SC Teacher Retention Letter Raises Valid Points

Brooks P. Moore's Letter to the Editor earlier this month made a number of recommendations regarding how to get and retain South Carolina's teachers. Below are some that need highlighting.

It's not about the money any more.

• Boost teacher morale by celebrating and validating the teaching profession.
• Allow our teachers to spend more time teaching than documenting what they do daily.
• Reward experienced teachers by extending the salary scale for years of experience.
• Set realistic and obtainable expectations for all teachers. Teachers are not superhuman.
• The business community needs to provide teacher discounts, just like they do for senior citizens and military discounts. This is an advantage to teachers and commerce.
• Provide principals and district level support staff with additional training on how to support and validate teachers. “It’s not what you say but how you say it.”

National Merit Exams Reveal Drawbacks of CCSD's Magnet High Schools

What happens when you put all of your eggs in one basket, or two baskets as the case may be in the Charleston County School District? Well, practically no one else has any eggs.

That's pretty much the situation revealed by this year's distribution of National Merit Semifinalists in CCSD: thanks to its magnet programs, only three of the district's 14 high schools have any eggs.

Don't get me wrong. Magnet schools are great for the students who test into them. In an atmosphere of achievement, the most talented students take the most advanced courses and prosper. And giant Wando High School even managed to produce seven without that advantage.

What happens in the other 11 high schools? Suddenly, your best students should be B students, but that doesn't happen. Instead, B work becomes A work, creating a false sense of achievement. High standards become almost impossible to maintain.

Motivation and drive go a long way, but not having a standard to look up to works against those left behind.

Meeting Street Schools Producing Results

While the educational establishment wishes to downplay the successes of Meeting Street Schools with poor and at-risk students, as Benjamin Navarro's Letter to the Editor shows, results don't lie.

"We recently began our tenth year operating Meeting Street Academy (MSA), an independent downtown school serving 244 under-resourced kids in grades Pre-K through five who would otherwise be attending a failing school."

"By way of background, we use a standardized testing regime called Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), a rigorous test used across Charleston County School District (CCSD) and by approximately 15,000 elementary schools around the country. We consider two primary measures: how did our students score on MAP at the end of the school year, and how much did our students grow academically over the course of the year?" 

"Well in fact, in the spring of 2017, MSA students scored on par with Sullivan’s Island Elementary and Mount Pleasant Academy — two of the most affluent and highest-performing schools in the district — achieving a median MAP score of 83rd percentile for reading and math combined! And in terms of growth for the academic year, MSA students grew at a median rate of 1.35 years, outpacing these wealthy district schools by a measurable amount."

"Our only requirement is that someone from the family — be it a parent, grandparent or other caregiver — partners with us in supporting what’s required for their child to learn."

"Meeting Street Elementary @ Brentwood (MSE@B) is a public Title One school where, as with all public neighborhood schools, all students who live in the enrollment zone can attend. MSE@B has just begun its fourth year in operation, with an enrollment of 590 students in grades Pre-K-3 through fourth grade."

"These students achieved a median MAP score in the 68th percentile, far surpassing the 36th percentile median score of other North Charleston Title One schools and the national median of 50th percentile. And MSE@B’s students grew at a median rate of 1.25 years, while other North Charleston Title One students actually lost ground — advancing only 0.92 years’ worth for the full year of instruction."

Where's the Op-Ed from Superintendent Postlewait or school board members explaining why all Title One schools can't perform this well?

Waiting. . . 

CCSD's Teacher Allocation Guidelines Ignored?

According to Lowcountry Source's Robin Steinberger, parents and teachers in the Charleston County School District are frustrated that the administration is not following its own guidelines in teacher allocation.

Overcrowded kindergarten classes:

"One teacher states that the three kindergarten classes at her school have 77 students. Each class is to have no more than 25 students; therefore, the school should be allocated 4 teachers. The teacher further states that Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait now says that the classes need 27 students in-order-to be allocated another teacher. This is in violation of district policy."

Lack of middle-school vice principal:

"Deer Park Middle has only one vice principal. The enrollment at Deer Park is over 500 students. Garrett Academy has 3 vice principals with around 400 students. A parent stated that this is the only school in North Charleston with one vice principal."

Preschool students uncounted in total enrollment:

"CCSD has decided not to count preschool students in the teacher allocations for a school. Because of this, the school lost a teacher."

Chaos in CCSD's Human Resources office: 

"The Human Resources office at CCSD is disorganized and in chaos. Teacher and administrative positions are not allocated based on policy. When teachers are re-assigned, the students are then divided up among other classes, increasing class size. Lowcountry Source previously reported on shortages among school psychologists, and the adverse effect it had on special needs students. All of this upheaval is disruptive to the climate in the schools."

