"Charlestowne Academy" Building Example of CCSD's Failures

It's not Charlestowne Academy on Rivers Avenue that may become a homeless shelter if the Charleston County School District's agreement for a land swap with Mayor Keith Summey goes through.

No, it's the Charlestowne Academy--Charleston County Discipline School--Bethune Arts and Community Center--Bethune Elementary School campus. The building's construction date seems lost in the mists of time. Perhaps a reader has a long memory and can fill in the blanks. What is certain is mismanagement of this CCSD asset by multiple superintendents and School Boards.

What happened to Bethune Elementary School's use of 5841 Rivers Avenue is unclear, but probably the (black?) school was a victim of integration and consolidation in Charleston County. It was vacant. By 1982 this albatross was rented for $1 per year to the city of North Charleston for use as an arts and community center, an agreement that lasted for at least 10 years. How's that for a great return on investment? One would hope that CCSD got something else in return!

Before 1996, CCSD decided to use the building for its first "discipline" school during times in the nineties when students were actually expelled from CCSD's other schools in large numbers. That lasted until CCSD built a special campus as a discipline school, an idea that was ultimately rejected as non-PC.

Notice, none of these decades involved an entity named Charlestowne Academy.

1996 was a banner year for formation of magnet schools in the district. Not only Charleston Progressive but also Military Magnet and Montessori schools were approved, with some opposition, by the district. Charlestowne Academy was formed as a magnet school with no academic entrance requirements that would focus on "back to basics," starting as K through 10. The school focused on academics (no athletic programs) including the Spalding Method (http://www.spalding.org/) and Core Knowledge ( http://www.coreknowledge.org/) in its lower grades.

In its first years, this school was more successful in the results in its lower grades than any of the other magnets, with the exception of Buist Academy. Parental involvement was required; the school had an effective discipline system; and, of course, its curriculum was parent-driven, not district-driven. It was so successful that the lower grades used a lottery system to select only one-third of applicants. And, it was more integrated than almost any other school in the district.

What happened? It's true that the high school portion never really got off the ground. In hindsight, the plan should have started with perhaps kindergarten through fourth and add-a-grade per year, as many new schools have done. Sticking students in trailers at the Bonds-Wilson campus apparently was not a turn off, but in 1999 the school moved into the old discipline campus.

No, the school's success was its death sentence. As new superintendents and new school board members arrived, they saw that the school made the other non-magnet schools look bad by comparison, so one by one they stole away the details that made it successful. One of the first to go was required parental involvement. Next, the school was informed it must use the same ineffective discipline program as the rest of CCSD. Maria Goodloe-Johnson pulled the rug all the way out when she decreed that all CCSD schools must use the same curriculum. These developments should serve as a warning to the folks at Meeting Street Academy that hope for a deal with the district!

Since 2009 the campus has been for sale with apparently no takers except for member Chris Collins's lease agreement that was finally dissolved this year. So of the thirty or forty years that the school has existed, how many were utilized with full use of the property by the district?

How many other properties also lie fallow?

Joe Riley's Giving Up on CCSD

An appropriate reminder from February 2009. Questions remain unanswered.

According to Tuesday's P & C (which provides precious little information on the principals in the deal), Charleston Mayor Joe Riley plans to go into the school business. [See Deal for School to Benefit City.]

How else to explain the City of Charleston's spending almost $5 million to put a private school on the upper peninsula? The "deal" for local taxpayers goes something like this: we pay almost $5 million for a property now owned by SCE&G; then we rent the land to a private school for $10 per year for 50 years.

"Riley said the ultimate cash cost could be much lower because the city hopes to arrange land deals with the utility and to find sites in Charleston for needed sub-stations."

"Could be"? "Hopes to"?

Why, this efficient use of taxpayer dollars is breathtaking in its simplicity! Maybe Riley can find more million-dollar properties to purchase with our money and rent out to other private schools under similar contracts! By 2060 the taxpayers will have reaped the rewards. Yes?

