Analysis of CCSD's Rating Shows How Statistics Can Lie

I haven't always agreed with Jon Butzon, but his analysis of the statistics being touted by the Charleston County School District should be read by all.

Job One: Find the right superintendent
BY JON BUTZON
Nov 19 2014 12:01
An old Navy friend of mine is fond of saying, "Experience is the best teacher. Considering what it costs, it ought to be." Now that there is a big "Help Wanted" sign out at 75 Calhoun Street, I thought it might be useful for the new school board to consider how our most recent experience could inform the search for the next superintendent.

Some great slogans have come out of CCSD. My personal favorites are "All Means All," "The Victory is in the Classroom," and the lesser known "A Tale of Two Districts."

Let's start with "All Means All." Even just a cursory review of student achievement data suggests it's really more like "All Means Some." Here are a few examples.


On the 2014 ACT (unlike school ratings, this is an actual measure of students' college readiness) the five lowest performing high schools in all of South Carolina are in Charleston County. The bottom five in our state!

They are Lincoln (the state's lowest at 12.7), Burke (13.1), North Charleston (13.4), St. Johns (14.0) and Garrett (14.1). The vast majority of students in these schools are economically disadvantaged and minority.

Let's be clear - these embarrassingly low ACT scores aren't the students' fault. They are the result of a systemic achievement gap that still defines CCSD, despite a ton of spending, new ideas and interventions. The ACT folks determine a 21 and above to be "college ready." Last year, the 1,099 white seniors who took the ACT earned an impressive 22.8, compared to the 692 black students whose average score was only 14.9, and the 127 Hispanic students who scored 18.7. Seniors at CCSD's suburban and competitive magnet schools far exceeded national averages. These are the same exact trends we were seeing 10 years ago.

So, we need a superintendent who can accomplish more than great slogans. We need a superintendent who can not only close, but can eliminate the achievement gap.

Let's look at another popular saying: "The Victory is in the Classroom." Unfortunately, over the last six years, this victory has been defined by race and income. The black/white achievement gap on the PASS tests has widened over the last six years in English language arts in grades 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and in math in grades 4, 5, 6 and 7. The gap for low-income children as measured by comparing free lunch children with full-pay children has also widened in both English language arts and math in grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. The widening gap means the district has lost ground for these, our most vulnerable children.

If the victory is in the classroom, we need a superintendent who can do more than just claim victory. We need a superintendent who will reject the status quo and truly win on behalf of every child.

Which leads us to "A Tale of Two Districts." White middle class and affluent students in Charleston County outperform their white peers across the state. The opposite is true for their black peers. On many measures, black students do better in other S.C. districts. Remember those ACT scores. "The Tale of Two Districts" - the same sad tale told 10 years ago, five years ago, and still today - means that in Charleston County we manage to teach white children better than white children in the rest of S.C., but for some reason we continue to teach black children worse. That sounds closer to the state of education we'd expect to see in 1860 than in 2014.

Over the last 10 years, Charleston County has changed significantly. People are flocking here from all around the country. While the white and comparatively affluent population in CCSD has grown, the black population has shrunk. Improvements hailed by CCSD - for example, the percentage of students attending "excellent" schools - reflect demographic trends and enrollment shifts as much as any improvement to the quality of education. Now there may be fewer buildings labeled "at risk" - easily accomplished by simply turning out the lights and locking the door - but just look at actual measures of learning, and the quality of education has not improved for our children.

Taking all of this into account, we need a superintendent who can do more than add chapters to Charleston's historical inequities and "A Tale of Two Districts." We need someone who can provide real solutions, make excellence a reality for every child, and close this shameful book altogether.

I may be in the minority, but my hat is off to the school board for making a difficult change. The story may be unpopular, but the truth is, progress hasn't been made. We may have new shiny buildings and catchy slogans, but we're failing the same students we have always failed.

To the school board: Take a hard look at the data yourself.

Make this not about watermelons, but about the enduring tragedy of youngsters like Ridge Smith and the thousands of Ridge Smiths remaining in our system. [Editor's note: Ridge Smith, featured in a 2009 Post and Courier series on low literacy rates in the district, was shot to death in North Charleston on Oct. 31.]

Make it about the continued erasing of whole generations of children from the economic map, and the irreducible fact that after ten years of bold promises and new visions, race and income still define the quality of education in CCSD.