Well, here are the administrators to contact. Good luck with that!

Charleston County School District » Divisions » Human Resources » Meet the Team

Terri NicholsAssociate Superintendent of Leadership Development
terri_nichols@charleston.k12.sc.us





​


Director of Teacher Recruitment & StaffingKathleen Magliacane
kathleen_magliacane@charleston.k12.sc.us






Director of Classified StaffingYvonne Marshall
yvonne_marshall@charleston.k12.sc.us





Director of Business Services
Krishinda Jenkins
krishinda_jenkins@charleston.k12.sc.us





Interim Director of Teacher Evaluation
Susan Watson-Bell
susan_watson-bell@charleston.k12.sc.us





Interim Director of Certified Administrator Staffing
Francine Mitchell
francine_mitchell@charleston.k12.sc.us





Compensation Officer
Robert Bowers
robert_bowers@charleston.k12.sc.us

Teacher Shortage Not Alleviated by Education Innovation Forum

A Letter To the Editor worth posting. 

Not written by the PR department of Spearman's Department of Education!

Letters: Teacher shortage

I attended the Aug. 31 Education Innovation Forum at the Francis Marion Hotel, because I was attracted by the possibility of an honest discussion about teacher shortage and retention. I was sadly disappointed, because it became a typical administrative “pat each other’s back” for a job well done.

There was no mention of the negative perception of teachers by the public and the general student body, no discussion of the reasons for the middle class abandoning public schools or of the funding needed to adequately pay the teaching staff. Nothing was mentioned about the low morale of teachers as a consequence of administrative neglect and abuse. We have allowed adults to abrogate their responsibility to discipline children when they misbehave in the classroom.

The superintendent offered nothing to the conversation. And there was no mention of the fact that the governor proposed the previous day to remove the teachers’ pension and replace it with a 401(k). School officials spoke of using PR to elevate the perception of the teacher. I think they meant to increase the deception of the public. Poverty was mentioned as the biggest obstacle for learning.

My friends and I were poor as church mice, yet we became scientists, engineers, scions of industry and, yes, teachers. Attitude is the obstacle to success in the classroom.

The primary speaker spent an hour trumpeting her program, mentioning innovation and digital portals, along with other such meaningless edu-speak, the kind that I was subjected to during my 30 years as a high school teacher. I reminded her that the only portal that was used in my day was between our ears, and it was very successful.

Too much money is wasted on services that are duplicated on the state and federal level. If we are going to attract youngsters to the teaching profession, the role of the administrator must be changed to one of support for teachers. The only people who count in the educational process are the teachers and their students. Everyone else is superfluous. [italics mine]

Ian Kay
Wingo Way

Amen!

Why Must Allegro Charter Fight for Space in CCSD?

This public charter school desires to serve the downtown community. As long as charters cannot afford to provide busing, Allegro should remain downtown. 

Problem is, the Charleston County School District wants Allegro (and all other charters) to fail.

The impossibility of putting Allegro into Burke High, where the halls are so empty that they echo, remains a mystery. Allegro has agreed to disagree. Who will provide enough classroom space downtown for a projected 350 students also remains a mystery. Any space large enough is becoming a hotel. As the peninsula becomes a museum, perhaps Allegro's hunt for downtown space is doomed.

"'One struggle is our own lofty mission, to serve primarily the peninsula and give them a great option for an art school,' said Principal Daniel Neikirk. 'Of course, it’s tremendously difficult to find anything on the peninsula.'"

http://www.allegrocharterschool.org

Vacant school buildings owned by CCSD sit rotting downtown. Anyone ever hear of Fraser?

Reading Levels: Meeting Street Schools Working in CCSD?

Why are so many Charleston County students unable to read to learn in the fourth grade? Let's stop blaming teachers and look at reality. The reality is poverty and poor parenting. No amount of curriculum tweaking will overcome it.

If a child is not on reading level in the third grade, disaster awaits with the rest of his or her educational career. With social promotion that child falls farther and farther behind, finally dropping out or graduating without the literacy needed for a job that doesn't consist of physical labor alone.

Is there any path to the Charleston County School District's replicating the results of Meeting Street Schools outside of Meeting Street Schools?

Gerry Katz's recent Letter to the Editor pointed out the following:

"Children who enter MSS preschool education system at 3 years in pre-K and graduate MSS elementary school in fifth grade have Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) scores in the top 5 percent nationally, and have been accepted into high-achieving public and private middle schools."

