Bill Lewis Reveals He's the Jonathan Gruber of CCSD

Those stupid Charleston County voters! We shouldn't allow them to elect school board members! That is the basic underpinning of retired CCSD operating officer Bill Lewis's proposal in Sunday's op-ed.

Of all horrors, democratically-elected board members don't always toe the line thrown out by the Chamber of Commerce. They're too stupid. Imagine having "community activists" or "disgruntled former teachers" on the board! It's a nightmare! Only such "highly-qualified" candidates as Chris Fraser, Brian Moody, and Gregg Meyers will fulfill that mission.

Lewis apparently believes that the school district should be run as a private-sector organization. Those private-sector boards he praises for not micromanaging their CEOs really did a good job preventing the excesses that caused the last recession, right?

We wonder why Lewis could not name any of the cities where mayors have made the difference in improving schools, since he seems to believe that mayoral control is the solution to CCSD's problems. His solution would give Charleston three seats, Mt. Pleasant three seats, and North Charleston five seats, since Mayor Summey will control the County Council's choices through Teddie Pryor, a North Charleston employee, and his son Elliott.

Politicians selecting school board members instead of voters? Gee, that sounds great.

There are two major ways in which the school board elections can be improved, neither of which is on Lewis's radar screen, or, should I say, the radar screen of the Chamber of Commerce member who vetted Lewis's op-ed.

It's an open secret that these supposedly non-partisan seats are as partisan as they can be, just flying under the radar. Our local paper chooses to ignore that slates are regularly supported by the county's Democrat and Republican organizations. These seats are non-partisan for the same reason that the mayoralty of Charleston is nonpartisan: so that white Democrats can fool Republicans into voting for them. Mayor Riley not a Democrat? Please.

If races were designated partisan, political parties would vet the candidates and voters would have a better idea for whom to vote in the primary. Voters would rapidly discover that the school board generally has been the hiding place for Democrats to be elected to office in the county. Check for yourself: how many of the present school board members are registered Democrats?

Some will try to make the case that Democrats and Republicans share the same ideas about education. Really? When was that last the case? Probably in the 1950s.

The second aspect that would strongly improve the election is single-member districts. These single members would be voted upon by their own district, not by the county at large. That would make members responsible to their districts. Who can forget Toya Green's (yes, vetted as "highly-qualfied" by Bill Lewis) response to her District 20 constituency: "I don't represent you!"

It's time to stop pretending that the population of the county is so small that voters in Mt. Pleasant know who is the best person to represent North Charleston. The system as it is allows the Chamber of Commerce and its lackeys to control outcomes in many areas. What just happened in North Charleston, where Mt. Pleasant supporters (and the Chamber) put Cindy Bohn Coats over the top North Charleston vote-getter Shante Ellis, is a case in point.

Part of the solution is better communication within the county about what the candidates stand for. Evidently, we can't depend upon our local newspaper or television outlets for full information. Perhaps its lack of interest (or collusion) in local races is part of the reason that the Post and Courier has become a dinosaur.

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.

Brian Hicks Needs New Title: Former Columnist

When the Charleston County School Board voted to allow member Chris Collins's church to rent the vacant Charlestowne Academy, it followed a pattern of conflict of interest observed throughout its years. Collins didn't create the conflict.

In fact, no one questioned the Healing and Deliverance Church's lease fulfillment until someone tipped off administrators last fall that Collins had allowed a group interested in forming a charter school to meet at the building. We all know how Superintendent McGinley feels about new charter schools. She cowed the Board into voting against lease renewal in November.

The lease expired in June, but the district accepted Collins's check for the July rent, thus signifying its acceptance of another month of use by the church. 

Suggesting that Collins should have recused himself or expressed no opinions regarding Montessori at Hursey Elementary because his children attend the school is so egregious as to almost beggar belief. If school board members in the past had done so, no Buist Academy or Academic Magnet would exist, since they were pushed through for the use of former school board member Gregg Meyers's children and the children of many other members.. Evidently, only black board members should refrain from stating opinions.

No other entity has expressed an interest in renting the building for any amount of time. The rent paid by Collins's church is the only offset to its $40,000 per year cost of upkeep. Certainly the superintendent has no plans to offer the building for use by a charter school.

Chris Collins certainly has faults in the ways he has dealt with the situation; however, he is a duly elected member of the board trying to represent his constituents. 

