CCSD's Orange Grove Charter Expansion a No-Brainer

The standing-room-only Orange Grove crowd at Monday night's Charleston County School Board meeting cheered the CCSD Board's decision to allow the charter elementary school to add middle school grades 6 - 8. The Board had made proponents worried that months would pass before a decision due to its own inchoate plans for the two existing middle schools in the West Ashley district. Parents have so reviled those schools for the last few years that enrollment has dipped dangerously low, and district plans to close one and merge the two schools had been floated.

Orange Grove is a prime example of a charter school that can succeed with good leadership. As with James Island Charter High School, Orange Grove had the community's trust as a public school before it attained charter status. It also had a new building started when CCSD assumed it would remain under the control of Superintendent McGinley and the School Board.

Too bad more existing schools have been unable to takes themselves out from under CCSD's spell.

CCSD's Michael Miller: Naivete Showing on Orange Grove Charter?

The Charleston County School Board's "strategic education committee" must sign off on Orange Grove Charter School's request to add the middle grades. Committee head Michael Miller says he is in favor of the proposal but the school must delay, linger, and wait until the District 10 Task Force reports on a proposal (from Superintendent McGinley) that would merge West Ashley's two middle schools.

The "task force," as with all such committees formed in the district, is guaranteed to be stacked with those who will do whatever the Superintendent proposes.  Has the Superintendent not made up her mind yet? Or is Michael Miller so naive that he doesn't realize the report is a foregone conclusion.

Whichever is the case, postponing only decreases the chances that Orange Grove will get its desired result any time soon. And that's not good news for potential middle-schoolers West of the Ashley.

CCSD Should Build on Success at Orange Grove Charter

West Ashley has two middle schools, but their enrollment is so low that the Charleston County School District is considering closing one and combining on one campus.

Contemplate that for a moment. . .

West Ashley is a large area, replete with young families with children. So why has enrollment dipped so precipitously in its middle schools? Because families who can find other choices take them.

Parents who can do so choose a better school for their sixth to eighth graders. Who can blame them? Their children are not an experiment, no matter how much CCSD would like them to be.

Then there's Orange Grove Charter School. From its inception, it has been successful at just the criteria where CCSD's other schools fail. When its pupils leave Orange Grove after fifth grade, parents must choose among a failing middle school, a private school, a magnet school (such as School of the Arts), or homeschooling.

No one should have any difficulty in understanding why Orange Grove wants to expand to include grade eight. Given its successful track record, no one, even CCSD's School Board and its charter-hating superintendent, should stand in its way.

Charter Schools Get Some Respect

Don't you wonder why the new law assisting the formation of more public charter schools has a provision that "prohibits reprisals against district employees who are involved in an application to establish a public charter school"? Our state legislators must have met Superintendent Nancy McGinley!


Charter schools now may be single sex. Institutions of higher learning (such as the College of Charleston and the Citadel) may decide to organize their own charter schools. Charter school students who wish to play a sport not offered at their charter school can participate at the school in their residential district. Virtually everything needed has been added, except additional funding.

All of these schools take away power from local elected school boards and the edublob and give it to independent charter boards and parents. Given the bootlicking behavior of CCSD's board majority, is it any wonder that charter schools are so popular?

Between those and on-line education, expect to see multi-million-dollar white elephant school buildings in CCSD in about two decades.

OPM Spent on Ron McNair Questionable at Best

Since the Charleston County School District's much-touted Sixth Grade Academy silently folded its tents and faded into the night last summer, embarrassed by its failures, the Ron McNair building (formerly used while Orange Grove Elementary Charter School was being replaced) has stood vacant, a silent spectator of a wasteful building program in the district.

Never mind that Chicora Elementary, also in North Charleston, has suffered for years the slings and arrows of every heavy rainstorm that arrives. And they do.

In a masterful display of planning in advance, CCSD has now determined that Chicora's environment is so bad for its students that the school must move midyear to Ron McNair.

But wait. . .  

The district plans to spend $700,000 of OPM to ready the Ron McNair building for the influx. No mystery.

The San Franciscan's buddies are at the controls again.

Orange Grove: What Freedom Can Do

One of the most racially diverse schools in the Charleston County School System can brag about an achievement gap between black and white students of only 2.4 percent in English and 1.2 percent in Math, as compared to the district-wide averages of 20.1 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively. Close to being statistically insignificant. And the CCSD Board of Trustees voted unanimously to renew the charter for Orange Grove Elementary. Could it have done as well if the school had not been a charter? Not likely! Kudos to Principal Larry DiCenzo and his staff. He pointed to instituting a phonics-based reading program that isn't on the state's approved list and the charter's freedom to purchase and use it. Double kudos.

