Let's play charades! CCSD administration and particularly School Board member Gregg Meyers have the game perfected. Why, Chip Campsen even admitted as much in Wednesday's edition of the P & C. [See School Panels Lure Few for these unguarded comments.]Ready to play? My category is a quote or phrase, so imagine quotation marks.
I'm holding up four fingers, one for each word, and I'm working on the fourth word. I'm laying four fingers on my arm for the syllables. I've put my hands together with the fingers interlaced and waving, so that they appear to be eight people.
Yessss! On the nose--the word is "integrated." That's "status as being integrated." Read on.
The P & C laments that few have chosen to run for CCSD's constituent boards. As Courrege writes, "their increasingly limited powers and responsibilities have led to growing frustration among their members and waning interest in this second tier of the district's structure."
A statement from Doug Berger of the District 20 (downtown) board reveals the downside of constituent membership: "'You can only beat your head up against the wall for so long. . . ; Constituent boards have a lot of inherent value, but without a budget and being able to get an FOIA request honored, we're put in a stranglehold.'" Strangled, of course, by 75 Calhoun and School Board members like Meyers.
Getting rid of the constituent boards would change the structure of CCSD, and "Constituent boards were part of the reason the courts found the school district to be desegregated." Thus, "changing the district's structure could disrupt its status as being integrated [italics mine] and lead to lawsuits and expenses."
Well, so long as the Justice Department thinks that the District 20 schools are integrated, we can breathe easy.
Meyers adds that "the state could make any change it wants to the district's structure, and it wouldn't affect its status as 'unitary.' The state could get into trouble only if it makes changes motivated by a racial discriminatory purpose or whether those changes have a racially discriminatory effect."
He should know. According to those statements, CCSD is already in trouble.
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4 comments:
What an irony. Gregg Meyers, who brags about his work as a civil rights attorney, now reveals himself as a segregation obstructionist. It seems KKK fellow travelers cloak themselves in many odd and different ways. How well the infamous white robes fit him as he argues against truth, justice and civil rights.
The only white robe Gregg Meyers wears is the one where he has annointed himself God. Throw the bum out in two years.
But can we keep some of the other bums off who want to join him on the board?
When honest and reasonably informed people want to serve on the board they either get painted as extremists or dismissed as light weights. Ask the current crop of candidates why such a high percentage of school aged kids don't attend local public schools. If they give you some answer like too many drop outs or they go to school in another county instead, these are the ones that can't make heads or tails out of ordinary facts. They will believe anything the administration or Gregg Meyers tells them. But if the candidate says it’s because Charleston County schools don't offer what most responsible parents want for their children or because the perception of CCSD is poor, then those candidates get it.
The trouble with this election is will the voters get it before they cast a ballot for a candidate that just makes them feel good and then hope for the best. We need board members who are open to hearing parent concerns and who are part of a solution, including supporting charter options. We don’t need talking heads like Toya Green who ignore parents and are too quick to be seen as sucking up to entrenched bureaucrats. I see more of the same coming from Ann Oplinger and Chris Fraser.
At least David Engelman and Marvin Stewart have a mind of their own. They also have proven experience in representing parents, teachers and taxpayers. What I find most interesting is Marvin Stewart's answer to how he would judge Dr. McGinley's performance. He said 'the jury's still out' and he wants to work with her as a board member before he passes judgment. Consider this. He's been either chairman or vice-chairman of the downtown constituent board for 8 out of the last 10 years, 5 of these were while Dr. McGinley was either the Chief Academic Officer or the Superintendent. If he hasn't gotten close enough to the Superintendent by now to make a judgment call, what does that say about Dr. McGinley's accessibility and transparency? Not much.
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