Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Diversity Management Looms on CCSD Agenda


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Evidently, Superintendent Postlewait and the Charleston County School Board hope that a bunch of folks from "off" can steer them in the politically correct direction. 

Don't fool yourself that the "study of CCSD management practices" from a Clemson University team will be done by South Carolinians. No, for a mere $135,000, diversity in Charleston County will be directed by those from Michigan. And they aren't educators, either.

In addition, we are the guinea pigs, the first school district that has signed up for the team's efforts.

When did "integration" become "diversity"? We no longer speak of the benefits of integrated schools; now the buzzwords concern diversified schools. It's no accident that these concepts come from management gurus: the treatment of education as a business is reaching new highs (or lows, if you like). You can always tell when you see the word "stakeholders."

Who decides the parameters of "diverse"? 

Obviously, CCSD believes it should not be the local community--hence the need for outside intervention. For example, would it be diverse to hire a creationist to teach biology? Perish the thought. How about making sure that every letter of LGBTQ is represented in the high school faculty? That would be diverse, wouldn't it? Or each teacher should have graduated from a different school of education? We can figure out right away that's not the goal.

If we're merely hoping to have more even distribution of racial minorities across the district's schools, shouldn't we just say so? Clearly, the concerns of the black community propelled this new foray into the edublob (and who can blame them). 

If reports are to be believed, Postlewait plans to implement the team's recommendations as soon as they arrive. Trusting, isn't she?

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