Who elected Brian Hicks columnist? What are his qualifications to judge?

Closed-Minded Meyers Pontificates for CCSD's McGinley

We need a little communication once in a while to realize why it's such a relief that Gregg Meyers no longer sits on the Charleston County School Board. Recently, Meyers boasted in the P&C that Superintendent McGinley's long tenure has provided "continuity," a "new idea" in the district

Yes, continuity, but at what cost? McGinley's has been the least transparent and most ineffective tenure of all time. Her skill consists of puffing herself up at the expense of principals, teachers, and students. She even brags about how a lower percentage of schools are failing when she artificially created the drop by closing neighborhood schools. McGinley promised to track the affected students and show how the change benefitted them.

Seen any data yet?

McGinley has new ideas all the time--remember the A+ academy at Burke? These dazzle the public briefly, just like a firecracker, and then fizzle with little fanfare.
Keep in mind that Meyers opposes charter schools, despite his comments in the P&C that "charter schools have added helpful options for parents." He was behind the moratorium the district. In fact, years ago Meyers used his clout on the Board to create Buist and the Academic Magnet for his own children; who cares about everyone else's--let the rest of the chips fall where they may.
Meyers thinks candidates running for the school board should be asked if they support Dr. McGinley. Actually, I agree. Anyone new to the Board who mindlessly says "yes" is a potted plant and should be voted down.

McGinley-Meyers Candidates for CCSD Seat

Pay attention.

The P&C has not only put forward the obvious candidates--Seabrook, Moody, Miller, Copeland--for the recently-vacated seat on the Charleston County School Board. It has leaked the plans of the McGinley-Meyers nexus.

The long arm of former Board member Gregg Meyers has reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out the name of William L. "Sam" Hiott, who the reporter mentions formerly served on the District 23 constituent board.

And now the rest of the story.

Meyers recruited Hiott to run against Sandi Engelman in the 2006 school board elections. After all, Hiott thought Engelman was "too divisive."

We all know those code words.

He had difficulty finding enough signatures for his petition to be valid, so the Taj Mahal found some more for him. Despite Meyers's plans, Ruth Jordan won that election.

No doubt Hiott has the common touch, since he made over $18 million dollars in 2009 in his last year as executive vice president of the Bank of South Carolina. He won't need to worry about this "salary" business. Now that he's semi-retired, he can mingle with the hoi polloi.

At least he's from the Low Country's "front porch."

Such cannot be said for McGinley's choice, Rew A. "Skip" Godow, whose Facebook page sports a 25-year-old picture, reveals no family, and states his interest in women.

The College of Charleston and Trident Technical Center employ this native of Chicago (well, Oak Brook, its tony suburb) in various administrative capacities. Who better to take McGinley's side than another member of the edublob? His Ph.D. in the Psychology of Philosophy (or is it the Philosophy of Psychology?) should come in handy on the Board.

Godow has served and continues to serve on multiple boards of directors--the Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, the Charleston Education Network, the Education Foundation, and even the Community Advisory Committee to CCSD.

You get the picture. Just the type of bureaucrat McGinley wants--can be counted on to show up for meetings and not ask too many questions.

Let's see if the Charleston legislative delegation has any common sense.

Cook or Crook? Or a Bunch of Crooks?

From reading the P&C's Sunday edition, we can be sure of one fact: former CCSD Board of Trustees Chairwoman Nancy Cook doesn't give a damn about veterans. Yoga. Candles. Right.

Venial people exist around us, but they can't take their venality to such lengths without the complicity of others. Let's start with former CCSD Board member Gregg Meyers, who is attempting to defend Cook's actions as nothing out of the ordinary. Undoubtedly Meyers knew some of the details of Cook's behavior while she was still on the CCSD Board; I guess her vote was safe for his projects.

The VA's problem is that Cook wasn't a big enough player in terms of dollars for them to spend their limited resources researching her behavior more fully. Therefore, it had to depend on the directors of the men's shelter to keep finances in line. Joke. That was a joke. They appear to have treated their positions as honorary rather that real.

Cook should be prosecuted for misappropriation of funds and insurance fraud.

The Board of Directors should be prosecuted for not doing their jobs.

Cook-Meyers Duo in the News Again

What do former chairmen of the Charleston County School District Board of Trustees do for an encore? Perhaps the same behavior they exhibited when on the school board.