Why Does It Take a Charter School?

Don't even go there.

I mean, don't even try to imagine how much outdated technology has landed in the garbage containers of CCSD's schools over the last 20 years. We already know the stories of pulling perfectly good textbooks out of them. Let's not torture ourselves.

According to Thursday's P&C, Orange Grove CHARTER Elementary has had a better idea--recycle it to raise money. While this idea may seem obvious, apparently it never has occurred to the folks at 75 Calhoun. See School Recycling Old Technology.

If CCSD has done so before, I will be glad to be proved wrong. Meanwhile, if you wish to support Orange Grove Charter, here is a list of desired obsolete items:

The school is recycling used cell phones, inkjet and laser cartridges, laptops, PDAs, iPods, video games, GPS Systems, DVD's, scientific and graphing calculators, LCD monitors and digital cameras.

These may be dropped off at the school between April 12 and 14.

Change Is Coming for State Charter Schools

Whether the present bill in the SC State Legislature passes in its present form or not, charter schools have become so popular with the public that sooner or later the right changes will be made. See Changes for State Charter Schools? for details on the bill sponsored by Rep. Phil Owens of Easley.

Among those asked for opinions on the bill, Larry DiCenzo, principal of Orange Grove Charter, pointed out that the school is so popular that a lottery must be held for kindergarten slots. Then, Dot Scott of the NAACP made her usual noises about charter schools "leading to less racial diversity." Yeah, right.

Hey, Dot, make visits to the Charter School for Math and Science and then to Burke. Then answer which system leads to less racial diversity, that is, if you can see what's in front of you!

Power Play in CCSD Almost Over?

Why would anyone assume that a public school should be allowed to use a public school building? As you read this, the Charleston County School District is wasting your tax dollars to prove this use illegal in Charleston County. See Ruling Soon on Charter School Act in Wednesday's P&C.

A charter school is a public school. Circuit Judge Roger Young should extend Act 189 of the State Legislature to all counties in the state.

CCSD's complaint against this use dates to the emergence of the Charter School for Math and Science, organized by a group of parents that the School Board and Superintendent did not, and do not, control. No such grief was given to Orange Grove Charter (for which Act 189 was written) or James Island Charter.

It's all about power.

By the way, why is Armand Derfner representing the District? Doesn't CCSD have a perfectly good lawyer, John Emerson, on its payroll? Derfner surely is an added expense!

Straight Story on New CCSD Buildings

Probably not everyone is
as irritated as I am by paeans of praise to the Charleston County's newest Taj Majal school buildings in the latest editions of the P & C. Even knowing that the funds for building them and those for daily operations are separate has not assuaged my nagging suspicion that, here in these multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art schools, children will still be left behind in reading skills.

Now, let's use just a little bit of critical thinking about statements made as fact in two recent articles on Mt. Pleasant Academy and Orange Grove Charter Schools.

According to one article, the enormous new Mt. Pleasant Academy had to be built because the old 1950s building had grown too small. Wrong. It would be an easy bet that the Old Village of Pt. Pleasant doesn't have as many elementary-age children as it had in the 1950s! No, what happened is that the CCSD School Board made a conscious decision to create large elementary schools instead of smaller new ones and, as a result, to increase busing. Now ask yourself if it is better for an elementary-age child to be bused to an 850-odd student school or go to one half that size in his or her own neighborhood.

Monday's article on Orange Grove Charter School has a misleading brag in both the front-page teaser and the article itself: that this is the first school building designed specifically for a public charter school in South Carolina! Of course, the decision to rebuild Orange Grove was funded prior to its becoming a charter school. Of course, the CCSD School Board fought its going charter tooth-and-nail and caved only when it became clear legally that the Board didn't have a leg to stand on.

And the much-touted separate building for day care for faculty? The lack of the ability to have that facility, thanks to CCSD's policies, created the impetus to go charter in the first place. What short memories we have!

Let's hope that Bill Lewis has managed to build and plan these facilities better than he did for Wando High School, where they're still suffering with air conditioning problems in the gym!

Lawsuits Over Stupid Decisions Plague CCSD

Can you blame them? Drayton Hall Elementary has requested the same process of becoming a charter school that was afforded by the Charleston County School Board to Orange Grove Elementary several years ago. [See Drayton Appeals Denial for Charter in Saturday's P & C.]

It's all about power, not money, despite what the CCSD School Board says. The Board has not made its case legally to reject Drayton Hall's request. Merely stating that other students will be hurt does not meet the requirements to reject the charter.

You'll see.

