Power Grab: Get Rid of Those Troublemakers!

The Charleston County School Board and its Superintendent must be mighty pleased with themselves these days. The most vocal non-obsequious members have gone. The thoughts of new members are generally unvoiced, except for those of Arthur Ravenel, Jr., who seems to be reveling in his role as good ol' boy instead of focusing his mind on the issues.

Time to consolidate power!

To the point, under the guise of wanting more efficient methods of hiring principals and teachers, they have proposed (1) getting rid of constituent school boards; or (2) appointing instead of electing their members (!!!)--as if that isn't a dead giveaway as to the real purpose of the charade.

Those of us unwilling to ask "how high" when told to jump see this issue just a bit differently.

I wasn't in Charleston when the consolidated district was set up with constituent boards, so maybe someone who was can set me straight. They appear to have been set up to give local communities a voice in the large and somewhat unwieldy district that was formed in response to desegregation. These communities no longer need a voice? Why is that? Because we're all one, big, happy family now?

No. The Superintendent wants to get rid of some very vocal critics, especially those on the District 20 constituent school board downtown.

Look what Marvin Stewart has done: in the last year he has managed to make enough noise to get Buist Academy's fake-address issues on the national TV news. How embarrassing! He has forced CCSD into addressing the fake-address issue, albeit with penalties whose teeth aren't very sharp [see my post about "Habitual Liars' Business Fees" of January 25]. Who invited him to the party?

While they're at it, they can get rid of the authority behind voices in North Charleston and Mount Pleasant that are asking why CCSD can't be broken up into smaller, more manageable districts.

Stewart's response to this naked grab for power? He says that CCSD should be abolished and the constituent boards should take over their own districts.

I like your style, Marvin!