Superintendent McGinley of the Charleston County School District has a vision for Lincoln High School, quite a vision indeed! Apart from moving middle grades around without first consulting its very supportive community, she has plans to gut the courses offered at the school to include "core subjects" only.
But wait! It gets better. Lincoln High students will get to ride practically the length of Charleston County each morning and afternoon to Wando High School to take the rest of their required courses for a diploma. Golly, what fun! Perhaps someone could estimate the time involved: will these students need to rise at 4 or 5 a.m.? Will they return before 6 p.m.? Does McGinley even care?
Of course she does, or as she puts it, "Let me entertain you." These "special" coach buses will be equipped with Wi Fi. That means those with laptops can play games the whole way! Or sleep. Brilliant.
It seems that she envisions quite a marvelous future for Lincoln: several years of this cavalcade and Lincoln will disappear. That is the goal.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
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4 comments:
This would have been a ridiculously outlandish parody, if it wasn't true. Since it is true, it’s a pathetic example of arrogant condescension. Please remind me again. Why is she considered a great superintendent? With ideas like this, the only people more out of touch than she are the ones who continue to say she’s doing a great job.
By the way, the supporters of Lincoln, McClellanville and Awendaw communities should turn out in large numbers for a community meeting on Monday, March 4, at 6:30. It will be at St. James Santee Elementary School. It's been almost 4 years since this superintendent faced such a crowd in District One. She closed McClellanville Middle School after that meeting. The community wasn't happy with her then. They are probably less so now. This is our last chance to offer a better choice than the lame ones she's come up with.
Correction on place of meeting:
The meeting will be held at Lincoln Middle/High School, same date and time. She tried real hard to dictate the place where the meeting would be held - St. James-Santee. She doesn't want the board to see the run down Lincoln High School facility. I volunteer at the school, and I am embarrassed for the children. Simple supplies such as pencil sharpeners are not available in all classrooms. The Internet connection is slow as molasses. When teachers and administrators make requests for repairs, they are now being told, "You don't need that now. We are told that your school will be closing." This is one of the reasons why we cannot trust her. Don't believe the hype in Saturday's Post and Courier. She has made promises to this community in the past but never kept them.
I feel so badly for the children out here. They are really nice kids. The white parents in McCLellanville don't want their children to attend school with the black children. The Mt. Pleasant parents don't want our black children in their predominantly white schools either. This is one of the main reasons why the Awendaw-McClellanville Transition Team is advocating for a new middle/high school in the Awendaw area. There are many new developments being planned in the area. Perhaps these new parents will let their children attend school with our black children. It hurts to be scorned, and our children are well aware that they are not welcomed in the Mt. Pleasant schools.
Conditions are bad at Lincoln High. The CCSD should be ashamed of themselves to allow conditions to deteriorate to this level. We are going to continue the fight for a quality education for our children. Lincoln High School is 59 years old. It would cost many, many millions of dollars to upgrade it. The sewage/septic system alone would be a nightmare to upgrade. It's a complicated system in its current state. It is time to do right by our children. I don't hear the superintendent complaining about money she invests in the fine magnet schools and her latest thrust - Montessori schools. That's great, but it is our time now.
Great meeting at Lincoln last night. NJM wasn't pleased at all when the crowd took a straw poll. They considered whether to go along with the super's plan to move the middle school to St. James Elementary and to bus Lincoln High students to Wando for half of each school day. They alternative was to leave the middle school in place at Lincoln High and begin plans for constructing a new middle and high school campus closer to Awendaw. When the District One chairman called for a vote by standing, the crowd rose in unison to oppose the superintendent's plan. McGinley tried to object saying the county board had already made the decision to move the middle school. Six county board members were in attendance and appear to have gotten the message from the people. It will be a shocking surprise if the county board doesn't reverse its decision next Monday and allow the middle school grades to remain at Lincoln High.
Edisto, Hollywood and Baptist Hill, you're next. Take heart. Local communities don't believe jerking students around is good for anything, least of all developing a quality learning environment.
BTW, District 23's community meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 7. Not sure when or where.
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