Some 'Splaining to Do in CCSD

An idol with feet of clay? According to the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins,

"The phrase comes from the Old Testament (Dan.2:31-32). . . .Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed of a giant idol with golden head, silver arms and chest, brass thighs and body, and iron legs. Only the feet of this image, compounded of iron and potter's clay, weren't made wholly of metal. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the clay feet of the figure made it vulnerable, that it prophesied the breaking apart of his empire. . . . the phrase 'feet of clay' in the story . . . was used centuries ago to describe an unexpected flaw or vulnerable point in the character of a hero or any admired person."

So it applies to MiShawna Moore, the highly-touted former principal of CCSD's Sanders-Clyde Elementary. [See School Under Scrutiny in Wednesday's P & C.] Her success in raising test scores over the last five years has pushed CCSD into asking for a SLED investigation.

How, you ask? While CCSD's taxpayers were under the illusion that everything was kosher at S-C, CCSD received information at the end of the last school year from a whistle-blower, principal of a charter school, no less, that a fiddle lurked in the background.

"DiCenzo [of Orange Grove Charter] reported his concerns to the district after an article in May in The Post and Courier that highlighted Moore's work to improve Fraser and Sanders-Clyde. He didn't understand how such large gains could happen so quickly, he said.

"Washing clothes for a family is not going to improve test scores," he said."

But 2007 wasn't the first alert that all was not as it seemed at Sanders-Clyde. Unfortunately, our SC Department of Education watchdogs were too dazzled by Moore's 2005 results to do more than a pro forma investigation even after erasures rang alarm bells: "The state monitor stayed for one day during testing [in 2006] and concluded there was no cause for alarm," according to Superintendent McGinley, who then went right ahead and appointed Moore to be head of a second elementary school.

Such trust encouraged ever higher results from S-C for 2006, to the point that even Janet Rose noticed, although she did tell a big, old fiberoo to the P & C last May when queried about CCSD's extraordinary precautions. According to the article,

"This year [2007 results], the school's PACT results fell sharply in every subject and at every grade level.

"This was the first time that the school district monitored the school's testing. District officials took tests away from the school each night and put monitors in classrooms daily. Janet Rose, the district's executive director of assessment and accountability, told The Post and Courier in May that the extra scrutiny would validate the school's scores " [but didn't say why they needed validating!]

So, even as the P &C wrote its puff-piece on Moore this summer, Sanders-Clyde's principal was fully under suspicion. Rose's caution allowed Moore to make her getaway to find another job, a promotion at that:

"A few weeks after the tests this spring, in a move that surprised parents and officials, Moore announced that she was leaving Charleston County. Moore refused to do any media interviews at that time, and she now works as an assistant superintendent in Halifax County, N.C., schools."

Maybe it didn't surprise ALL CCSD "officials." I'll bet it didn't surprise Larry DiCenzo.

Halifax County must be delighted to get such a paragon to improve its school system! Why, as assistant superintendent, Moore can have access to the testing of more than one school and improve it. Let's face it--it's not the first time that a school district has given a good recommendation in order to get rid of a bad apple.

What should happen to MiShawna Moore? Is $1000 and/or 90 days in jail enough punishment for making a travesty of testing procedures? NO. Losing teaching or administrative credentials isn't enough either. The rewards for cheating (and not getting caught) are too high and tempting.

How about $100,000 and/or five years in jail? Maybe some administrators lacking in morality will pause at that.

Meanwhile, should CCSD's assistant superintendents and superintendent be held responsible for fraud on their watch? McGinley wanted full responsibility for appointing principals. Now she's got it. What about penalties for her failure?

Orange Grove Charter in North Charleston

Who would'a thunk it? That one sure slipped by me. Here all this time I've been picturing Orange Grove Charter School in the building I remember being opened in 1963 in West Ashley. Both of my sisters attended it, and I remember my mother's initial complaint that a school built for air conditioning had none. I'm sure that lack was remedied years ago. Even my youngest sister, who still lives west of the Ashley, was surprised to see what I noticed recently.

There is a large banner in front of Ron McNair Elementary that announces it is the home of Orange Grove Charter School.

• Uh, why was Ron McNair emptied?
  
• Uh, why was the building used by Orange Grove for 43 years torn down?
  
• Um, can we expect that the super scrumptious multi-million-dollar school being built by CCSD as the new Orange Grove Charter will last longer than that (how many million per year will that be)?
  
• Did Orange Grove know a new building was in the works when it decided to go charter?
• Did the school board hope to kill this charter school by putting a school with a West Ashley population in North Charleston so that its attendance would drop?

How about busing at these gasoline prices? Curious.