster care placement;
- Living in a campground or an inadequate trailer home;
- Abandoned in a hospital; or
- Living in a runaway or homeless youth shelter.
Migrant children, pre-school children, and youth on their own are covered if they fit into one of these categories. Runaway youth can be considered homeless even if their families want them to come home. Students who live in any public or private place that is not supposed to be a regular residence is covered.
According to the school policy, homeless students being served at PACE will have access to the education and other services needed to ensure that an opportunity is available to meet the same academic achievement standards to which all students are held. PACE will ensure that homeless students are not stigmatized nor segregated on the basis of their status as homeless. A homeless student will be admitted to PACE in alignment with the school’s established enrollment policy. Transportation will be provided to and from the student’s current school of origin at the request of the parent, or in the case of an unaccompanied student, the district’s liaison for homeless students.
For more information, contact Dr. Melanie Vaughn at 803.900-0664.
Important Notices
Upon request, PACE Academy, in accordance with the guidelines set forth by IDEA, are required to evaluate a child for eligibility for special education services. A request for evaluation is known as a referral. When the school receives a referral, the school will appoint an evaluation planning team to determine if the child has a disability and whether the child needs special education services.
PACE Academy locates, identifies, and evaluates all children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in PACE Academy. A school staff member who reasonably believes a child may be a child with a disability has a legal duty to refer the child, including a homeless child, to the Disability Services Director.
Before referring the child, the person making the referral must inform the child’s parent that the referral will be made.
Others, including parents, who reasonably believe a child is a child with a disability may also refer the child, including a homeless child, to PACE Academy where the child is enrolled. Referrals must be in writing and include the reason why the person believes the child is a child with a disability. A referral may be made by contacting:
Kimberly Creech
Special Education Coordinator
6015 N Main Street Columbia, SC 29203
kim.creech@choosepace.org
Citizens and members of the media are encouraged to submit informal requests for information to the Office of Communications. These requests will be handled as expeditiously as possible, but will not be considered requests made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Chapter 4, Title 30, Code of Laws of South Carolina or any other formal legal code.
Submitting a FOIA Request
Requests for official public records made under South Carolina’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) can be submitted by sending a written request to:
Melissa Rabon, Executive Director
PACE Academy
6015 N. Main Street
Columbia, SC 29203
(803) 900-0664
melissa.rabon@melissap24.sg-host.com
FOIA provides the public with access to existing non-exempt, official records of a public agency, but does not require the district to generate or create records. Certain categories of documents may be withheld, such as personnel records; student records; test and examinations used to evaluate student or employee performance; records relating to the security of students, staff and property; records protected from disclosure under attorney-client privileges; executive session materials, etc.
All requests for documents are subject to charges based upon, but not limited to, staff time and the cost of copying and printing materials.
FOIA Response Guidelines and Fee Schedule
All requests will be responded to within the time required by South Carolina law. The initial response will notify the requestor as to whether the requested information will be released or withheld due to a specific exemption in the FOIA.
PACE Academy does not charge for requests that take less than an hour to process or less than ten pages to copy. PACE does not charge for the examination and review of documents to determine if they are subject to disclosure. If fees are assessed, a 25 percent deposit will be required before work will begin on the FOIA request. Any remaining fees must be paid before the completed request is released.
Charges to requestors are as follows:
- $0.13 per page for black and white copies;
- $0.49 per page for color copies;
- The actual costs of mailing copies;
- Actual time that an employee(s) must spend in order to comply with the request. The fee for the search, retrieval, or redaction of records will not exceed the prorated hourly salary of the lowest paid employee who, in the reasonable discretion of the custodian of the records, has the necessary skill and training to perform the request.
Gavin’s Law (H.3583) is legislation that makes sexual extortion, the act of blackmailing someone using sexually explicit images or videos, a felony offense and an aggravated felony if the victim is a minor, vulnerable adult, or if the victim suffers bodily injury or death directly related to the crime. In 2022, 17-year-old Gavin Guffey was a victim of sexual extortion, resulting in him taking his own life.
The bill reads in part, “Local school districts shall collaborate with the State Department of Education, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, and the Attorney General’s office, as appropriate, to implement a policy to educate and notify students of the provisions of this act which includes adequate notice to students, parents or guardians, the public, and school personnel of the change in law. The State Department of Education must file a report as to the status of the adoption and implementation of the education policies under this act to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, annually by July first of each year.”
