Sunday, April 07, 2013

CCSD's Definition of Insanity: McGinley's Tin Ear on Improving Schools

According to Sunday's print edition, "It’s the cliché promise of second chances: “This time, it’ll be different.”

That’s how some say they feel about Charleston County School Superintendent Nancy McGinley’s newest effort to improve four low-achieving schools — and they’re not buying it.
“This isn’t a new concept,” said Kent Riddle, who leads the Charleston Teacher Alliance, a teacher advocacy group. “They’re saying it’s different, but it’s not.”

The Renaissance Schools Project aims to transform four schools, Burns Elementary, North Charleston Elementary, Memminger Elementary and Sanders-Clyde Creative Arts.

This isn’t the first time the district has tried to turn around a school by changing its some staff, but officials said they have learned from past experiences.

“We’ve never put the package together the way it is now,” McGinley said. “It’s not the same old, same old. This is taking what we know are the essentials of effective schools ... and we’re putting the package together.”

The school board signed off on the plan in January, and officials are moving forward with making it a reality.
The reality is that Superintendent McGinley is fresh out of ideas from the Broad Institute. And unwilling to listen to insistent voices in the community that have different ideas about how to turn around failing schools.

How long will the rubber-stamp school board travel on this ship of fools?

3 comments:

D20 said...

In an earlier posting of this report when one person questioned the district's ability to find 188 effective teachers to work in these four schools, the superintendent responded by saying she felt confident the district would have enough applicants. It was notable that she made no reference to having enough "effective" teachers in the application pool for these schools.

Anonymous said...

My favorite part is that McGinley promises the teachers who are not good enough for these schools, a position in another CCSD school.

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