"Using nationally recognized MAP education standards to determine student academic preparedness, third-grade MSS students are shown to achieve competency in the 98th percentile in reading. By comparison, third graders in North Charleston Title 1 schools have MAP reading scores in the 20th percentile."

"On the basis of MAP testing, the MSS model for under-resourced children is five times more effective than the Charleston County School District model for educating under-resourced children to read proficiently on grade level at the end of third grade."

"Under-resourced children: a) Do not have a literacy-rich home environment; b) Do not have parents who can support their educational needs; and c) Do not have systems to neutralize the negative home drivers that prevent under-resourced children from learning. Under-resourced children cannot respond positively to first-grade instruction." Sad but true.

Does CCSD now have enough data to drive a decision on securing the future of its most at-risk students?

SC's ACT Scores: No Future Comparisons

See, South Carolina's required ACT results weren't really all that bad, but as usual, next year's changes in testing will guarantee future results cannot be compared. Next year, some students will opt out of ACT testing for SAT testing instead.

To be only 1.1 points lower than the other states that required all students to take the test is not such a bad result. Yes, we are below the national average by more than two points, but look around you. South Carolina also has one of the most disadvantaged populations in the country.

No, it's more important to point out that Charleston County actually bested Dorchester District 2! Imagine how much it would be if all of Dorchester County was included!

That only 15 percent met all College Readiness benchmarks is much more problematic, since more than 15 percent of high school graduates enter college--hence high numbers in remedial college classes.

"The proportion of graduates showing virtually no readiness for college coursework remained sizable. In the class of 2017, half of South Carolina’s students and 33 percent nationwide met none of the benchmarks, suggesting they are likely to struggle during their first year in college." Shudder to break that one down by race!

Does anyone wonder why we haven't seen the stats for individual high schools, since we can see those for Academic Magnet and School of the Arts? How about Burke, West Ashley, and Stall? 

Let's start with them.

CCSD's Ignoring History of Local Schools Enervates Support

Everyone understands that some local schools no longer exist, whether through consolidation or closing. What rankles long-time residents is the utter disdain from the current and previous administrators of the Charleston County School District for the history of the schools. You only need attempt to track down a yearbook from the seventies from any local high school, with the possible exception of Burke, the only high school allowed to keep its original name, to find this truth.

So it is bittersweet to see that someone actually cared to rehang a specially-commissioned portrait of FDR in the current Moultrie Middle School and that a portrait of Francis Marion has returned:

"According to Town of Mount Pleasant archives, Gen. William Moultrie High School, originally on Pitt St., relocated to Coleman Blvd. in 1944. In 1973, students moved into the new Wando High School on Whipple Road. The old high school became Moultrie Middle School. This facility was demolished in 2007 and the new building was completed in 2009. That was the third Moultrie School to be built on site. The Moultrie Schools were named in honor of Gen. William Moultrie, the highest ranking South Carolina officer during the Revolutionary War and hero of the 1776 Battle of Fort Sullivan, which was later renamed Fort Moultrie. He fought in the S.C. Militia during the 1761 Cherokee Wars, and served in the Royal Assembly and first Provincial Congress. He was elected Lieutenant Governor and was Governor twice. While Governor, he relocated the capital from Charleston to Columbia and established the county system and county court system. Moultrie designed the first S.C. state flag during the American Revolution."

"Through the years school archives were lost and sometimes thrown away. [italics mine] Some were even given away. And that turned out to be a blessing in terms of a portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt."

"Common tradition is for a graduating class to gift something to the school. The class of 1944 commissioned a portrait of Gen. William Moultrie by local artist and actress Alicia Rhett. The following graduating class commissioned an oil portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also by Rhett.

"Talk of those portraits took place recently between a local mother and daughter. Doris Dayhoff, a 1944 graduate of Moultrie explained to her daughter Linda Dayhoff Smith, a 1970 graduate, the significance of those and other gifts.

"This got Smith to wondering what had become of the portraits. She called the Charleston County School District and officials there were unsure. [italics mine] The new principal Ryan Cumback was too.

"Smith happened to run into an old family friend at the grocery store recently. He just so happened to be a Moultrie graduate, retired Wando teacher and local historian. Why is this important? Well, when she told him what she was up to regarding the missing portraits, he smiled and said he was in possession of the Roosevelt portrait. The school's fifth commencement gift had been offered to him when items were being removed from the old Wando in preparation for the move to the new facility.

"I almost fainted in aisle two of the grocery store," Smith said. "Of course I asked him if he would return it to the school and he was happy to do it."

