Go, Marvin!

In case you don't read Brian Hicks's column in the Post and Courier, try Wednesday's:

"Marvin Stewart says Charleston County is not educating its children.

"He believes the curriculum in our public schools is not challenging enough, is uneven between "good" schools and "failing" schools. Many students who graduate from Charleston County schools aren't ready for higher education.

"Stewart says the district spends too much on gimmicks that don't work, such as partial magnet schools or arts-infused elementary schools.

"He says the district makes itself look better on paper by simply shutting down failing schools -- Brentwood, Rivers, Courtney -- instead of putting in the hard work to turn them around.

"For that reason, he's skeptical about the district's plan to shut down many downtown schools because of earthquake concerns, and questions whether those schools will ever reopen.

"These are strong charges -- charges the district disagrees with. But some community folks say the same things.

"The most amazing thing about these charges is that Marvin Stewart is not simply a mad parent; he is chairman of the downtown constituent school board.

Not a hypocrite

"Constituent school boards usually toil in obscurity, working directly with parents on transfers and the like. They rarely speak up. Stewart is the exception.

"A former high school teacher, he says his eyes were opened when his oldest daughter asked to be transferred out of her high school. He was shocked -- it was his alma mater, and she was doing well. But she said she wasn't learning anything. Stewart insisted his daughter be admitted to Academic Magnet.

"She now has a Ph.D.

"Stewart says these days there are school staffers who work at one school but send their kids to others. He doesn't blame them -- he did the same thing -- but then, he is not claiming that failing schools are actually succeeding.

"You shouldn't endorse a product you aren't using," he says.

A whistleblower

"In his 12 years on the constituent school board, Stewart has been vilified by some. A few officials aren't pleased that he praises the Charleston Charter School for Math and Science while criticizing district-generated programs.

"He saw the result of that ire when he ran for the county school board a couple years ago. The establishment came down on him hard.

"Stewart is unsure how much longer he can hold on to his constituent board job -- the entire board is up for re-election in November.

"The only reason I stay on the board is because I've helped 1,000 parents get their children out of District 20 schools," he says.

"He doesn't claim to have all the answers, but says the district needs a CEO and an external audit, as well as an outside consultant not swayed by local politics. But mostly, he says, there needs to be a consistent and challenging curriculum throughout the district.

"Whether you agree or not, one thing is certain: Marvin Stewart cares about schoolchildren. And for that reason his concerns deserve a listen."

Amen to that!

Shock and Awe, Post-and-Courier Style

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Is it the new leadership of the P & C's editorial page that has made the difference? [See Charleston School Board: Lecque, Kandrac, Engelman, Fraser, Stewart.]

SHOCK:Saturday's P & C endorsed CCSD school board candidates Lecque, Kandrac, Engelman, Fraser, and Stewart. If you think that's business as usual, you're wrong.

First of all, the editors snubbed Toya Hampton-Green, an incumbent and favorite of Mayor Riley. Second, they also ignored Ann Oplinger, a former CCSD principal. Those two facts taken together signal a sea change.

AWE: When you add to that the endorsements of three candidates--Engelman, Kandrac, and Stewart--the least likely to slavishly follow the machinations of Gregg Meyers--well, what further can be said?

Granted, the endorsement of Fraser is no aberration. He's simply the designated Chamber-of-Commerce guy replacing the old Chamber-of-Commerce guy, Brian Moody. And it would have been bizarre had the P & C endorsed John Altman, one of its most unfavorite pols.

Gee, I'm in the position of actually hoping all those folks in Mt. Pleasant follow the P & C's lead, for a change. Is the temperature dropping in hell?

Green vs. Stewart for CCSD School Board

What each said (and didn't say) to a League of Women Voters question [See charleston.sc.lwv.org] reveals self-interest versus common sense

LWV: What motivates you to become a member of the County School Board? What experiences have prepared you to serve on this Board?

GREEN: I believe that the Charleston community will only realize its full potential when every child is receiving the benefit of an excellent public education. I am a mother of two children so, like all parents, I have a vested interest in public schools performing at their best.

Yes, two children, one safely at Buist Academy where the other is headed in the future. That's her "vested interest." Guess what, Toya? The entire community, parents or not, have a vested interest! Oh, I forgot--you don't speak for District 20.

