Home Care In Pickens, SC

Nine years ago, Liberty Middle School in Pickens County had so many kids held back year after year that some of them had started driving to school.

Then Lisa Cassidy was hired as principal.

Liberty was, she recalls, “a hot mess.”

“We had some of the lowest test scores and the lowest attendance rates in the district. On our state report cards we were ‘average,’ but very close to becoming ‘below average.’”

And this past year? “We made ‘excellent,’” Cassidy says.

How’d she work that miracle? It was child’s play — literally.

Cassidy had been a teacher, assistant principal and administrator. When she stepped into Liberty Middle, a school that serves a mostly poor, white, rural population, she had one goal: “Making the school a place that students wanted to be.”

“We know that they don't come to school to learn,” she says. “I mean, that's not why they're showing up, right? We get to teach them while they're here, but they're not showing up to get the math and ELA standards.”

They’re showing up for each other. For friendship, and a feeling of belonging.

So the first thing Cassidy did was end the school’s silent lunches. “I had silent lunches as a child, and that is miserable,” she says.

Then she instituted recess.

The middle school schedule is dictated by the district, so she couldn’t replace class time. But she told the kids: You have half an hour for lunch. Eat fast, and the rest can be for play.

“The kids absolutely love it,” Cassidy says. One time she asked the 6th graders what they were doing, “And they said, ‘Oh, we’re pretending to have a wedding.’ It made my heart so happy.” Such a sophisticated scene. “And meanwhile there might be another group with a traffic cone, and they’re trying to flip to see if it can land on their head.”

To Cassidy, it was all good. “If nobody’s getting harmed, just stand back and let them do what they need to do.”

To expand the students’ options even more, she flooded the cafeteria with games: Uno. Chess. Connect 4. Scrabble. Soon Cassidy started opening the library and a maker space during recess too.

Still, she knew her students needed more than just half an hour of freedom. So, last year, she started opening the school an hour early for hang out and play time.

Now every day starting at 7:30 the cafeteria is full of kids eating breakfast, chatting with friends — and playing those board games. No technology is allowed. The goal is real-life interacting.

Two of those mornings, the school offers intramural sports, since most kids can’t stay after school. (They need buses to get them home, and the school can’t afford a late bus.)

The impact of this extra play time? “Attendance has increased significantly,” Cassidy says. In fact, chronic absences have dropped 11 percent, which is huge.

District spokesman Darian Bryd calls the turnaround “foundational.” By building in more play, Cassidy “made Liberty Middle a place where students feel connected.”

And while other middle schools in the district also showed some attendance improvement last year, Liberty’s leap outpaced the next closest school by more than 4 percentage points.

Subject proficiency levels are up too — in part simply because the kids are coming to school. “I can’t teach them if they’re not here,” Cassidy says. “So we get them here,.” Discipline problems have dropped, too.

Now Liberty is one of just two Title 1 middle schools in South Carolina to achieve a rating of “excellent.”

“While many factors have contributed to this growth,” Cassidy wrote in a report on her school’s achievements —she’s leaving Liberty Middle to run Liberty Elementary school this fall — “we began intentionally incorporating play opportunities during my first year. Each year since, we have expanded those opportunities. Increased play has positively impacted school climate, student engagement and attendance.”

PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Pickens County sheriff posted a video to social media addressing public concern about Flock Safety cameras.

Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said his job is to protect both safety and freedom, calling the two “partners,” not enemies.

“I like to think of America as traveling down the road of freedom, and on each side of that road are ditches. To one side is the ditch of tyranny, where the government has too much power and individual liberty is lost,” Blankenship said. “But on the other side is the ditch of anarchy, where there are too few laws, criminals thrive, innocent people suffer, and liberty is lost.”

In the video, Blankenship said Flock Safety cameras can be a valuable tool for finding missing children, locating stolen vehicles, identifying violent criminals and helping intercept dangerous illicit drugs.

Blankenship also acknowledged that the cameras, like every tool available to law enforcement, can be misused. He said courts have continually placed limits on government power and that there must be real consequences when those limits are violated.

“I support legislation that clearly defines when systems like Flock are to be used, who can access them, how long the information can be retained, mandatory audits, transparency, and reasonable limits on the number of cameras that can be placed in a single area. And real consequences for anyone who abuses that system,” Blankenship said.

Blankenship said he and his command staff are working on a transparency tool that citizens can access through the sheriff’s office website.

According to Blankenship, the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office currently has 81 personnel with access to Flock Safety, including six with administrative rights. He said 54% of those users have logged in during the last 30 days.

There are currently 16 cameras covering 466 square miles, or about 29 square miles per camera. Blankenship said the cameras are placed on private property throughout the county and face public roadways.

Blankenship said the cameras capture the make, model, license plate and color of passing vehicles. He said the data is deleted and unavailable to law enforcement after 30 days.

Blankenship said all searches require specific information from the user and are cataloged so they can be reviewed by those with administrative rights.

So far this year, Blankenship said the sheriff’s office has had about 4,700 searches. He said the top searches were for larceny and theft, drugs and narcotics, wanted persons and motor vehicle thefts.

