2025 Dick and Tunky Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence Level One Application

A legendary couple in the Palmetto State, former US Secretary of Education and South Carolina Governor Dick Riley and his late wife, Tunky, were honored in 2002 by the SC School Improvement Council Board of Trustees with the creation of this named award. The engraving on the inaugural award states: "In honor and recognition of two people who sparked the flame of education improvement in South Carolina.”

The Dick and Tunky Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence is presented yearly to a School Improvement Council that demonstrates, in the spirit of the Rileys, exemplary leadership and action resulting in improved public education in their community. All SICs in South Carolina that have been convened for at least one year are eligible to apply. SICs that are named as a Riley Award winner may not reapply for the award for a period of three (3) years.

Participating in this award process is an opportunity for SICs to celebrate their achievements, share strategies with other councils, ensure their compliance with state law, and provide much deserved recognition for hard-working volunteers.

The award process consists of three levels. In Level One, SICs tell the story of their accomplishments in the previous school year through a Case Statement. Level One applications count for a maximum of 100 points. SICs scoring at least 85 points at this level will be entered on the 2025 SIC Honor Roll and will receive a Certificate of Achievement. Up to 20 of the Honor Roll SICs will be chosen as semi-finalists to compete in Level Two.

In Level Two, SICs are asked to submit additional documentation showing that their councils are in compliance with state law and SC-SIC guidelines. Level Two submissions are worth a maximum of 50 points. The SICs with the five highest combined point totals from Levels One and Two will move on to the Winners Level.

An independent panel of judges will evaluate these finalists and choose the Riley Award winner. The remaining four finalists will receive Honorable Mention awards.

Please read and follow all instructions for each portion of this application before completion and submission.

The application you are viewing is Level One. Please complete all the questions below and sign for eligibility and consideration for Level Two and the Winners Level. 

Click the hyperlink below to view the instructions for the 2025 Dick and Tunky Riley Award.

The Case Statement is a narrative describing how the SIC identified needs and challenges in the school and then responded to create positive results for the school and its community. The narrative must include: issue(s), action(s) taken, and result(s). The Case Statement should clearly identify when results occurred. Case Statements will be judged primarily on results that occurred during the 2023-24 school year, although actions may have been initiated in prior school year(s). If the activities described in the Case Statement did not begin to produce observable results until the current 2024-25 school year, your application will be deemed ineligible for consideration until the next Riley Award cycle and returned to your SIC.

Include sufficient school demographic information to provide context for your SIC's work. The statement must be written collaboratively by the SIC.

Please enter your Case Statement below. There is a maximum of 1800 words allowed.

Tip: It may be helpful to first type your Case Statement in a Word document so if you lose internet connection or another browser error occurs, you won't lose any of your hard work!

Tip: It is expected that most SIC actions will be accomplished in partnership with the school and/or other individuals and organizations. It is important, however, to identify the specific ways that the SIC itself contributed to the collaborative effort. General statements about positive results at your school will not earn points if the judges cannot determine if or how your SIC assisted in achieving those results.

Applicants must submit two separate SIC membership lists: one for the 2023-24 school year and one for the current 2024-25 school year. Each list must reflect SIC membership as it was reported to the SC-SIC Member Network.

Each list must be submitted in the box below. For each Member, type their name in the box under their respective elected, appointed, or ex-officio heading below based on how they became a member of the SIC. 

In order to recieve full credit, each list must demostrate that as of the November 15, 2024 reporting deadline, the SIC met all state law membership requirements. 

- At least the minimum of two (2) elected parent representatives;

-At least the minimum of two (2) elected teacher representatives;

-For schools serving grade 9 and above only, at least the minimum of two (2) elected student representatives;

-Half as many appointed community members as the combined total of elected members (parent, teacher, and student if applicable) so that the SIC has a ratio of 2/3 elected to 1/3 appointed members;

-The Prinicipal and any other ex-officio Members called for in the SIC's bylaws (these are not counted in the elected/appointed membership ratio) 

Tip: The information your school reports to the Member Network is considered the official public record of your school's SIC membership. The information on your Riley Award membership form will be checked against and must match the information that you reported to the Member Network for the 2023-24 & 2024-25 school years. You can check the information that correctly appears on the Member Network for your school via the "View the SIC Members (Read Only)” function on the Member Network, HERE.