Attorney Gregg Meyers filed a lawsuit for Nancy Cook (don't you wonder what she has on him?) as a preemptive strike in a suit brought against Cook for taking advantage of monies she received from the Veterans' Association as director of a men's shelter in North Charleston. Among other items of interest, Cook doubled her salary to $130 thousand per year.

Quite a profitable nonprofit for Cook, wouldn't you say? Who knows what additional shenanigans occurred at 75 Calhoun when the two of them were in office? Someone does.

P& C Publishes Meyers's Rambling Whine

Would you like some cheese with that, Gregg?

• Poor Superintendent McGinley! Imagine, some elected members of the Charleston County Schools Board of Trustees have found fault with her lack of transparency and responsiveness to questions.


• But wait, here comes a knight in shining armor to her defense! Take that, Elizabeth Moffly. Let fly the insults! Remove the gloves! Poor Elizabeth can't even add and subtract.


• Well, so says Gregg Meyers, former Board member and McGinley champion.


• In his op-ed piece published in Wednesday's P & C, Meyers forays that McGinley hasn't been responsible for academics at North Charleston and Stall High Schools for the six years that Board member Moffly claims. Come on, Gregg, you know perfectly well that McGinley was Chief Academic Officer for two years before she became superintendent. That does total six.


• The rest of Meyers's weapons don't work well either. For example, a greater percentage of schools rate as Excellent because the criterion used by the ratings changed. The district has fewer failing schools because McGinley closed so many of them.


• Thanks to the hard work of teachers in the district, often under trying circumstances such as the new-principal-each-year phenomenon, CCSD trudges forward on the uphill track. Meanwhile, waste at 75 Calhoun and suspected fraud in building contracts continue. McGinley has done nothing to merit the affection of the taxpayers or their elected representatives.

CCSD's Meyers: Never Saw a Lottery He Didn't Like

Hold onto your seats. Exiting Charleston County School Board member Gregg Meyers has determined to leave his mark on the admissions process for every magnet school in CCSD.

Academic Magnet High School: this means you.

Meyers, meeting tomorrow, will railroad his CCSD Policy Committee into confirming a lottery process for any students in excess of capacity of any magnet program. With stars in his eyes and at one fell swoop, Meyers creates a Buist-style lottery for every popular magnet program in the district. No more merit-based admissions.

Remember? the old smoke and mirrors game for the favored few?

But wait! There's more!

The new policy will promote racial diversity by allowing the use of zip codes rather than race as criteria.

Let the jockeying for position begin.

You may now understand why Meyers has chosen to leave after this term. You may also understand why CCSD continues to violate open-meeting laws as it considers these changes.

No School Safe When CCSD Policy Committee Meets

Is it true? Is the Policy Committee of the Charleston County School Board about to pull a fast one on the Academic Magnet (AMHS)?

It's a well-known phenomenon that when something is working really well politicians want to tinker with it. Scuttlebutt has it that Gregg Meyers, knowing how well using his law office address worked to get his own children into Buist Academy on the District 20 list, now wants to create a similar structure for entrance to the Academic Magnet.

This marvelous system, virtually guaranteed to be finagled in like fashion to Buist entrance in days of yore, would use zip codes instead of four lists as Buist does. It would also use a lottery.

After all, why would we want only the best students to go to AMHS? Some of them should linger in other high schools to beef up their stats for Superintendent McGinley. Just think of the possibilities.

Meanwhile, Meyers has scheduled the next meeting of the Policy Committee for the last day of Rosh Hashanah, guaranteeing that any observant Jews will not interfere with discussion and offering to take the minutes himself while chairing the meeting, since the committee's secretary will not be there.

Love it.

Prepare for Tax Hikes in CCSD

Surely the reason that incumbent CCSD Board of Trustees up for reelection this fall are en masse not running for reelection, not even eminence grise Gregg Meyers, also occurred to you.

Oh, yes. They all gave differing reasons, just not the real one: thanks to their votes during this last year, taxes in the district will rise. [See Schools Work on Seismic Solutions if you don't believe me.]

And for what? This Board has approved the hiring of five, count 'em, five architectural firms to design "new buildings for the five schools with seismic deficiencies," that list being the schools examined by the district for deficiencies in event of the San Francisco Earthquake.