"As a teacher at Wando he frequented the library because he was a social studies teacher. There were often stacks of books that the librarians were disposing of or giving away, but on one particular occasion there were stacks of portraits. Among them was the Roosevelt.[italics mine]"

"I looked in corner and saw that it was an Alicia Rhett who played India Wilkes in 'Gone with Wind.' I thought that really it should not be thrown away and I took it for safe keeping," Williams said."

"Also, Roosevelt was the president of Williams' childhood. A president during a time of war. It was important to Williams that the portrait be salvaged." Not important to CCSD, however!

"In a small ceremony Williams, Smith, Dayhoff, Cumback and district officials met to return and hang the FDR portrait in it's proper place in the halls of Moultrie Middle. Talk turned to the missing Gen. Moultrie portrait when Cumback realized they were referring to the very one hanging just down the hall in the vestibule. It was removed from the wall for inspection and in light script a scrawled message on the back read, "given back by class of 1960." During a reunion they think took place in 1986 which would have been their 25th reunion. The story behind this is unknown."

"As of last week, the only other Rhett portrait that was missing is that of Francis Marion given by the Class of 1946. On Friday, an anonymous person came forward to return the painting."

How does an area that prides itself on its history put up with this stuff? 

CCSD has shown its utter disregard for the past. 

School Buses Versus College Scholarships in SC

Ah, yes. The "education" lottery!

Back in 2002, SC voters approved a state lottery whose proceeds would fund education. Where has that money gone in the past 15 years, and where should it go in the future? Should funds be used to update the state's aged fleet of school buses? Should proceeds fund scholarships for college students? Politicians disagree.

One sure result of the state's watering down its grading system is that many more high school graduates will qualify for college scholarships. Where will the extra money come from? Why has the legislature not tightened up qualifications? At the rate we're going, soon half of every graduating class will qualify.

Meanwhile, South Carolina purchases used school buses that other states have deemed too old to be on the roads. 

Anyone see a problem here? 

Maybe the problem is that only one-fourth of money spent on lottery tickets is ever used for any educational spending. If three-fourths is not spent on education, how do politicians justify calling it the education lottery? Semantics.

And don't get me started on the fact that the lottery is a tax on the poorest among us.

SC's Teacher Shortage Not About Money

Scholarships for those pursuing teaching are effective. South Carolina's Teaching Fellows program has worked over the last 17 years, according to State Superintendent Molly Spearman. So too the Call Me MISTER program to recruit black males to become teachers. 

Not so much the recruiting drive to import teachers from out of state. Looked upon from the Lowcountry angle, no one should be surprised. Take the Charleston County School District, for example. The beauties of the area beckon; then the reality of its struggling schools defeats all but the most dedicated recruits. 

Locals tend to stay; those from off leave. 

"Dorchester School District 2 Superintendent Joe Pye said school districts need to find a way to recruit more locals, who tend to stick around longer."

"We travel all over the North and we haul them in by busloads because they can't find jobs," Pye said, "but the beach only attracts them for a year."

Let's make South Carolina's schools of education first rate and recruit outstanding students to attend. Pay attention to Jody Stallings's points about teaching conditions as published previously.

Gone are the days when female college graduates settled for teaching as the only possible career and put up with all the nonsense. The days of treating teachers as non-professionals should disappear as well.

Note to CCSD: What Teachers Really Want

Jody Stallings is my hero. He's the only person who seems to understand why teachers leave the profession so often. It's not about the money, as he clarified earlier this week in his Moultrie News column:

"Many people think that offering higher salaries will help recruit better teachers. I’m not so sure. It might just attract greedier ones. The best teachers seem to have a unique passion for students that surpasses financial gain. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a man who will turn down a good raise, and everyone needs a living wage. But as much as it pains me to do so, I have to look at the issue critically."

[snip]

"And that, to me, is the real issue. It isn’t that teachers are outright underpaid. All things considered, we probably get compensated quite fairly. It’s that we are underpaid in proportion to the amount of sludge we have to endure. Personally, I’d take a pay cut if it meant I could simply teach. But that’s not how it works. Teachers have to struggle with out-of-control students daily; verbal and physical assaults; nasty, unsupportive parents; antagonistic administrators; mountains of paperwork; a clunky, inefficient, ineffective system; long days with high-stress and no breaks; and school boards who think all the burdens of society should be placed on teachers’ backs."

"I recognize that reasonable minds may disagree, but to the powers that be I say keep the money and give me sanity. Mandate that parents support their children’s educations. Hire principals who will back us up in our decisions. Empower teachers to restore order and discipline to the classroom. And make education about more than just test scores."

"For a teacher one of the warmest thoughts of all is being able to make a difference in the lives of students without having to fight those who should be our biggest supporters at each and every turn."