Tip: When designating the member type, (i.e., parent, teacher, student, community member, or ex-officio), only enter their name into the box that matches the capacity in which the individual is serving on the SIC. For example, an individual may be both a parent and a PTA president. If the individual is an SIC member because he/she was elected as a parent representative, they should be listed in the "Parent" box. If, however, the individual is an SIC member because the bylaws call for the PTA president to be an Ex-Officio member of the SIC, they should be listed in the "Ex-Officio" box.

Tip: The method of selection should match state law requirements. For example, the method of selection for parent, teacher, and student representatives (high school) must be elected; the method of selection for community members must be appointed.

Tip for Elementary and Middle Schools Only: Some elementary and middle schools choose to have student representatives on their SICs even though they are not required to do so by law. Because these student members are voluntary, the Member Network will permit SICs at elementary and middle schools to report the method of selection for these students as either elected or Ex-Officio. If your SIC reported your student members as elected to the Member Network, your Riley Award membership form should show the method of selection as “elected” and you must include students when calculating the ratio of total elected to appointed members. If your SIC reported these students as Ex-Officio to the Member Network, however, you should not include them when calculating your SIC's elected to appointed membership ratio. In either case, you should report such students on your Riley Award membership form in exactly the same way as you reported them to the Member Network and calculate your membership ratio accordingly.

Letters of Support must expand and reflect upon the SIC goals, activities, and results described in the Case Statement and should refer specifically to the work of your SIC.

One Letter of Support must be from the current Principal for the 2024-25 school year. If your principal is new to the position this year, you may submit a letter that is co-authored and co-signed by the school’s principal from last year and this year.

Two (2) additional Letters of Support may be written by anyone the SIC chooses, including, but not limited to: a student, parent, community member, business supporter, district staff, or school board member. Authors cannot be members of either the 2023-24 or the current 2024-25 SIC, family members of SIC members, or SIC members of past years.

Each Letter of Support must be signed. (It is not sufficient to type the name of the author - an actual signature is required. Photocopied, scanned, or faxed copies of signatures are acceptable.)

Each Letter of Support is worth a maxiumum of five (5) points.

Each letter may not exceed one (1) page and should be addressed to the SC-SIC Awards Committee. Letters should be handwritten or formatted using 10 point or larger Times New Roman or Arial fonts.

Tip: Be sure that your Letters of Support refer specifically to one or more of the SIC accomplishments identified in your Case Statement. Hearing how much someone likes your school or enjoyed the carnival sponsored by the PTA will not earn points from the judges.

Tip: When selecting individuals to write the two (2) additional Letters of Support, remember that the judges are most interested in hearing from individuals who can back up the results reported in your Case Statement, either because they are personally familiar with your work or because they have benefited directly from the results of your work. The fact that an individual holds a prominent position in the school or community is not as important as the level of knowledge that individual can share about your SIC's contributions to your school. The judges will appreciate it if you indicate the role or title as well as the name of the author of each letter (e.g., Jane Doe, Parent; John Smith, Literacy Coach; Ed Jones, Community Member, etc.).

Tip: If the name of an individual writing one of the two (2) additional Letters of Support matches a name on the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 SIC Membership Lists, the letter will be disqualified, and no points will be awarded for that letter. If the name of the author matches a name on the membership list(s) but they are, in fact, two different people, the letter must provide enough identifying information to establish that fact for the judges.

 
Tip: It is not necessary that each Letter of Support address the results of every activity described in your Case Statement. Taken together, however, there should be support in at least one Letter for each of the activities/results your SIC is relying on in your application.

I, the undersigned Chair of the School Improvement Council submitting this application, hereby confirm that all the information provided in this application for the 2025 Dick and Tunky Riley Award is true, accurate, and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. I have diligently reviewed and verified the contents of this application, and stand behind the authenticity of the information presented.

By signing below, I affirm our SIC's commitment to upholding the highest standards of honesty and accuracy in our application submission.