GREEN: My election to the Board was for a two year term to complete the unexpired term of a former board member. [so therefore?] I have attended school board member trainings at Harvard University’s Public Education Leadership Project and the National School Board
Association’s Annual Conference in San Francisco.

If prior election to the Board is proof of competence, maybe we need to see what you accomplished during that term--such as alienating District 20 by saying you represented the entire district instead; voting against the James Island High School's charter renewal; and cooperating in the cover-up of malfeasance in the Buist Academy lottery and address verification.

GREEN: I understand the fiscal cycles, academic strategies, and policy governance of school board service. I am in the best position to effectuate academic improvement and more efficient use of resources. ["effectuate"?]

"fiscal cycles"= I follow Gregg Meyers's lead on all financial questions.

"academic strategies"= I'm delighted to send my child to Buist while guaranteeing that other District 20 students do not have the magnet options students do in Mt. Pleasant or West Ashley.

"policy governance"= Following Gregg Meyers's lead again, I'm delighted to vote for policies that pander to special interest groups while ignoring prior Board policies that go forgotten, unrecognized, and unenforced. Selective enforcement: that's my mantra.

STEWART: I have been in the field of education my entire adult life. I taught high school English and Journalism for ten years.

In other words, I actually know what happens inside of schools and what problems teachers face on a day-to-day basis when unprepared students enter high school.

STEWART: I am currently Branch Manager of Village Branch Library in Mt. Pleasant S.C. I see up close and personal the need to educate all of the children.

I'm not in this for personal gain but because of daily contact with students.

STEWART: I am in my tenth year of service on District 20 Constituent School Board, where I have been Chair seven of those years.

I'll put my 10 years of service on the constituent board up against your two any day, Toya. Do you even know what was happening in CCSD 10 years ago?

STEWART: I served as a mentor at Rivers Middle School, member of the Board of Directors of Boys and Girls Club of America and coordinate many Children's activities for the libray system.

Rivers Middle School. You remember that, don't you, Toya? Where is it now? Did the condition of the building deteriorate on your watch?

STEWART: I want to be a voice for the underserved and disconnected.

These are not Green's constituents. She's said so.

Green plans that the vote totals from outside District 20 will guarantee her re-election. We have a fatally flawed system. She may succeed, since she has ingratiated herself to outside voters.

Green's re-election will signify that the residents of District 20 will continue to have no voice on the School Board and to be the dumping ground for students and principals other constituent districts wish to get rid of.

CCSD's McGinley: Surfing as Metaphor

That cream puff I had for breakfast today was so sweet that it nearly made me sick. [See Q&A with Charleston County Schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley.] By itself it would have been fairly sweet, but then I just had to have a second helping! [See McGinley Lets Waves Carry Stress Away.] Maybe I should save the P & C for dessert after dinner.

When you think about it, however, perhaps surfing is a fitting metaphor for McGinley's leadership in CCSD during her first (and maybe last) year as superintendent. She's here for the ride. Her "leadership" takes the form of scouting CCSD to see which wave is the strongest (that would be the five-person tag team of Meyers to Douglas to Jordan to Hampton-Green to--usually--Moody), then applying the latest appropriate educational jargon (and sometimes Broad Foundation solutions) to whatever issue is at hand. There's no doubt she means it when she says that she wants to make CCSD an excellent district; that's her career on the line as well.

Under the waves, it seems, a possible rip current is brewing. What happens if, for example, voters replace Douglas with Kandrac and Hampton-Green with Stewart? Of course, that's why she negotiated a three-year contract. Election day will tell, but if McGinley's supporters are elected, prepare yourself for the closure of more than one elementary school in District 20 and continued prevarication over Buist.

CCSD Tosses Charleston Progressive a Hot Potato

What do you do with a hot potato? Drop it? Hand it off to someone else to deal with? Well, Superintendent McGinley has chosen the latter course. [See New Position Creates Concern in Saturday's P & C.]

The hot potato, of course, is the former principal of Jane Edwards Elementary, Christy Thompson. Thompson has created controversy from her first days at the school, with 11 of its 15 teachers leaving after her first year as principal (but continued backing from McGinley) culminating in a lawsuit brought by a teacher this last year that has not yet been resolved.