I trust you'll see that CCSD needs a leader who will bring a new set of skills and a true sense of urgency and humility to this work. At the end of the day, the buck stops with you, and this is the most important task you will undertake.

Get it right!

Jon Butzon is the former executive director of the Charleston Education Network.

CCSD Officially Crosses Insanity Line with Expanding APs

You know the definition: doing something over and over again and expecting different results.

How do you know when Charleston County School Superintendent McGinley is lying? Yes, when her lips are moving. She claims that spending another $900,000 to place 14 AP teachers in low-performing high schools is important because "we have to address the very capable students and make sure they're not being forgotten in some of our schools." Not.

No, the problem presents itself when capable students in areas served by low-performing schools petition the School Board to transfer to schools that have more AP courses. McGinley is attempting to keep more capable students in their own designated schools, thereby raising the academic climate in those schools. Nevermind that many years ago CCSD made the decision to skim off the academic cream and put it into the Academic Magnet and School of the Arts at the urging of "haves" such as Gregg Myers, thus leaving only middle-to-poor performing students in the rest of the high schools, with the exception of gigantic Wando. (CCSD could put all 300 of Burke's students into Wando with the effect of an elephant's swallowing a gnat.)

AP courses are great--for those students who have the background to succeed in them. AP preparation needs to begin as early as sixth grade for students from low-income and low-educational background to succeed. Burke's AP Academy is a case in point. Prior to AP, students need "Pre-AP," or Honors-level courses for at least three years. The accepted wisdom of the edublob is that would be discriminatory, so students who might have been otherwise capable will not qualify on the AP exam, which cannot be fudged, as with so many other measures of academic merit. No doubt Burke's AP teachers are competent and motivated and take their charges as far as possible, but spending $1.2 million over a four-year period to get a result of 10 "passes" out of 376 exams taken is wasteful. The students would be better off if the district gave each of them the $120,000 that their scores represent. Don't forget that most of the testing fees for these 366 students who did not pass were paid by the taxpayers of South Carolina. 

CCSD needs to get real about enriching programs in the lower grades feeding these high schools if it is to avoid throwing good money after bad. 

Oh, that's right. It's OPM.

School Improvement Grants Nor Taxes the Answer to CCSD's Failing Schools

Friday's lead editorial asks the right questions:

"The district should be able to explain how [federal] money helped Morningside Middle and St. John's High schools improve, but failed to have a similar impact on Burke, North Charleston and Stall."

"And how could Hursey have made significant progress without the money?"

With these results, how is Superintendent McGinley to convince the CCSD Board of Trustees that her proposed tax hike will make a difference? Well?

There's more at work than money here.

What's in a Name? Moultrie

Saturday's Letter to the Editor concerning the correct pronunciation of "Moultrie" [How Do You Pronounce 'Moultrie'? brings another question to mind: what ever happened to Moultrie High School?

It suffered the same fate as St. Andrews High School. I suppose St. Johns is next.

Evidently, when rebuilding high schools, past school boards in CCSD determined to wipe out any references to history--with the exception of Burke High School which, because of its history, was allowed to keep its name and even have a middle school with the same name.

Did the Board in its wisdom deign the name of a Revolutionary War hero too divisive? Was it concerned that Ohioans couldn't pronounce it? Did it ever occur to it that the many graduates of Moultrie might be more apt to support a school of that name than one named after a river? Did they really believe those graduates would be happy with a middle school of that name?

It's a mystery. Maybe someone who was living here at the time can justify the change.

An Answer on Sanders-Clyde Delay

Would you believe that "vendors who provide furniture, install fire alarms and security and set up technology and equipment were overloaded"? Thus goes Bill Lewis's excuse for the delayed opening of both Sanders-Clyde Elementary downtown and Haut Gap Middle on Johns Island. See 3 School Construction Projects Face Delays in Tuesday's paper.

You mean that the vendors that Bill Lewis contracted with were incapable of handling all of the business he gave them? So what rocket scientist scheduled all four schools (including North Charleston's renovation and the new School of the Arts) to open at the same time?

Could it be that the other schedules had slipped, and everything piled up at the end? Such thoughts are never "thunk" by reporters at the P&C. Beyond the pale.

And if Sanders-Clyde parents were told months ago that the school wouldn't be ready until February, why is the announcement of the delay in the news on January 19th?

Yes, I know, more damage control from the Charleston County School District.