Amen and amen!

CCSD Should Offer More Training for Boeing Jobs

Since 2007, Lockheed Martin "has been providing scholarship funds to Greenville Technical College for the school's aviation maintenance and training facility." 

Six high schools in the state have taken advantage of a $50,000 grant from the South Carolina Department of Education to offer a curriculum  "designed to appeal to students who are curious about the design and flight of aircraft and spacecraft vehicles. The curriculum, designed by the Southern Regional Education Board, consists of four courses: fundamentals of aerospace technology; advanced aerospace technology; aeronautics engineering application; and astronautics engineering applications." 

Happily, Stall High School in North Charleston is one of them.

"Spearman said she recently visited R.B. Stall High School in North Charleston, where the curriculum is being taught, and "was surprised to walk into a classroom where the students were on a simulator learning how to fly a plane."

"Their interest has been sparked, and we need to now supply a pathway for them all the way from elementary to high school so they can walk right into the technical training they need to be successful," she said.

"For the curriculum to succeed, however, Spearman and others said they need the industry's feedback.

"We don't know it all," Spearman told industry leaders. "If we're going to get every child in the state ready, we need help. You have an open invitation to come into our schools."

Boeing, we're calling your number!

Now, that's a high-tech program we can all support.

Memminger's International Baccalaureate Result of Parental Determination

Nine years! Not exactly turning on a dime, was it?

A decade ago, parents in the attendance zone surrounding Memminger Elementary in downtown Charleston asked themselves why a failing, nearly 100 percent black school existed in an affluent, white-majority zone. They wanted to improve the school's integration and its academics. Wise heads decided that an internationally-recognized academic program would lure white (and middle-class black) parents to take a chance on Memminger. 

The Charleston County School District balked in 2008 when parents first proposed the IB program: it cost money that she-who-cannot-be-criticized, our great former superintendent, was unwilling to spend for accreditation and language teachers. Instead, Memminger got "IB-lite," which was about as satisfactory as "lite" beer. Under that administration, only prized Buist Academy deserved IB.

Fast forward after five years of "global studies": 

"After a second push for IB in 2013, the school began the process to earn authorization. On April 21, 2017, IB officially authorized Memminger."

"Memminger has 326 students enrolled this year, with about half coming from the school's attendance zone and half coming from elsewhere in the county through the school's partial-magnet lottery admissions. The sleek modern campus, opened in 2013, still has room for about 100 more students."

Memminger should give Buist a run for its money. Implementing Core Knowledge would have been cheaper, but we'll take what we can get.

Thank CCSD: Gun in North Charleston Classroom Imported from West Ashley

Students often petition the Charleston County School District to attend high schools outside their attendance zones. Many times the student wishes to take courses not offered by his or her local high school. 

So now we wonder: what course of study could be available at tiny North Charleston High School that is not offered by mega West Ashley High School? Or could there be another, more nefarious, reason why a 17-year-old resident of West Ashley would be attending NCHS?

Not long ago Burke High School was the dumping ground of choice for students with bad conduct records. Has North Charleston become the new Burke? Which high school did this student attend last year, and why was he attending North Charleston High?

"Officers learned that a teacher heard a 'pop' sound coming from inside of the classroom and began to walk about the room to determine what the sound may have been," Pryor said. "At that time, the teacher smelled the odor of what was believed to be gunpowder and instructed students to exit the classroom." 

Shortly after, a male student was seen walking down East Montague Avenue and detained by officers, he said. 

"At that point, officers discovered the student was suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg," Pryor said. "Emergency officials examined the wound and determined that it was consistent with being self-inflicted. The victim was transported to the hospital for treatment. A handgun was discovered in a parking lot near the school."

Insurance for Paying Ransom? Dorchester County District 2 Hacked

It's a sign of the times. Now you can insure yourself against paying ransom.

Say what?

Yes, insurance exists to protect your data. In fact, Dorchester County School District 2 was reimbursed this summer for paying $2900 in ransom to regain access to the data on 24 of  25 servers affected, approximately 40 percent of its total servers. Its "insurance coverage" funded the payment. The district is reconstructing the data not regained using hard copy and other details from those affected.

In other words, DD2 was hacked.

"During the investigation, district officials contacted the S.C. Department of Education's chief security officer, the State Law Enforcement Division and other law enforcement agencies, as well as attorneys for help with the situation, the report said."

"Officials approved a security assessment contract with a "technology solution company," the report said. The company has identified weaknesses in the system and is expected to make recommendations during a mid-September school board meeting on how to shore them up."

Weaknesses in the system? That should be an interesting meeting. Of course, no one's job will be affected.