Superintendent Stephanie Ard Tells Floyd Dale Senior In-Crowd That Kids Come First In The Latta Schools

By Betsy Finklea
“Kids come first” in the Latta Schools. This was the message that Dillon District Three (Latta) Superintendent Stephanie Ard brought to the Floyd Dale Senior In-Crowd at their meeting on Thursday,
After graduating from Latta High School and Clemson University, Ard began her career in elementary education in the Latta Schools. She taught math and science. She said she loved teaching and “still loves it.” If the need arose for her to go back to the classroom, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it. After serving as an elementary school teacher, she had the opportunity to become the assistant principal at the elementary school. Around the same time, she was helping Eva Rappe, the head softball coach at the time, coach the softball team. Soon after, Rappe left the area, and Ard was named the Latta softball coach in addition to her assistant principal duties. She had grown up in the program under Coach Michael Rogers and of course, wanted to carry on the tradition of Latta Softball. Under her leadership, the team won two state championships. She was coach for several years. She married Brooks Ard of Temperance Hill, and after their son, Hunter, who is now five, was born, she stepped down from coaching and dedicated her time to being a mom. In 2021, a year after the world shut down from COVID-19, she became principal of Latta Middle School. She recalled all of the precautions that they had to take during that time.
Ard was principal of Latta Middle School for four years. She enrolled in a program with Furman University to obtain the needed credentials to become a Superintendent. She and other candidates were interviewed by the school board, and she was hired as the Superintendent, having started her duties on July 1, 2024. She said she loves Latta, and she is planning to stay.
Ard wants to carry on the long history of excellence in Latta which is due to high expectations.
Ard then went through some of the highlights from the past year. She said they have a new website and mobile app, where people can learn about schools events and more. She said they had a great homecoming last year and already planning this year’s homecoming with a theme of “Welcome Home.” She said Robbie Brown, the athletic director, had some great ideas.
She said they are re-doing the gym floor. She said the gym opened in the 2002-2003 school years. The new floor will have new lines, logos, different paint jobs, and graphics.
Ard said the elementary school is fairly new still, but the middle school and high school is having some work done to create a fresh look.
Ard spoke about the Montessori classes and how each class has raised beds for gardening. There are 33 raised beds for these classes.
Ard said they have a strong FFA program at the high school and they would like to merge all three schools into a farm-to-school program. They could get fresh produce from local farmers as well as maybe use some from the things they have grown. The FFA grew lettuce in a hydroponic lab and the harvest from this made about 20 salads that were served in the school.
Raised bed gardens have also been added at the high school. With a grant, the special education students had a garden that they maintained, and they loved doing this.
She said she had been bouncing around ideas about this type of program with the new School Nutrition Director Jenna Deaver. She said their vision is work with local farmers.
She said five girls from the FFA class formed a Farm Business Management Team on their own time and working along with FFA instructor Aaron Miles won the state championship. To win, they beat the Governor’s School for Agriculture by 60 points. She competed in Indiana for the national championship. This was an activity that the girls did on their own time not school time.
Ard said that Aaron Miles does a wonderful job with the FFA. They sell plants in the fall and the spring. In the fall, they sell mums and in the spring, they sell flowers and plants.
Ard said that the school is a big supporter of 4-H as well and try to let people know about their programs, etc.
Ard also talked about the Ellis Performing Arts Center. She said this was Dr. John Kirby’s vision and Fred and Bonnie Ellis were the major donors who helped make this possible along with other donors. She said it has given students a great deal of new opportunities. She said the Latta Viking Workshop has two productions per year which consist of three shows each.
She also talked about some of the upcoming productions with the Army Band on July 1st and The Pack on July 19th. These are both free events. Movies are shown every Monday and about 200 students have showed up to watch the free movies.
She talked about how they have been teaching students to give back. One example is where student groups decorated Christmas trees, raised money through votes, and donated to the charity they chose for their tree.
Athletics was the next topic. She said they started a new Hall of Fame for retired jerseys, etc. She noted that Kaliya Herman had scored 1,000 points, and the state softball victory.
They had a successful Miss Viking Pageant with several students competing and Maddie Berry being crowned Miss Viking.
She also spoke of the success of the Academic Challenge Teams.
She also said they try to help teachers by providing many professional development opportunities.
She would like to see more families involved in the school.
Ard said whether it was athletics, academics, or even if it is just a student not involved in these types of activities, they want every student to feel important.
After her remarks, she answered questions and sang Amazing Grace. She closed with a prayer.