CCSD Board Chairman Hillery Douglas and CCSD Superintendent Nancy McGinley made some very revealing comments last week when the State Department of Education released its findings on segregation in South Carolina's schools. Strangely enough, as far as I can tell, the entire story appeared only on TV outlets and not in the P & C.
Needless to say, the report showed that most of District 20's schools are segregated. Douglas's interesting comment about the findings was that he didn't have a problem with that. McGinley's comments included the thought that such segregation is caused by housing patterns and, therefore, nothing can be done about it.
First of all, Supt. McGinley, you're not in Philadelphia any more. Please take a good look at the Census figures for black and white residents on the penninsula; then tell us why the schools are segregated. It's not because of housing patterns. Check out the Census for Johns Island while you're at it. Just maybe this school segregation has been caused by CCSD policies over the last 40 years.
As for Mr. Douglas's attitude, I find it hard to know where to begin. Certainly his remarks reveal why CCSD has made no progress in desegregation under his watch. He doesn't care!
I'm not one of those idiots who believe that black students must sit in the same classroom with white ones in order to learn to read and write better. I do believe that black and white students need to be in the same classroom to LEARN ABOUT EACH OTHER. Hasn't such understanding always been one of the goals of public education?
Otherwise, students in white enclaves can continue to believe that all black students their age are druggies and dropouts, while students in black enclaves can continue to believe that all white students are spoiled and prejudiced slackers.
Monday, December 03, 2007
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10 comments:
Well said.
Are you going to start tracking down and ferreting out the identity of people who post to your blog like the P&C is apparently doing?
The P & C's time would be better spent actually reporting the news as it is, rather than as it wishes it to be!
Excellant P&C comments there!
I found Mr. Douglas's statement "...diversity is not a priority" to be curious. Appearently providing equal access to quality public education isn't a priority for him either. If he was white, he'd look and sound like a reactionary school board member from fifty years ago.
It was actually local ABC affiliate reporter, Andy Burns, who discovered that US Census data calls Charleston was one of the 3 most racially diverse cities in the country. The argument that racially segregated schools here are determined by racially segregated neighborhoods doesn't hold water. Of course, if Hillery and his present company on the county board keep the schools the way they are...with Mt. Pleasant schools on top and North Charleston school on bottom (for the most part)...in time they'll have pushed relatively well off whites to one and left mostly poor minorities trapped in the other. The policies of CCSD and board members like Douglas are causing our neighborhoods to become more segregated than they ever have been. The tail is beginning to wag the dog after all.
Nancy McGinley really needs to get out more. She should consider that CCSD may be the engine of much that is going wrong in some parts of Charleston...just beyond the schoolhouse gates...from street violence and crime to traffic gridlock and sprawl.
She shouldn't keep trying to give that "segregated neighborhoods" excuse. CCSD is moving kids around with almost no regard for attendance zones as it is. It looks like CCSD gives a lot more consideration for the race and political influence of the parents. (For example: if CCSD employees think the parents are white, have money & are politically connected…they get the transfer they want.) Let the parents go where they want, but McGinley should know the reason for wanting to move is more often that the schools failed first. Unlike Philadelphia, she can fix what’s wrong in Charleston if she really wants to.
I agree with the poster above me. She CAN fix this problem. Maybe she could start with allowing our kids on the peninsula real access to Buist Academy. Kick out the fake address people and replace them with real Dist. 20 kids. Forget that stupid test. We all know it's just Mrs. Ballard's way of manipulating who gets in. While we're kicking people out, kick Sallie Ballard out and give us back our school.
Anonymous 22 is on to something here. Many of the problems that have been revealed at Buist can be traced to Sallie Ballard. Granted she gets here marching orders and help from a handful of others, but she is the one who chooses to act on them. She is doing some real damage to whatever good intentions were once associated with Buist Academy. She appears to be doing some real damage to the education of these students as well. It's well past time for Sallie Ballard to "retire". Let's not pass this serious administrative problem on to somewhere else either.
If the "Stephanie" who sometimes posts on this Blog is Stephanie Barna, I have a question for you.
Why don't you publish a real piece on Buist. You know the names of the cheaters.
Could it be that your own employee (admit it Bill Davis) played games with his address in order to increase the chances of getting his child in to Buist?
We can talk about this until the children of the cheaters graduate from High School and probably will. But the solution is simple. Take away the slots from the known cheaters, give them to those on the top of the waiting list, and be done with it.
Personally, I think that there should be only two lotteries--one for District 20 residents and one for those in failing schools. Giving an advantage to siblings--some of whom cheated to be in the school--just perpetuates the problem.
I note that every time some welfare mother is caught stealing it makes front page news. But no one seems to care when the connected steal from the rest of us by gaming the system.
And I don't really care what you call it or how you try to spin it--those who lied about their primary place of residence in order to get their children into Buist are stealing from the public in the same manner as a person who claims more deductions than warranted on his income tax or a person who pays an illegal immigrant to repair his roof under the table or a person who lies on his resume. Liars, thieves, and cheaters should be treated the same.
According to http://web.charleston.net/news/2007/dec/08/legislators_wish_list24422/#comments, legislation is being proposed to "Increase the fine from $200 to $1,000 or 90 days in jail for knowingly providing false information when enrolling a child in a school they're not eligible to attend for residency reasons or on other grounds, in addition to paying tuition costs." Apparently what the Buist cheater parents did is already illegal.
One last thing--Janet Rose does not have a clue. If you think she does, you should ask her how Heritage Community Services managed to administer 5,000+ sex surveys in Charleston County in violation of federal law without her knowledge. Go ahead, ask her about http://www.heritageservices.org/Stan%20Weed%27s%20HHS%20Conference%20article.pdf. Ask her who gave permission for Heritage to administer these surveys in CCSD.
If Senator Graham has his way, Janet Rose will not be allowing anyone to administer sex surveys in CCSD without permission.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Wes Hickman or Kevin Bishop
December 4, 2007 (202) 224-5972 / (864) 250-1417
Graham Introduces Parental Rights Legislation
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has introduced legislation strengthening the rights of parents in the education of their children.
“The rights of parents are under assault from school districts, teachers unions, and activist judges,” said Graham. “Parental rights do not and should not end at the schoolhouse door.”
In November 2005, a group of California parents brought suit against their school district for not being fully informed about a questionnaire given to their children containing strong sexual and violent content.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the parents claiming their rights do not, “extend beyond the threshold of the school door.” The court also stated that once parents choose to enroll their children in a particular educational program, they have no right to determine what information their children are exposed to at school, nor do they have the right to be the sole provider of sexual information to their children
The Parents’ Rights Empowerment and Protection Act (PREP) seeks to address the problems with the Court’s ruling. The legislation:
requires any educational institution receiving federal funds to obtain the affirmative, informed, written consent of the parent before requesting or conveying information to the child on matters related to sex or sexuality;
creates a private right of action for parents if an educational institution violates the required consent provisions;
temporarily cuts off federal funds for schools found to be in violation of this statute; and
reaffirms parents are primarily responsible for the care, health, and education of their children.
“It is unfortunate that this legislation is needed, but without it there is no way to correct an egregious court decision by the Ninth Circuit,” said Graham. “Eliminating parental input regarding public school decisions is a disaster for public schools. The last thing we need to do is to alienate or destroy parental involvement in public education.”
U.S. Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Jim DeMint (R-SC), John Ensign (R-NV), and James Inhofe (R-OK) have signed on as co-sponsors. The American Center for Law and Justice, Eagle Forum and Family Research Council have expressed support for the legislation.
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