Surprise! Expectations for Students Make a Difference

What every teacher knows:

Without order and discipline in a school, academics suffer. So Ken Burger's column in Thursday's P&C on the turn-around at Haut Gap on Johns Island surprises only in its common-sense approach. See Order Is a Product of Expectation.

Burger touts Haut Gap as a magnet school (although statistics would prove it). And a new school building may be just the opportunity to shake off old stereotypes of poor academics and daily mayhem. (Haut Gap was originally built in the 1950s during segregation to show that black schools could be "separate but equal.")

The magnet program and new building are just the icing. What really makes the cake and drives any school's improvement is a good principal. Principal Paul Padron and Ed White, his "PBIS instructional coach" (i.e., head disciplinarian) are to be commended, as well as the rest of the staff who are making a difference in the lives of students who aren't always expected to succeed.

We can't count on all students' having interested, involved, and caring parents--even if each child deserves them!

CCSD's Selling Potential Millions for $350,000

When will the national media pick up on the idiocies perpetrated by the Charleston County School Board? Surely not all school boards can be this dumb, or should I say self-serving?

Such was my reaction to Sunday's article on the potential creation of a special tax zone for the Beach Company to develop a large portion of Johns Island. See the blithely-headlined School District Would See Immediate Gain.

For $350,000 (probably the yearly cost of Superintendent McGinley's transportation) economically-challenged Board members such as Ruth Jordan are willing to forgo forever millions of future tax dollars from property taxes on this major development by one of Charleston's most well-connected development companies. On the other hand, Board member Chris Fraser's remarks are simply disingenuous: he's looking out for his own term on the Board, not the interests of taxpayers.

You can't make this stuff up fast enough to keep pace with its escalating stupidity.

Never mind that such tax zones are supposed to provide incentives to redevelop blighted areas instead of providing an easy way for developers to pay back loans to develop pristine land. Such a zone presupposes that, without tax breaks, a large portion of Johns Island would never be developed. Yeah, right.

It's a sweet deal for the Beach Company. As the reporter explains, "Imagine you're building a house, and the government agrees not only to loan you funding for construction, but allows you to pay it back with money you would have otherwise paid in property taxes." Apparently, Jordan and Fraser find the county's schools to be so well-funded that increased property tax totals are unnecessary.

We can understand why the City Council might be interested in seeing the Beach Company pay for infrastructure, but the position of members of the CCSD hierarchy is untenable.

The rest of the taxpayers of Charleston County should rise up in revolt before the School Board sells its soul for a mere $350,000.

Stronger Academics Pull White Students into CCSD

The percentage of white students attending partial-magnet schools of Haut Gap Middle and Mitchell Elementary has risen. CCSD Superintendent Nancy McGinley credits the ability of students at Haut Gap to earn high school credits and the Montessori program at Mitchell. [See Some Partial Magnet Programs Succeed in Helping Integrate Schools in the online P&C.]

Gee, just maybe white parents were discouraged previously not by race but by sinkhole academics.

Dot Scott, eat your heart out!

Saving OPM* Experimental in CCSD

*OPM = other people's money

Explain to me again why all CCSD schools don't follow this plan.
Incentives Energize Cost Cutting

Horizon Middle: Must Not Be Friends of Joe

One private school gets the City of Charleston to buy and lease land for it to the tune of almost $5 million. At the same time a public charter school on Johns Island in Charleston County [see Organizers Work to Realize Dream of Opening School] can't find enough money to start up operations next fall:

"Finding a building is often the biggest hurdle facing start-up charter schools, and that held true with Horizon Middle. School leaders finally identified and bought the land on which they hope to build a school, but they still need about $1 million to cover the construction costs."

Is this a crazy system, or what?

Seabrook Weighs in on CCSD Plans

Bona fides. Authentic credentials. That's what makes Luther Seabrook's op-ed for CCSD in Tuesday's P & C worth contemplating. How insulting to Seabrook that Butzon's remarks received equal treatment!

After pointing out that District 23 actually had plans on file that fit into and enhance Superintendent McGinley's now revised School Redesign plan, Seabrook kindly does not point out that much hot air and grief (not to speak of $25,ooo in consultant fees) could have been avoided if McGinley had looked to his district for ideas in the first place. So I will.

According to Seabrook,

Anyone may go to the files in the District 23 office. There they will find an unfinished plan for the reorganization of the district schools — a plan that fits into Superintendent McGinley's proposal.

