Memorial Day at the Bay

MEMORIAL DAY BAY

Most children spend Memorial Day at the beach or at the neighborhood pool. Not so for Carolina Forest and North Myrtle Beach students this year.

With the area's recent wildfires, the Horry County school district made this Memorial Day a make-up day for several schools in the area. Ocean Bay Elementary was one of those schools.

But just because school was in session doesn't mean it was business as usual.

Coroner: Carolina Forest teen shot five times during attack

The 16-year-old Carolina Forest High School student, who officials said attacked a school resource officer with a knife, was shot five times including a fatal shot to the chest, Horry County Coroner Robert Edge said Saturday.

An autopsy was performed Saturday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston on Trevor Varinecz, an 11th grader at the school, Edge said.

Preliminary results showed Varinecz was shot five times including the only life-threatening shot to the chest area, Edge said.

CFHS students are scholarship semifinalists

Two Carolina Forest High School students are among 146 seniors in 50 South Carolina public high schools to be named semifinalists in the 54th annual National Merit Scholarship Program.

Christopher J. Peterman and Sarah E. Robbins were named semifinalists.

The two were among six Horry County Schools students.

MARYELLEN GREENE | HORRY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

In just four short weeks, Horry County Schools will reopen. Rising ninth-graders and their parents may view this with great anticipation and some trepidation. Carolina Forest High is a large high school on a sprawling campus. Approaching it for the first time can be intimidating.

The staff at Carolina Forest High School is committed to making the transition as smooth as possible for the incoming new students. On Aug. 20 at 8:30 a.m., the staff will conduct freshman orientation for all rising ninth-graders and their parents. At this time, the Horry County Schools Parent/Student Handbook and academic calendar will be distributed. Students and parents will be informed of the following: the time school begins, where to report on the first day, where a student must report following an absence and, most importantly, how long the student will have for lunch! A question and answer session will follow. Students and parents will have the opportunity to tour the campus, meet their teachers, find their lockers and walk

School board talks safety after fatal shooting at Carolina Forest

As students returned to Carolina Forest High School for their first day of classes since one student was shot and killed and an officer was stabbed, the Horry County school board began the process of reviewing safety procedures at all of its schools.

The school board asked Superintendent Cindy Elsberry to work with security contractor Crisis Management Systems to review all of the staffing, equipment and safety protocols at district schools. Elsberry said she plans to have a report for the board by the end of November.

"It's something that is good practice and that we do periodically," Elsberry said. "It's something that will ensure we have the people, the objects and machinery in place that we need to ensure that all of our campuses are as safe as they possibly can be. We'll have Crisis Management Systems look at Friday's incident to ensure they don't see anything they want to alter or change in any way."