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The Sumter County Board of Education (BOE) had a special called meeting on 10.25.21 to enter into executive session. After about 15 minutes the BOE returned to open session and a motion was made to hire Walter Knighton as the Superintendent of Sumter County Schools. The vote passed unanimously.

Knighton took over as interim superintendent when Dr. Torrance Choates announced he would not be seeking another term after his contract expired at the end of this school year. The BOE had heard a presentation from a firm who recruits superintendents for systems throughout the state. However, to vote upon the firm was left off of the agenda and by a vote of 4-3 the agenda was not allowed to be amended to accommodate the vote. Later in the evening a vote on Knighton was deleted from the agenda and therefore he continued in the role of interim superintendent with no plans to go forward in the search of any other options.

Knighton has served the system for a lengthy amount of time and until this vote was filling the role of both assistant superintendent as well as interim superintendent. He is especially skilled in the areas of curriculum assessment and learning. With the poor showing on first quarter academic performance by the system, Knighton highlighted areas in which additional support can be added to get the students to a proficient rating. Since academics is the priority of the system, it can be assumed much of Knighton’s attention will continue to be in addressing the lack identified in the assessments.