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 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.