Have you ever seen the old elementary school campus of the School of the Arts where Charleston Progressive is moving? Did anyone check to find out if it is "seismically deficient"?

What happened to some sensible plan to start with the building identified as MOST deficient and proceed in that order at a reasonable speed year by year to fix the rest as money is available?

No, instead it must be done all at once during the tenure of McGinley and, most particularly, her penny-pinching (not) Manager Bill Lewis.

Five firms? What is this, spread the wealth around? Would not there be some economy in hiring ONE firm?

The sales tax will be voted down. Then the new Board will raise property taxes. Gregg Meyers doesn't want to be on the Board when it does. Someone must pay for five architectural firms, readying five more buildings for temporary occupancy, and the accompanying costs for massive busing.

It's just OPM.

Another Senseless Decision by CCSD School Board

Day after day, the former Charlestowne Academy school building sits vacant, after its being closed by the Charleston County School Board last year in the name of budget cutting.

A proposed church wishes to pay to use the premises two days a week for the next six months. And the School Board says, no, no, don't force that rent upon us. Why, heating and cooling costs will be associated with using the building! [ See Member's Request Denied in Wednesday's P&C.]

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"Those voting against the item talked about two issues -- the appearance of a conflict of interest and the extra cost the district would incur by leasing the space to the church." The church would be started by Board member Chris Collins, who recused himself from voting. In her usual idiotic fashion, member Green suggested that "board members needed to exercise a higher degree of care and caution when it comes to requesting use of district buildings." What would that look like, Toya?

Those who voted down the request (Meyers-Fraser-Green-Oplinger) admitted that Collins would pay the same as any other entity renting CCSD property. Others do, including Trident Technical College, the Park and Recreation Commission, and Durham School Services. So why this sudden worry from "the quad" that "the fee doesn't cover all of the costs associated with using the building"?

What idiot set the fee so low that it wouldn't cover costs? Are the other renters also costing the district money because their rents are too low? Is this the gang that couldn't shoot straight?

Meanwhile, the district forgoes the $1,032 monthly fee. Chump change to them. Let them make up the loss.

That will be $258 each, please, for the next six months. Put your money where your mouth is.

CCSD School Board Chair Jordan

She's not a tool of Gregg Meyers, Mayor Riley, the Chamber of Commerce, or the NAACP.

That's the good news. [See School Board Picks New Leader.]

While Ruth Jordan has not always spoken against the Meyers-Green agenda, her voting record and statements over her years on the CCSD School Board do indicate a certain independence. Superintendent Nancy McGinley fondly recites that "everything is for the children," but Jordan's record suggests that she actually believes that to be true.

So it was only fitting that Jordan made her point at Monday night's meeting. After an unapologetic attempt by Gregg Meyers to make the election of a new board chairman all about supporting McGinley, Jordan was quoted as saying, "'Frankly, I was appalled that it would come down to the mandate about the superintendent. I thought it was about the children. ... If we're truly committed to public education, we're going to do what's right for children.'"

You tell'em, Ruth!

Kandrac: Crackpot or Watchdog?

Were you as surprised as I was that the P&C thoroughly investigated CCSD School Board member Elizabeth Kandrac's place of residence? [See Kandrac Takes on District in Sunday's edition.]

After all of the allegations regarding legal residence for Buist students the P&C did not follow up, the story shows that the reporter can do investigations when she has the incentive to do so. Or maybe she was just handed the information by Kandrac's antagonists on the Board.

Certainly, Kandrac appears to be following the letter of the law and not its spirit in her living arrangements these days, but CCSD already set many good examples for her to follow in its treatment of Buist. And what about those rumors over the years that other Board members were not living where they claimed? Down the memory hole?

More problematic is the Board's single-minded agenda to get rid of Kandrac through insinuating that any queries she raises are simply harrassment. Green and Meyers would have the public believe that Superintendent McGinley walks on water and should not be challenged at any point. Have you ever seen either one of them do so on any point?

The goal is to make Kandrac into a caricature that folks outside of North Charleston will vote against if she decides to run again.

CCSD Needs to Repair Neglect of Rivers Campus

I'll admit: it looks like an earthquake hit it.

