WINNSBORO — Nineteen-year-old Rick Walker is excited to walk across the stage at Midlands STEM Institute on Thursday, marking the end of his years in high school.
For a while, Rick and his dad were worried he wouldn’t be able to finish school this spring. They confirmed late last year, through an investigation by the S.C. Department of Education, that Rick’s school records were missing some legally required special education documents.
Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder when he was 14, Rick’s high school education follows a work credential track for students with learning disabilities, rather than a diploma curriculum.
But Midlands STEM charter school, according to the Department of Education’s December 2025 investigative report, failed to document Rick’s hours of work-based learning or maintain his career portfolio.
“We never worked on it,” Rick said, referring to his special education teacher from freshman through junior year, who has left the school. “I just felt that something was off, but I didn’t fully grasp that this was really serious.”
The education department’s report, which The Voice has obtained, redacted the names of the affected student and the complainant. Rick’s dad, Kevin Walker, showed proof that the report was referring to problems with Rick’s school records. He said the complainant was someone outside their family, but declined to name the person.
The department’s office of special education services directed the charter school and the school district to take corrective action, including recreating Rick’s career portfolio electronically.
Several issues of non-compliance, violations
The Department of Education saw other problems with Midland STEM’s special education program, which the agency laid out in two subsequent reports this spring.
The two investigations stemmed from the complaints of a parent whose 14-year-old daughter, with a learning disability, began receiving special education services at Midlands STEM this school year.
School officials acknowledged the deficiencies that the state has identified and said they were working with the school district, Charter Institute at Erskine, to implement the education department’s list of corrective measures.
“There’s some things we need to work on, and we’re taking accountability for that,” Kevin Thomas, co-founder of Midlands STEM and chairman of the board, said in an interview.
“We’ve overhauled our SPED department,” he said, referring to the school’s special education unit.
The Winnsboro school, which has an operating budget of $4.5 million, enrolls 320 students from K-12. They include 59 who are receiving special education services, said school CEO T.K. Kennedy.
The education department’s reports in March and May identified eight issues where Midlands STEM did not comply with federal or state special education laws and regulations. Among them:
The 14-year-old girl’s individualized education program, or IEP, created during two separate months failed to meet the “basic expectations” of how the program is developed. And changes to the teen’s IEP were not explained in the appropriate document, called the prior written notice, or PWN.
“The PWN should explain what the revisions were and not force the readers to compare both IEPs themselves,” the complaint investigator, Tina Ross, said in the March report. “It is the school’s/District’s obligation to explain the differences.”
The investigation found there was no record that the teen received special education services from Aug. 11, 2025, to Feb. 13, 2026, (which also echoes another issue found in Rick’s case). Due to the violation, the department said the girl should receive 147 hours of compensatory services.
The school had improperly shared the student’s personal identifiable information, details that are more strictly guarded among students with disabilities.
Seeking improvements
Courtnie Jones, the parent who filed the 2026 complaints, said she, her daughters and other students had initially tried to get the issues resolved through the school board and administrators.
“These students weren’t feeling heard and validated,” Jones said. “My last resort was having to file these state complaints, from them not listening.”
Some Midlands STEM students participated in a school walkout last week as a form of protest, local media previously reported.
Thomas, the board chairman, said the changes that Midlands STEM is making include hiring a new principal, a new director of special education and new special education teachers.
He declined to comment on the reasons for the departures of the principal and the special education director, or the performance of past SPED teachers.
The incoming special education director, Lisa Kershaw, previously worked for the education department’s office of special education services. She has already started working with Midlands STEM as a consultant.
As director, Kershaw said, she would ensure the school complies with special education laws and regulations, including implementing the corrective action laid out by the state. She said the bigger goal is to prepare students with special needs to be active members of the community.
“The concerns that are being addressed by corrective actions are a small but important part of the SPED program,” Kershaw said. “Doing a full analysis is what I am focused on right now, so that we can continue to move forward.”
Ashley Epperson, spokesperson for The Charter Institute at Erskine, said the school district is committed to working with Midlands STEM to fulfill the state’s required corrective actions and supports the school as it makes staffing changes following the complaints.
Courtnie Jones and Kevin Walker said they’ve kept their children at Midlands STEM because it has some very good teachers, who have inspired their children to do better in school and engage with the world outside.
But the school’s special education program, they said, needs critical improvements.
Thomas said the program’s big challenges include the shortage of SPED teachers in South Carolina.
“The key was getting the right person in there,” Thomas said. Kershaw’s addition to the school administration, he said, will enable Midlands STEM to “take care of the issues that are there.”
Rick has only a few days left of high school, and he has mixed feelings about closing this chapter of his life.
He feels a sense of accomplishment but also that he missed out on some things. If he’d had a more engaged special ed teacher during his freshman to junior years, Rick said, maybe he would have found an ally in overcoming his difficulties with math and an advocate in fulfilling his ambition to become a professional photographer.