The plan caps three of the four elementary schools at the third grade, giving Pre-K to third-grade teachers the responsibility to assure, by any means necessary, that students are functional readers before they move through the gate to the middle schools.

How like CCSD! Lots of plans developed over the years, often at a hefty cost, but most lie ignored, languishing in a closet or file somewhere.

Seabrook also requests that the district pour its most effective teachers into a school to show just how much difference that one act would make to "underachieving" students. As he writes,

If we believe that teachers cause learning and that competent and effective teachers will radically improve learning for our neglected students, then why haven't we done so?

Putting together one school with the most competent teachers in the district would not negatively affect a single school in our vast district. If successful, what will it teach us?

The plan sounds sensible--with one caveat: the curriculum. Schools must teach a sound core curriculum that allows those students who have developed the skills to continue to advance at the same pace as their more advantaged peers.

Charleston NAACP Irrelevant to Schools?

Finally someone else has commented on the deafening silence emanating from the Charleston branch of the NAACP. If its influence in the area isn't dying, it's gasping on its deathbed.

See Thursday's Letters to the Editor for one from the Reverend Michael Mack titled, "Where Is NAACP?" In it the Rev. Mack points out that

". . . The local NAACP has not made a sound about how devastating these closings would be for black children. For example, the proposed closing of E.L. Frierson Elementary School would mean that 4- and 5-year-old children would have to get up at 4:30 a.m. or 5 a.m. in order to be bused to schools on James Island and Johns Island."

They would probably not return home until 4 p.m. at the earliest. That is a tremendous amount of stress to put on a young child.

Mack goes on to say, "Is the local NAACP in the vest pocket of the Charleston County School Board and those who control it?"

You noticed! Now the question is, what do Dot Scott and Joe Darby get out of this cozy arrangement?

CCSD Community Groups Do McGinley's Job

Was that the plan all along? Superintendent Nancy McGinley would propose such shockingly destructive School Redesign in Charleston County that local residents would take matters into their own hands?

Of course not. She and her henchmen aren't that bright! Nevertheless, community groups are trying to counter her hare-brained schemes for economizing. [See Groups Tackle School Revamp in Monday's P & C.] Still, questions remain concerning closures under temporary circumstances. Come an economic turn-around and/or new formulas for school funding emanating from Columbia, we will be asked to provide new schools in their places. Surely someone has reminded McGinley and the CCSD School Board that monies gained from selling capital (land and schools) cannot be used for operating expenses!

• If community members could satisfactorily reconfigure schools in District 9 (Johns Island and Wadmalaw Island) in one hour, why couldn't McGinley do so in the months she took to create three unsatisfactory options? Easy. CCSD deliberately avoids getting unfiltered opinions from its constituent districts. In their agreement the residents of District 9 put one piece of advice to good use: the perfect is the enemy of the good.
  
• Members in Hollywood have more trouble agreeing but with good reason: why should half of their schools be closed? As one PTA president complained, "the economy will recover, . . . and . . . the district [must] justify closing and selling school buildings in a bad real estate market while the community is positioned for growth."
• District 20 (the peninsula) has the biggest fight on its hands but also the most seasoned fighters in Park Dougherty and Arthur Lawrence. More will come from that quarter.
  

And where is the NAACP? Dot Scott and Joseph Darby sure have been quiet since the plans for closing schools were announced! Do they really believe the black community isn't being injured?

CCSD's Underutilized Schools: Why?

While Sunday's editorial in the P & C [see School Pride, Tough Choices] seeks to be the voice of reason in an emotional climate, the writer glosses over both the qualities of and reasons for the proposed closings of schools such as St. Johns and Lincoln High Schools as well as elementary schools both downtown and on the islands.

Not one of these schools is in an area of declining population. In fact, the opposite is true. Logic tells us that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark."

Can we cut to the chase? Hundreds of students in these attendance areas have been allowed to transfer to schools in other constituent districts, most recently under NCLB, but most for years under various cooked-up personal reasons. These are the mostly apartheid schools, resegregated through artifice with the full cooperation of the School Board. These facts explain why CCSD refuses to provide numbers to the public on students attending schools other than in their attendance area.

Faced with sanctions under NCLB for years of failing [read "loss of federal funds"], Superintendent Nancy McGinley and the Charleston County School Board coterie urge these closures. After all, how would NCLB sanctions look on McGinley's record when she interviews for her next position?

