What's wrong with the P&C's reporting on education? What about the lead on Monday's article, Fewer Schools Likely to Offer Transfers?Amen to that!"Marvin Stewart says Charleston County is not educating its children.
"He believes the curriculum in our public schools is not challenging enough, is uneven between "good" schools and "failing" schools. Many students who graduate from Charleston County schools aren't ready for higher education.
"Stewart says the district spends too much on gimmicks that don't work, such as partial magnet schools or arts-infused elementary schools.
"He says the district makes itself look better on paper by simply shutting down failing schools -- Brentwood, Rivers, Courtney -- instead of putting in the hard work to turn them around.
"For that reason, he's skeptical about the district's plan to shut down many downtown schools because of earthquake concerns, and questions whether those schools will ever reopen.
"These are strong charges -- charges the district disagrees with. But some community folks say the same things.
"The most amazing thing about these charges is that Marvin Stewart is not simply a mad parent; he is chairman of the downtown constituent school board.
Not a hypocrite
"Constituent school boards usually toil in obscurity, working directly with parents on transfers and the like. They rarely speak up. Stewart is the exception.
"A former high school teacher, he says his eyes were opened when his oldest daughter asked to be transferred out of her high school. He was shocked -- it was his alma mater, and she was doing well. But she said she wasn't learning anything. Stewart insisted his daughter be admitted to Academic Magnet.
"She now has a Ph.D.
"Stewart says these days there are school staffers who work at one school but send their kids to others. He doesn't blame them -- he did the same thing -- but then, he is not claiming that failing schools are actually succeeding.
"You shouldn't endorse a product you aren't using," he says.
A whistleblower
"In his 12 years on the constituent school board, Stewart has been vilified by some. A few officials aren't pleased that he praises the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science while criticizing district-generated programs.
"He saw the result of that ire when he ran for the county school board a couple years ago. The establishment came down on him hard.
"Stewart is unsure how much longer he can hold on to his constituent board job -- the entire board is up for re-election in November.
"The only reason I stay on the board is because I've helped 1,000 parents get their children out of District 20 schools," he says.
"He doesn't claim to have all the answers, but says the district needs a CEO and an external audit, as well as an outside consultant not swayed by local politics. But mostly, he says, there needs to be a consistent and challenging curriculum throughout the district.
"Whether you agree or not, one thing is certain: Marvin Stewart cares about schoolchildren. And for that reason his concerns deserve a listen."
"No one in the community will trust the budget process until CCSD's expenditures are transparent. Here is CCSD's opportunity to begin regaining trust by starting, as a reader has suggested, with a truly independent forensic audit of the entire financial operation. Not only does the District have the need, it's the perfect time with a new Chief Financial Officer just come on board.Unfortunately, there hasn't been a start. Déjà vu all over again.
"Several years ago the last one, limited just to cell-phone usage, saved about a million dollars in the first year by plugging the holes in the system allowing expensive and duplicate contracts while being unable to prevent abuse of the equipment by some CCSD employees.
"Here's the opportunity to take the same approach with the bus system, food services, concessions, facilities management, copy equipment, etc. CCSD could save many times annually what it recovered on the cell-phone system.
"A good forensic auditor wouldn't cost CCSD a dime. The auditor's work can be paid for by a reasonable and relatively small percentage of whatever money it actually recovers for CCSD and whatever is documented as saving the district in the first year after it identifies measurable waste and how to stop it.
"Okay, so that won't solve this year's problems. It's a start.
"she came to find out why the district seemed to be pushing to relocate students as soon as possible without a plan for when they could return. She left with the same question. She said no one explained why, after decades of use by students, the buildings were now being declared unsafe, and she believes the district intends to close more downtown schools. 'I'm all for safety,' she said. 'The whole thing is, why all of a sudden is it such a rush?'"Isn't that what we're all asking?
"McGinley planned to e-mail all of the principals of schools where more than 70 percent of teachers cited problems with the way their school handles discipline. She said she was doing so to ensure that the principals were aware of their concerns."Well, that should be effective!
Maybe they hoped to overcome the ugliness of the building itself! [Centerpiece at New Sanders-Clyde School]
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