Wouldn't you love to see the business model for Meeting Street Academy? It must be a real winner. After all, so far the school's been in session with "about forty preschoolers" for a total of six months. Further, do we dare ask where the $9 million estimated to build the school will come from? One hopes that also won't involve "a unanimous recommendation by [City] council's Real Estate Committee."

You know, it's strange, but I could have sworn that the City of Charleston already had a school system. Perhaps Mayor Riley plans a District 20 overlay?

The kicker? "Sherman Financial Group, the school's backer, is a company that buys distressed debt." That's right--debt collectors, big time and not always on the up and up. On second thought, I guess we know where the $9 million will originate.

Try Googling.

City Financially Rewards Private School?

It's for a good cause, providing a high-quality education to the children of the poor. It even assuages the conscience of Sherman Financial Group, one of the worst offenders in the cut-throat debt collection world. It's called Meeting Street Academy. [See previous discussion in this blog.]

However.

Should the City of Charleston have spent almost $5 million to purchase property for building the school? Could the City Council not come to an agreement with the Charleston County School District to use one of its old properties that is just lying around going to waste, adding to CCSD's expenses but not income?

Or is the City Council now encouraging a parallel universe of alternate schooling that bypasses its discredited school district?

What happens if Sherman Financial Group decides to get out of the school business and sell the school? Do the new private owners get the sweetheart deal too?

Bottom Feeder Does Good in CCSD Territory

Who would want to be associated with a debt collector, especially one that bends the law and makes headlines with consumer complaints? Apparently, Mayor Joe Riley. Check out this description of Sherman Financial Group, big buddy of Mayor Riley, who encouraged the City Council to spend $5 million purchasing land for Meeting Street Academy's new campus sponsored by this bottom feeder [see Dreaming High in Thursday's paper]:

"Charleston, S.C.-based Sherman generated revenues of $1.05 billion in 2006, according to MGIC’s 2006 annual report filing with the SEC. Sherman contributed nearly $122 million to MGIC’s pretax income last year, Michael Zimmerman, MGIC’s vice president of investor relations, told insideARM.com earlier this month.

"1.05 Billion? How many consumers did they rip off to get that? The scale of this is unbelievable. How many times have they violated the FDCPA, the FCRA & the FACTA to get this amount ?

"Let’s see, mortgages, insurance, credit, debt collection, New York offices, three paper corporations in Delaware, banks in Las Vegas, Brazil and Mexico. The CT Corporation system that they use as Registered Agents has offices in Reno, Nevada and is headquartered in Chicago. They report forgiven debts on 1009-C forms to the IRS, when they have only paid pennies on the dollars; how do they report the profits? Structured to shield the higher ups form law enforcement. Harrasment, illegal debt collection practices, extortion. If this was the 1950’s, I’d say it was the Mob." [Mortage Servicing Fraud Forum]

See also Ripoff Report on Sherman Financial

Let's hope Riley hasn't made a Faustian bargain.

Meeting Street Academy: Good School, Bad Policy

The plans sound great. For 200 motivated students and their parents who might otherwise get lost in the morass of Charleston County schools, Meeting Street Academy is a life raft available to the neediest. It's also a black eye to the Charleston County School District.

Perhaps it's Sherman Financial Group's guilty conscience from preying on the least educated among us that impels the plan for Meeting Street Academy into being. If so, we can live with its $9 million-and-counting expenditures for the school. However, I must respectfully disagree with Saturday's editorial praising the City of Charleston's involvement. [See City Is Right to Help School.]

What is the story behind this wheeler-dealer deal? You know there has to be one, even if the P & C's editorial writers are naive. Sherman Financial, a bottom feeder that must be raking in money hand-over-fist in this economy, could easily spend the almost $5 million to purchase the land itself.

• Sherman Financial wouldn't build the school unless the City drew upon its taxpayers?
  
• Well, why would that be?
• The school wouldn't be built in that area unless the City paid for the land?
  
• Well, why would that be?
• The area wouldn't be developed unless the City paid for the land so that the school could be built there?
  
• Well, why would that be?

And, most importantly, why isn't anyone representing the taxpayers asking these questions?

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?