Friday, May 30, 2008

Let's Hear NAACP's Scott on Sea Islands Failure

Would you believe that Charleston's chapter of the NAACP is now calling for Governor Sanford to remove Arthur Ravenel, Jr., from the CCSD Board of Trustees over Ravenel's use of language? As reported by local TV stations, Dot Scott is at it again.

Some things that don't bother Scott and the other officers of the NAACP:
  • de facto segregated schools in District 20 (on the peninsula);
  • under-the-radar busing of white students out of District 20 and black students in to make segregation possible;
  • the CCSD Superintendent's foray into charter schools as part of changing Murray Hill Academy represented by the monumental and expensive failure of Sea Islands YouthBuild;
  • the failure of CCSD to provide programs at Burke High School desired by its parents;
  • overloading of resources on Buist Academy as a magnet school while withholding same from Charleston Progressive Academy, an almost all-black magnet school only two blocks away; etc.
How could Ravenel's remarks possibly be as damaging to CCSD as these failures? It's all politics, folks. As long as the majority on the CCSD board aligns itself with Dot Scott, we can expect more of the same.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting a spotlight on exactly what's wrong here. You'd think that if Babbie could reduce this so simply, the P&C should have made the space on its pages long ago to say the same.

These are real issues that should stir us all, yet the local chapter of the NAACP is missing it totally. So please remind me, why is the NAACP relevant any more?

Anonymous said...

I agree.

Anonymous said...

OK, it's conspiracy theory time. What if this is more than it looks like. How convenient it would be for McGinley let others do her dirty work. The NAACP wasn't exactly singing the praises of McGinley when she was appointed last year when they trashed her in a news conference and rally just like the ones they are spinning against AR. Arthur Ravenel has been pressing hard for openings for new charter schools. The math and science one is just the biggest one to come out of the gate and the administration is strongly opposed to them, no matter what they have been saying. If left on the current course McGinley would be on the loosing end of both agendas, AR's and activists in the minority community. What better way to take down both of her opponents than by locking them together in a death dance unconnected to McGinley and determined to take each other down. McGinley can now say "this is behind me, let's move on" and look like a saint. She's no longer in the crossfire. What if she put this together for just that reason. She might be smarter and more politically savvy than you think.

Babbie said...

I don't know. I usually go with the stupidity theory rather than conspiracy. After all, someone was bound to notice that the CSMS agreement had been left off the agenda again.

Anonymous said...

I'll agree with Babbie. Controversy involving CCSD is too often caused by just plain stupidity.

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand why the Superintendent is making and breaking the agenda.
Who's the Chair of the School board?

Anonymous said...

The chair is thrilled to side with McGinley right now. He doesn't want a school that works downtown because then the real blame is apparent. He also is the same person that was sued by two women for sexual harassment