This analysis holds no water for Lincoln High School, which is not failing. McGinley must be really annoyed at how bad this small, community-supported school makes her ideas of mega-high-schools look. Could it be that smaller high schools can be more successful?

And what about the closings of Charlestown Academy in North Charleston and Charleston Progressive Academy downtown? Close down the schools that are succeeding so that scores will rise at other schools?

Under cover of a bad recession McGinley and Gregg Meyers mean to remake CCSD in their own image. That means mega-schools instead of neighborhood ones. That means using earthquake scares to tear down every building not built by Bill Lewis.

When they get through with the Charleston County School District, it will have no history or traditions, this in an area settled in 1670.

Charleston's NAACP Silent on School Closings

McClellanville, North Charleston, Johns Island, downtown Charleston--name all of the areas most affected by the School Redesign proposals of Charleston County Superintendent of Schools Nancy McGinley. Notice what percentage of the neighborhood schools put forth for destruction are almost all black--that would be 100%. Notice which communities will be most affected by destruction of neighborhood centers--that would be traditionally black communities.

Then ask yourself: where is Dot Scott? How about Joe Darby? Developed laryngitis, have they? Has the NAACP taken a year-end vacation? Did it take the Ministerial Alliance with it?

Or have they sold out?

Brian, You Expect CCSD to Make Sense?

According to Brian Hicks in Friday's P & C,

It just doesn't make sense to some folks on Johns Island.

Why would you completely rebuild a school and then, three years later, stick it on a list of possible facilities to close?

[See Close St. John's, Heart and Soul of Community?]

Who knows how much has been spent in the last three years on upgrading schools that CCSD now plans to close?

Wouldn't that data be interesting!

The Worm Turns on Johns Island

What Charleston County Superintendent of Schools Nancy McGinley should have learned by now in the second round of School Redesign meetings is that CCSD is not now and never has been an urban district (a la Broad Institute). Despite the inroads of Yankee transplants into rural communities such McClellanville and Johns Island, the residents remain proud of their generations-long heritage and want to keep it.

So it should be no seven-day-wonder that the residents of Wadmalaw and Johns Islands have banded together to propose their own more sensible plan to redesign schools on the islands. [See Islands' Residents Offer School Plan.] If only the School Board would take notice.

The residents of District 20 downtown, including those who support the Charter School for Math and Science, are facing their own armageddon Tuesday night as they band together to rebel against the most convoluted and self-serving proposal of all. Let's hope all will be heard, not merely listened to.

Tracts or Tracks? Little Things Mean a Lot

Here we go again. Is it the editor? the reporter? or the school itself?

In Thursday's edition of the P & C two more schools are added to CCSD Superintendent McGinley's list of those desiring to be "partial magnets." [See 2 More Schools Seeking to Operate like Magnets.] According to the Courrege-written article, Chicora Elementary in North Charleston and Haut Gap Middle on Johns Island are hoping to get on the goodie list.

Chicora Elementary wishes "to offer a communication theme. Students would publish a newspaper and magazine, create a Web site, host a daily TV news program and participate in project-based learning." We could ask why Chicora must be a magnet in order to do this, but let it pass.

"Haut Gap Middle plans to develop three academic tracts: science, humanities and foreign language. Students would have the opportunity to earn up to five high school credits."

Tracts? Tracts?

Well, we could assume that each of the three will be given a section of land on Johns Island to farm--using science, humanities, and foreign language methods (actually, Spanish methods might work quite well there). You know, sort of like the Watson Hill tract.

Or, we could assume that the Oxford Movement has come alive on Johns Island and Tractarianism will rule each sector, although perhaps administrators have another Common Sense in mind instead. We'll wait with bated breath on that one.

It seems so unlikely that the Roman Catholic Church has taken over Johns Island that we can safely assume that these tracts will not concern the Mass, especially since it's not even Lent.

Let's be generous. Someone's handwriting was difficult to read. Someone was a poor typist (I sympathize!). The copy editor forgot to look at the article.

Let us all hope that Haut Gap, Courrege, and the editors of the P & C actually know the difference between a "tract" and a "track"!

YouthBuild Builds at Last: CCSD Soap Opera

The long, sad odyssey of Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School seems to be coming to a resolution, if a temporary one. Today's P & C reports that the school finally has a building. [See Sea Islands YouthBuild Home at Last ]

At the end of the school year. The school managed to dodge the cut-off of district funds several times during the year [see several postings on this blog], but this summer the CCSD School Board will be forced to choose: is it going to fund this school in the future or not? Has the school met its obligations to remain in good standing?

