End Run Around CCSD Board to Score

When Apple Charter School becomes a success, it will be despite the ill wishes of the Charleston County School Board and put one more nail in the coffin of the present administration of 75 Calhoun. [See Shiny Apple in Wednesday's P&C.]

Patricia Williams's drive to create a special place for those left behind (educationally, not physically) in CCSD schools shows how far individuals can go in defeating a system holding back the progress of the county's neediest students. This school promises to focus on those scoring basic or below in standardized testing with plans to halt the predictable cycle of defeat for these children not served well by the district.

Williams wisely sought approval for the school from the state Charter School Advisory Committee because she knew that CCSD would turn her down. She found a local church, First Baptist of James Island, happy to assist her in her dream. If Apple Charter takes the same course as Charleston Development Academy and includes Core Knowledge curriculum as part of its program, Williams and her board may show Charleston County just how remiss CCSD has been in serving this slice of its community.

Great Program Also in CCSD Schools, Ken

Anyone reading Ken Burger's column in the P&C on Saturday must have been struck with the same thoughts I had: why don't schools do more of these programs? [See Another Day at the Office]

Burger highlighted his visit to Stratford High School's Virtual Enterprise classroom, part of "a national network of high schools, including 40 in South Carolina, that offer products and services to each other so students can learn the ropes of business." Stratford High School offers "an on-line grocery business" under its organization named Unlimited Possibilities. Students experience how a business virtually works by interacting with other virtual high school businesses.

Imagine that.


Turns out that the Charleston County School District has several of the 40 S.C. schools that participate in the program. These include James Island Charter, West Ashley, Wando, and Stall. We should hope that every high school in the district will offer this stimulating and educational program.

See Virtual Enterprises: U.S. Network for the full story on the program.

Commission Cherry-Picks High School for Program

"But commission leaders said they especially want to help students who are among the first generation in their families to attend college."

Wednesday's P&C featured a program [Focus on Future] meant to help seniors fill out their college applications on-line with the help of guidance counselors and other mentors. Wando High School was picked as one of 11 participating high schools statewide after Cynthia Mosteller, a member of the Commission on Higher Education, originated the idea.

Her idea must have been to pick a high school where most of the parents have attended college, even graduated from college, to pilot a program for students whose parents didn't go to college. That should surely predict how the idea works!

How will the commission tell if the program makes any difference? Did it occur to Mosteller or anyone else that piloting the program at Burke or North Charleston or Stall might have helped more students whose parents don't know the ropes?

There I go, thinking again.

CCSD School Board Chair Jordan

She's not a tool of Gregg Meyers, Mayor Riley, the Chamber of Commerce, or the NAACP.

That's the good news. [See School Board Picks New Leader.]

While Ruth Jordan has not always spoken against the Meyers-Green agenda, her voting record and statements over her years on the CCSD School Board do indicate a certain independence. Superintendent Nancy McGinley fondly recites that "everything is for the children," but Jordan's record suggests that she actually believes that to be true.

So it was only fitting that Jordan made her point at Monday night's meeting. After an unapologetic attempt by Gregg Meyers to make the election of a new board chairman all about supporting McGinley, Jordan was quoted as saying, "'Frankly, I was appalled that it would come down to the mandate about the superintendent. I thought it was about the children. ... If we're truly committed to public education, we're going to do what's right for children.'"

You tell'em, Ruth!

Alliance Survey Poses Questions, Gets Stock Answers

Is it a serious morale problem, or does it come with the territory?

What does it mean that 60 percent of the Charleston County School District's teachers participating in a survey believe that they are not valued by the district? See Many Teachers Don't Feel Valued in Monday's P&C.

Part of the complaint concerns extra pay given to administrators while teachers' salaries remained the same and class sizes rose. Part is perceived inattentiveness to previously stated teachers' concerns.

In response to perceived low morale, Superintendent Nancy McGinley plans to make a video.

You can't make this stuff up.

"Board Chairwoman Toya Green said she thinks the district's leadership has a good connection to its teachers."

Well, she would know, wouldn't she?

And "teacher coaches," that many surveyed teachers say add little to educational advancement, continue to proliferate under the name of "instructional resource teachers."

You know, Don Quixote gave his old nag a beautiful-sounding name, but it was still an old nag.

Kandrac: Crackpot or Watchdog?

Were you as surprised as I was that the P&C thoroughly investigated CCSD School Board member Elizabeth Kandrac's place of residence? [See Kandrac Takes on District in Sunday's edition.]

After all of the allegations regarding legal residence for Buist students the P&C did not follow up, the story shows that the reporter can do investigations when she has the incentive to do so. Or maybe she was just handed the information by Kandrac's antagonists on the Board.

Certainly, Kandrac appears to be following the letter of the law and not its spirit in her living arrangements these days, but CCSD already set many good examples for her to follow in its treatment of Buist. And what about those rumors over the years that other Board members were not living where they claimed? Down the memory hole?

More problematic is the Board's single-minded agenda to get rid of Kandrac through insinuating that any queries she raises are simply harrassment. Green and Meyers would have the public believe that Superintendent McGinley walks on water and should not be challenged at any point. Have you ever seen either one of them do so on any point?

The goal is to make Kandrac into a caricature that folks outside of North Charleston will vote against if she decides to run again.

Army Base? Please!

Proving once again that the headline writers for the P&C need to get out more, the banner headline screams "Army base" in Friday's paper. Why do I think none of them ever served in the military?

There are no Army bases.

There are Army posts.

Notice the two words have the same number of letters, so don't tell us the mistake was made to save space.