Charleston Coalition For Kids, chaired by Josh Bell, plans to hijack the Charleston County School Board. This scenario has been produced by our impossible system of nonpartisan, countywide voting for candidates. School board candidates are self-selected and unknown to all but a small circle of friends and relatives except for those encouraged to run by the superintendent, NAACP, or Chamber of Commerce. Everyone can see the results.
Now with a founding membership composed largely of the biggest movers and shakers in the county--mostly Democrats, including Joe Riley, by the way--Josh Bell's organization plans a coup.
According to Bell,
"We believe that the status quo is unacceptable: Only 20 percent of African American third-graders are reading on grade level, and 38 percent of all Charleston County eighth-graders are proficient in math. More than 10,000 students attend a school that is failing to educate the majority of its students at or above grade level."
All can agree that is unacceptable.
"The dysfunction on the school board is evident to anyone paying attention: Small-minded turf wars, arbitrary decision-making driven by the self-interests of board members, painfully protracted board meetings characterized by in-fighting, and micromanagement of the district with an absence of focus on student outcomes."
We need a lock-step board that kowtows to the superintendent's every wish?
"Recently, a letter to the editor called into question the values and motives of Charleston Coalition For Kids. It questioned our partnership with parent advocates in Charleston RISE and my background as executive director of Teach For America-South Carolina."
Bell hopes that Charleston will follow the lead of school boards in Indianapolis, Denver, and Baton Rouge. His two years teaching in Charlotte with his history degree from Clemson showed him what works. Hmm.
Earlier this summer Bell promised to name the candidates supported by the Coalition in August.
It's mid-September. Have I been asleep?
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