Comparisons have been made between Sea Islands and the new Charter School for Math and Science over the last few months. It's time to take stock. The two charters certainly have been treated differently by the CCSD School Board; that's because, leaving aside differences in their missions, these two charters are entirely different in genesis, motivation, and parental involvement. Perhaps there are some lessons to be learned.

• Sea Islands was encouraged by 75 Calhoun to form under the well-meaning guidance of a former employee of CCSD and friend of 75 Calhoun in order to meet the needs of older at-risk students who would no longer be eligible for Murray Hill Academy because the district changed its policies regarding Murray Hill. The students targeted for YouthBuild were unlikely to have much parental support or involvement in its organization.
  
• Charter School for Math and Science started as a grass-roots effort among parents of District 20 students who were discouraged by their choices of failing schools. From the beginning, it seems, the CCSD board was miffed that it did not control the actions of this group.
  
• When the CCSD Board of Trustees approved YouthBuild, it failed in its duty to these needy students by trustingly accepting the word of its organizer that a facility that would meet state standards was available for use. Such was not the case.
• The CCSD Board of Trustees never trusted CSMS in any regard because it hated the idea of a charter high school downtown, with members repeatedly hinting that its organizers were racists. Strong grass-roots support among all races downtown won over public opinion.
  
• The lack of a building and monthly perambulations of YouthBuild from pillar to post, coupled with lack of busing, guaranteed a major reduction in the number of students in attendance. Meanwhile, the district continued to pay funds based on initial numbers of students. Records of attendance were not made available to the district when requested.
• When CSMS organizers saw the old Rivers High School building sitting vacant and requested its use, the School Board attempted to quash and/or gain control over it by suggesting exorbitant rent, then raising the number of millions needed to bring the building up to standards (never mind that the building had been vacant for a very brief period) to a ridiculous figure.
• Perhaps as part of its agreement with CCSD to keep getting funding despite its not following the rules, Sea Islands did not ask for space in public school buildings, although certainly such space exists. Now it has signed a three-year contract to rent an old warehouse that students themselves will renovate.
  

According to Larry Blasch, chairman of YouthBuild's board, "the school will spend another $30,000 improving the space so it can clear state and local inspections and be occupied by students." So the space will finally meet requirements just as school is getting out for the summer?

Given that expenditure and the signing of a three-year contract, it seems reasonable to assume that the fix is in, even though the Board will be not updated in regard to continuing its support until its meeting later this month.

Taxpayers deserve to know what CCSD has gotten for their money in regard to students at YouthBuild: How many credits have been earned per tax dollar? How many diplomas?

And has CCSD learned its lesson?

The Stupidity View of the Post and Courier

It's not rocket science.

The lead paragraph (or two) of a news article should mention who, what, where, when, why, and how, if those facts are known. The same is true of any writing that seeks to inform. Do you remember when you were first introduced to the "5 W's and an H"? I don't either, but I know it was early in high school.

So you must ask yourself, what's wrong with the Newsless aka Post and Courier? In Wednesday's edition an article about Horizon Middle Academy (who) informed the public that this charter school will not open its doors (what) next fall (when) because of lack of funding (why) caused by its approval through the SC Public Charter School District instead of through CCSD (how).

Oh, did I leave something out?

You mean WHERE? WHERE? [See Opening Farther Out on Horizon]

Yes, the reporter left out the fifth "W" because , I suppose, if you have to ask, you can't afford to know this information.

And the editors (they still do edit, don't they?) didn't care or didn't catch it or assumed that anyone reading the P & C lacked the same amount of curiosity that the editors did.

Okay, enough of being cute. It's on Johns Island and is being organized as an alternative to Haut Gap Middle School. I know because I had to look it up. So many potential charters have been announced in the last year that I couldn't remember which one Horizon was either.

If I believed in the conspiracy view of history (which I don't), I would assume that the P & C didn't want to give Horizon any more publicity than it was forced to and figured that saying where the school would be located would only encourage those misguided parents to seek out Horizon in place of sending their children to a failing school.

No, I believe in the stupidity view of history. According to that view, what others chalk up to conspiracy is easily explained by the usual incompetency and imbecility.

Remember, we are talking about the P & C.