The Case of the Disappearing Students in CCSD

Greg Mathis Charter School has 80 students enrolled, but last when visited only 33 were in attendance. What is the per pupil cost of running the school?

What's wrong with this picture?

CCSD's Future Virtually Empty?

Friday's P&C article on the growth of virtual schooling in South Carolina should be a quiet reminder to the Charleston County School District: maybe, just maybe, "big box" schools are not the wave of the future!

Kobrovsky Appointed to State Board of Ed

Larry Kobrovsky, former CCSD Board of Trustees member and recent thorn in the side of Superintendent Nancy McGinley, has been appointed to the State Board of Education.

Kobrovsky says he's interested in seeing better discipline in the classroom.

Go Larry!

Well, Why Didn't You Ask For a Break?

The Charleston Teacher Alliance's latest survey of Charleston County teachers hits on one of the more demeaning aspects of a classroom teacher's job: lunch duty.

Anyone who has taught full-time in a K through 12 environment knows the frustrations of days spent without opportunities to visit the restroom, much less have a few quiet minutes to himself or herself for mental and emotional rearmament. What other profession requiring a college degree would accept these working conditions?

Superintendent McGinley's response can be summed up as, "Well, now that I know how you feel, maybe CCSD can do something about it."

One more little fire to put out.

Chamber of Commerce Takes Over CCSD Board

They've finally shown their true colors: electing Chris Fraser as chairman of the Charleston County School Board of Trustees guarantees that the Chamber of Commerce now controls the actions of the CCSD Board.

Chris Fraser's connections to the Chamber of Commerce are well known, as were those of his predecessor from the Chamber of Commerce. In fact, it would not be a stretch to claim that there is a seat reserved on the Board for a Chamber of Commerce representative. Perhaps Fraser's taking control was payback for the Chamber's taking the initiative to spearhead the Yes4Schools campaign to pass the sales tax increase.

What most taxpayers do not know, since it was done by sleight-of-hand, is that the Yes4Schools campaign run by the Chamber was funded by part of the $40,000 given by CCSD to the Chamber for its Education Foundation.

This was an illegal move by CCSD to fund the campaign under the radar because it was forbidden from using its own budget.

That's right. Your tax dollars at work.

P.S. The four newly-elected members have performed predictably so far, including Craig Ascue, who rapidly caved to the Superintendent's wishes when it came to a vote. Maybe he will figure out what's really going on, given time.

McGinley Ready to Pat Herself on the Back

Fresh off her win on the sales tax increase, the Charleston County Schools Superintendent, Nancy McGinley, has decided that the taxpayers are in a spending mood.

How else to explain her adding to Monday's agenda a proposal for a $15,000 salary increase and extension of her contract? (Well, of course it could be a stratagem to see if the newly elected members will be lapdogs.)

What has the superintendent done besides raising our sales taxes to merit an increase?

• She has read the paper and discovered that CCSD suffers from a lack of literacy;


• She has played hopscotch with principals and assistant principals until no one is sure who's at what school any more;


• She has closed five schools so that she can brag about improving the district's track record in meeting NCLB;


• She has increased busing exponentially and eliminated neighborhood schools;


• She has consulted with Chicken Little and discovered that the San Francisco earthquake is coming to Charleston; and


• She has stonewalled a proper audit of district spending or the transparency of putting district expenditures on line.

For this we already pay nearly $200,000 per year. What a joke.

CCSD Voters Snookered Again

When the Charleston County School Board raises your property taxes during the next six years (and it will), at least you can console yourself that you weren't stupid enough to vote for the sales tax increase!