Seismic "repairs," is it now? So says Gregg Meyers in Tuesday's P&C regarding the Rivers campus where the Charter School for Math and Science has set up shop in portable classrooms. [See Rivers Campus Promised Funds]

According to the story, "The charter school and a proposed district program, currently called Lowcountry Technical Academy for Health, Human and Public Services, have received the board's OK to share space in the building, but the structure needs a considerable amount of work, including seismic repairs, before students can occupy it."

Those repairs would be from the nonexistent earthquake that occurred after CCSD last emptied the building of students, well documented previously on this website.

You've got to figure that the anticipated earthquake will actually occur when pigs fly, or when the proposed Lowcountry Tech materializes, whichever comes first.

Picking on Kandrac Isn't Going to Work, Part 2

A new low in public relations and transparency for Superintendent McGinley--see What's a Board Member to Do?

In a meeting of 200 administrators and principals, the mere presence of School Board member Elizabeth Kandrac so frightened Superintendent Nancy McGinley that she slandered Kandrac in comments to the P & C. Although the reporter was not at the meeting, she gave the accusation by McGinley and "staff members" already unhappy with Kandrac's questioning of edicts issued from 75 Calhoun credibility in handling the information.

In a poor attempt to sound even-handed, Courrege wrote the following:

"'They actually believe I'm here to harass the superintendent," [Kandrac] said. "I'm here to represent my constituents in the county. That's why I'm here."

"She said others are lying about what happened in order to protect the superintendent and to make Kandrac look bad because they don't like her.

"Associate Superintendent Terri Nichols and Elliot Smalley, the district's executive director of planning, marketing and communications, gave consistent accounts about what happened."

So these people whose employment relies on good relations with the superintendent provide unbiased proof of what happened? Give us a break.

According to the smear campaign, "principals and administrators gathered at the district office [felt] intimidated, distracted and unable to have frank conversations." What a bunch of pantywaists. There were 200 of them and one of her. I hope they have more nerve when they're dealing with students.

Imagine this. Meyers and company are attempting to draft board policies that will prevent Kandrac from attending meetings in that "gray area." Once they have done so, and the majority of bootlickers on the Board have approved such rules, will they employ bouncers? Stay tuned.

Picking on Kandrac Isn't Going to Work

In a pathetic display of thinly-veiled spite, at the behest of Gregg Meyers, Toya Hampton-Green dragged the CCSD School Board's rules into the public forum of its open meeting Monday night. [See Board's Behavior Discussed in Tuesday's P&C.] You know, just in case anybody [not to be named] needs reminders.

Evidently, Board member Elizabeth Kandrac has become the elephant in the room--she who cannot be named--but who every last bootlicker for Superintendent Nancy McGinley is determined to silence, one way or another. It's the let's-try-to-embarrass-her-in-the-open-meeting ploy. What Meyers et al do not comprehend is that a seasoned middle-school teacher has endured tougher battles than these dilettantes can throw at her.

Let's look at the lead on Courrege's article: "Some Charleston County School Board members have been breaking the board's rules by giving orders to school staff, being disrespectful to employees and visiting schools unannounced." Serious stuff, right? But where are the specifics? Let's hear names, dates, and places instead of innuendos.

What is ripe, though, is that Meyers asked McGinley "to evaluate the board's behavior." Who's the employee here? The Board is made up of elected officials; the superintendent serves at their pleasure, not the opposite.

Then we learn that--holy cow!--Board members actually visited schools without giving the Superintendent advance notice! It's a rule, is it? Let's ask ourselves, what real purpose does it serve?

Meanwhile, the public is probably surprised to find that its elected representatives don't have the same rights as any resident of the county when it comes to visiting a school!

The message from Meyers, Green, and McGinley to their favorite Board member: Don't ask too many questions. Don't visit schools to see what we are doing. Don't interfere with the good thing we've got going here. Don't rock the boat. And, for pete's sake, when the Superintendent speaks, smile and just say, "Yes, m'am. You are so right."

If Doug Gepford Said It, It Must Be True?

Talk about a lack of critical thinking!

The Charleston County School District's Chief Academic Officer Doug Gepford stated that "it's been his experience that retaining students doesn't work because nothing different happens when students repeat a grade." [See Policy Panel Grapples with Literacy in Thursday's P & C]

So the Charleston County School Board's committee on literacy policy (when you want nothing done, form a committee) simpered in unison, " Oh, yes, Doug! Of course, Doug. We shouldn't make students repeat a grade." Let's keep doing the same thing we've always done--promoting students who aren't reading on grade level--and hope for different results.