Additionally, Blankenship said the system can integrate with national and state databases, such as NCIC, to automatically generate alerts to law enforcement for stolen vehicles, missing persons, wanted persons and AMBER Alerts.

Local law enforcement can also create custom hot lists for active investigations. Blankenship said the sheriff’s office has created about 330 custom hot lists, but alerts must be corroborated before law enforcement can act.

Blankenship said audits have shown no misuse of the system to date. He said the sheriff’s office has not been notified of any misuse by Flock, which has a tool that flags suspicious activity.

“We should not just take tools from deputies and punish our victims by abolishing our Flock program because of the misuse or overuse of Flock in another jurisdiction or other states,” Blankenship said. “And my pledge to you is that if at any time I am made aware of factual evidence that our federal government is misusing our cameras to infringe on the rights of innocent citizens, I’ll cut them down myself and destroy them.”

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PICKENS COUNTY, S.C. —

A proposed ordinance would regulate Lake Keowee and its surrounding properties from future development.

Pickens County leaders argue an overlay would preserve the body of water as a leisurely space and an asset for clean, pure drinking water.

Chairman Alex Saitta said the character of the lake could be in jeopardy without standards in place.

"There is no land use regulations on the lakes right now. An investor, if you can get the logistics right, he could build a manufacturing plant, an amusement park or a high-rise apartment complex right on the lake, and most don't want that right on the lake," Saitta said. "Overlays have more flexibility."

The county has existing setbacks that bar construction and disturbing plant life or natural barriers along the lakefront. We are told these development standards were established in the early 2000s, and since then, the area has remained largely undisturbed by aggressive development.

Saitta describes an overlay as a less aggressive version of zoning. Instead of splitting areas into residential, commercial or industrial, he said the lake boundary and the properties lining it would be under the overarching umbrella as residential only.

The county said it intends to preserve the natural resource.

"95 people I pitched my plan to, no new commercial, no new industrial, residential only. Four people had reservations," Saitta said. "They want to protect the view sheds. They want to protect the natural beauty. They want the water which we drink."

Some neighbors argue it would dim property values and limit how they can use their private land. John Boes said the lack of rules surrounding land use was a reason he chose to make landfall along the lake shore.

"My house wouldn't exist if that was the case. If I owned a piece of property that I bought under the current rules, and suddenly this rule comes into effect, that property is not worth anywhere near what it was. That's concerning," Boes said.

Boes and his neighbors said they wanted to see written language of the proposal, which passed through a first reading, and were denied access.

"I do respect the need to make certain this continues to be a great lake. It is a great lake. But what problem are we trying to solve? That has not yet, at least from my perspective, been clearly communicated," Boes said.

We asked if we could receive a copy or find one in the upcoming agenda and were told it would not be available. On the website, it said, "no draft language is available."

Three public input meetings were held earlier in 2026, according to the county website. There, you can also find slides explaining the overlay and how it applies to Lake Keowee.

Property owners said they are planning to turn out for a scheduled county council meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. Although the meeting is not explicitly focused on the overlay item, people are invited to speak through public comment.

Saitta said the final reading of the ordinance would not be expected until closer to the fall.

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Two Upstate South Carolina deputies have returned to the private sector after a booze-fueled weekend ended in handcuffs.

In a video posted to the Pickens County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Facebook page, Sheriff Tommy Blankenship confirmed the firings, adding both deputies were arrested for public intoxication while “outside of this state.”

“As soon as this information came to my attention,” Blankenship said, “both deputies were placed on unpaid administrative suspension while our Office of Professional Standards conducted their internal investigation.”

That investigation concluded Tuesday (September 22, 2026), according to Blankenship, resulting in the swift termination of both deputies for “violation of agency policy.”

“Let me be clear,” Blankenship continued, “Being a deputy sheriff is more than just wearing a badge, carrying a gun and having the authority that comes with the job.”

While Blankenship was forthcoming about the firings, he did not say whether their policy violations involved misconduct, a determination that would effectively strip them of their law enforcement certifications.

He further withheld their identities in his Wednesday announcement, a standard operating procedure that could make it easier for them to land jobs at other law enforcement agencies, provided their certifications are not revoked.

Sources, however, were more forthcoming...

Internal emails provided to FITSNews indicate the now-ousted deputies are Nikki Holliday and Corey Baker — an engaged couple who remain listed as K-9 handlers on PCSO’s website.

If Holliday’s name sounds familiar, that’s because she’s the same PCSO deputy who made headlines in April 2024 for leaving her Glock 17 handgun in the bathroom of a QuikTrip.

As FITSNews exclusively reported at the time, a child later found her handgun and took it to her mother. The mother’s boyfriend later tossed the firearm off U.S. 123.

Authorities located the gun five days later, according to records obtained by FITSNews.

Holliday was written up for her role in the 2024 incident and later served a three-day suspension at the discretion of her supervisor.

This story may be updated.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Andrew Fancher is a Lone Star Emmy Award–winning journalist from Dallas, Texas. He joined FITSNews in 2023 after leaving an NBC affiliate, where he served as on-air talent. His reporting focuses on public corruption in South Carolina, with an emphasis on law enforcement misconduct and abuse of power.

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