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires Palmetto Achievement Center for Excellence Academy to maintain the privacy of protected health information and to provide individuals with notice of the school’s legal duties and privacy practices with respect to this health information. HIPAA and its regulations specifically exclude any education records covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), treatment records of a student over 18 years of age that are made or maintained by a health care professional and disclosed to no other persons, and employment records held by the school in its role as an employer. Therefore, the school acknowledges that the business activities of only some of its components may be considered subject to the privacy regulations of HIPAA.
Under S.C. Code Ann. Regs. 43-241, students who cannot attend public school because of illness, accident, or pregnancy, even with the aid of transportation, are eligible for medical homebound or hospitalized instruction. A physician must certify the student is unable to attend school but may profit from instruction given in the home or hospital. Should an approved student not be provided the medical homebound instruction that he or she is entitled to receive, the student is eligible to have the medical homebound instruction made up by the district. This make-up may occur during the student’s remaining eligibility for medical homebound instruction or may occur after the student returns to school provided the make-up periods are not during the regular school day.
Under S.C. Code Ann. § 59-40-50(B)(1), a charter school must adhere to the same health, safety, civil rights, and disability rights requirements as are applied to public schools operating in the same school district or, in the case of the South Carolina Public Charter School District or a public or independent institution of higher learning sponsor, the local school district in which the charter school is located.
Our Homebound Coordinator is Dr. Melanie Vaughn at melanie.vaughn@melissap24.sg-host.com.
PACE Academy does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, religion, or immigrant status in its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following persons have been designated to handle the nondiscrimination policies. For questions pertaining to Section 504, contact Melissa Rabon at 803-900-0664, and for questions pertaining to Title IX, contact Traci Bryant-Riches at 803-665-2011. For more information, see full policy in the Employee and Parent/Student Handbooks or Click here to download the latest Title IX Policy.
To file a Title IX compliant, please complete this form: Title IX Complaint Form and submit it to Traci Bryant-Riches.
Parents Right to Know Professional Qualifications of Teachers and Paraprofessionals
Dear Wolfpack Families,
In accordance with Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), PACE Academy is committed to ensuring that every child has access to highly qualified educators and a high-quality learning environment. As a parent/guardian of a child enrolled at our school, you have the right to know the professional qualifications of the teachers and instructional staff who work with your child.
At any time, you may request information regarding:
- Whether your child’s teacher has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas they teach.
- Whether your child’s teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived.
- The teacher’s college major, graduate certification, and field of discipline.
- Whether your child is provided services by paraprofessionals, and if so, their qualifications.
In addition, if your child is taught for four (4) or more consecutive weeks by a teacher who does not meet applicable state certification or licensure requirements, the school will notify you in writing.
At PACE Academy, we value the partnership between school and family in supporting your child’s academic success. We encourage you to reach out with any questions or requests for information regarding your child’s teachers or instructional support staff.
Please contact Dr. Melanie Vaughn, Executive Director at (803)-251-9138 or melanie.vaughn@choosepace.org if you would like to request this information or need further assistance.
Thank you for your continued support of PACE Academy. Together, we are building a strong foundation for every student’s success.
Sincerely,
Dr. Melanie Vaughn
Executive Director
PACE Academy
The South Carolina School Report Card is one way of tracking each school’s progress in South Carolina. However, at PACE, 79% of our student population consists of students with documented disabilities. Research shows that students with learning disabilities traditionally do not do well on standardized tests. Therefore, at PACE, we track our improvement by tracking students’ reading improvements. We are also held accountable by specific academic goals we set with our authorizer, the South Carolina Public Charter School District. For more information about that accountability measure, click HERE.
You can find the school report card information here.
School-Approved Apps
Reading (learningally.com)
Login information can be received by emailing our reading coach, Mrs. Courtney Brown at courtney.brown@choosepace.org
The PACE Pledge
The PACE Pledge
At PACE Academy, the social-emotional wellbeing of our students is just as important as their academics. Therefore, we start our day every morning with the PACE Pledge to remind us of that commitment.
Wolfpack Mentality
At PACE, we strongly believe that all members of the Wolfpack community should be committed to reinforcing the “Wolfpack Mentality” each and every day. Therefore, the staff at PACE Academy has developed their own pledge to uphold this mentality.