You all know what that constitutes, right? Insanity.

Oh, I know that the committee is trying to dress up the status quo with different language, such as directing the superintendent to identify which literacy programs purchased from the edublob might help individual students (Gregg Meyers's idea), but those same programs could be directed to students who have been retained. It was virtually automatic promotion that caused the severity of the problem in the first place.

Committee Chairwoman Ruth Jordan sincerely wants to see a change from students entering high school unable to read their textbooks. Let's hope Meyers and his ilk don't bamboozle her with their vocabulary on this one.

Why, even Jon Butzon (and what was he doing there?) disagreed with Gepford and Meyers, proving once again that even a stopped clock can be right twice a day: [he] told the committee after the meeting that he wanted them to take a firmer stance on requiring children to be able to read before pushing them through the system." [italics mine]

Holy cow! I just agreed with Butzon?

Can't Talk Straight Either

The gang-that-couldn't-shoot-straight--AKA the CCSD School Board--admitted Monday night that it "forgot" to add the Rivers Middle School building to its request for estimates of repairs and seismic upgrades of older schools in the district. [Board to Assess Scope of Repairs]

Sometimes it seems as though the Board, and its henchman, Bill Lewis, think they're doing the rest of us a favor by not immediately razing every school over the age of 20, but that's another story.

The NAACP--that would be the "shoot-self-in-the foot" gang--which remained remarkably silent on the closing of five all-black schools, spoke up in advance to decry any expenditure on a building potentially useful to an integrated charter school.

Gregg Meyers can use words such as "unintentional" and "misunderstanding" all he wants; given the history of this issue, "supporters of the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science [who] realized the omission of Rivers and began asking questions" propelled the change of course on the Board's part.

McGinley's Tale Tests CCSD's Gullibility

Throwing up a smoke screen in front of her every action has become such a habit for CCSD Superintendent Nancy McGinley that she can't manage a bit of candor when the truth would help her credibility.

That's what most readers should take away from the P & C's Saturday story, McGinley to Stay in Charleston. If Courrege wrote the lead, "McGinley flew to Houston on Friday to interview with the Houston school board that's looking for a new superintendent," that's what she thought also.

McGinley would have the public believe that she simply wanted to share the Charleston success story (!) with the search firm hired by the Houston School Board looking to replace its superintendent and had no intention of actually interviewing for a job that pays twice what she makes now. The Houston Chronicle was confused about this being a job interview. The moon is made of green cheese, also.

This much is true: her plane was rerouted to Austin, causing a delay that made her miss her interview. She learned about the Houston article. She may have learned other facts through the grapevine, such as that she was being interviewed only because of the recommendation of the previous superintendent, her "friend" from the Broad Institute, or that her interview was pro forma because the School Board really wants a black replacement for its present Hispanic.

Abe Saavedra! The name brings back sweet memories of Corpus Christi, his post prior to Houston. I won't rehash his shenigans there except to point out that he hired Maria Goodloe-Johnson. You all remember her, right? These three Broad Institute graduates make quite a triumvirate. If McGinley should leave, one hopes another won't be shoved down our throats.

Another reason? Why would Saavedra leave Houston at the ripe old age of 58 without another superintendent's job on the horizon? One Houston blog may have had the answer last February:

". . .he's made more than his fair share of bungles. Board members have sometimes seemed blindsided by his proposals -- like cutting transportation for magnet schools or combining whiz-kid high school Carnegie Tech with the much rougher Worthing.

"He'd been on thin ice for a while; it seems the ice finally cracked. " [See Houston - Hair Balls - Abe Saavedra Is Leaving The Building.]

In another of those bizarre coincidences, the name of Houston's school board chairman is Greg Meyers.

Our own Meyers version was already blowing more smoke:

"Board Vice Chairman Gregg Meyers said McGinley's actions tell him that she has such little interest in moving somewhere else that even a job paying more than double what she earns here isn't of sufficient interest to bother with an interview if there's a small inconvenience involved.

"'I don't think this trip means anything,' he said."

Why the subterfuge? Who would blame McGinley if she took a job paying double what she gets now? Let's just hope that she doesn't pull an Abe Saavedra on us and work this "interview" into a raise to keep her here.

Does it ever occur to these people that a little honesty would go a long way towards restoring their credibility?