CCSD Should Ponder Palmetto Scholars Academy's Partnership

The Charleston County School District under ex-Superintendent McGinley forced Palmetto Scholars Academy (PSA) go to the statewide Public Charter School District for approval, knowing that CCSD's policies would prevent its operation. Now PSA has wisely taken advantage of a new law allowing "charter schools to set aside up to 50 percent of their enrollment for students with active-duty parents in exchange for locating on a military base"--in this case, Joint Base Charleston.

Here's another example of missed opportunity on CCSD's part. The idea of partnerships such as this one appears foreign to the Charleston County School District.  For $71,000 per year the Base will lease to the charter school almost 10 acres of land along Dorchester Road near Hunley Park where a new 45,000 square-foot school building should open to house a potential 500 students in January 2016. The new law guarantees enrollment preference to children of military personnel at the Base. The land for the school has been sitting vacant on the Base for years. Presently the school uses an old building on the Navy Base.

Despite CCSD's spite, PSA thrives as a school for gifted and talented, thanks to the ongoing efforts of its organizers. Maybe CCSD school board members should contemplate what's happening in their own backyard.