For background, readers may see past postings on this blog, but the lead in the P & C's story sums up the latest controversy nicely: "The principal accused of grabbing a teacher's arm during an argument has been moved to an assistant principal position [at Charleston Progressive Academy], and that decision has frustrated some who say peninsula schools should not be treated as a 'dumping ground.'"

Gee, those people downtown have some nerve objecting to a policy that's been in effect for the last 30 years or so! Who do they think they are? Taxpayers? Marvin Stewart needs to get a life. . . Can you imagine what will happen if he replaces Toya on the School Board? We'll have to deal with those people all the time!

[Sorry, I was just channeling Gregg Meyers, . . . or was it McGinley? Whatever.]

Actually McGinley's hand-off sparkles in its brilliancy. Kill two birds with one stone. Get Thompson away from Jane Edwards before the school implodes. Foist her on Charleston Progressive so that as the feds continue looking into CCSD's failure to provide magnet resources to its so-called [black] magnet school, she can point to its having an assistant principal that CCSD's "formula" doesn't call for.

Then, McGinley won't have to live with Thompson's apparently bristly personality at 75 Calhoun, and, if later developments force McGinley to fire Thompson, her position won't need to be filled.

I told you it was brilliant.

Who cares what happens at CPA anyway! Whatever it is, they deserve it for filing a complaint with the OCR!

[Sorry, channeling again. I'd better get off this topic.]

If Lawsuits Are the Only Way to Get Results

Some thoughts on Wednesday's report in the P & C titled Buist Battle to Continue in Court.

• CCSD brings lawsuits upon itself by its lack of transparency; Superintendent McGinley has not helped matters by her forgetful memory (twice!) regarding verifying addresses properly for Buist.
• The waiting list at Buist, complete with all the rumors swarming around it, is the stuff of legends; it is not public. Principal Ballard's foot-dragging in filling vacancies at Buist from the waiting list last year merely exacerbated distrust among District 20 families.
• Families in District 20 (and out) believe that CCSD has deliberately kept high-achieving students from entering on the waiting list so that the PACT scores wouldn't be too affected at D20's other schools.
• The article fails to explain the reason for "the appeal's also tak[ing] issue with the school district's denial of a 'fair, prompt and impartial hearing' for the appellants." This complaint comes from a hearing where the impartiality of legal counsel (Alice Paylor herself) and other members of the committee formed by the CCSD school board was questionable. It also derives from CCSD's slowness in response--the hearing's taking place more than a YEAR after the original constituent board ruling.
• CCSD (Alice Paylor again) wrongly claims that there aren't enough qualified District 20 students to fill slots at Buist. Many parents never tried to get on the waiting list because they knew the deck was stacked and they didn't have influence. Let's see if CCSD is correct! Demographics show that a hefty proportion of children living on the peninsula are NOT in CCSD schools at all. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why.

Every time the subject of filling classes at Buist arises, CCSD obfuscates the reason for the school's existence. They know full well that Buist's origin was to satisfy civil rights challenges by guaranteeing a school that would be integrated. It worked.

Now the chance that Buist would become all black like all of the other schools on the peninsula has dissipated (thanks to those demographics again). The reasoning behind its four lists went with it. The fact remains, students who live in District 20 are frozen out of magnet schools in the other constituent districts, while the students who live in other constituent districts are NOT frozen out of the one magnet school in District 20.

Those who live in other constituent districts should look carefully at how District 20 has been treated. It could happen to you.

CCSD's District 20 School Board Candidates

As the P & C has so carefully told us while it bashes Park Dougherty, a major force behind the success so far of the Charter School for Math and Science (CSMS), three candidates have submitted petitions for District 20's one seat on the CCSD School Board--the incumbent, Toya Hampton-Green; Marvin Stewart, who has been an active member of the District 20 constituent board; and Robert Russell, who has contributed to the formation of CSMS. Even though we're still in the dog days of summer, the educrats at 75 Calhoun and CCSD Board President Hillery Douglas have already made their choice clear: the incumbent. They've also made it clear that, proposals to the contrary, they intend to PLAY POLITICS in order to get Hampton-Green reelected.

Let me state that I do not know, nor have I ever met (as far as I know), any of the three candidates or their families, do not reside in District 20, have no children or relatives with children that are in the district schools, and do not have the time to participate actively in political campaigns. Nevertheless, I'm an interested resident of Charleston County who will be voting in November. My opinions of these candidates are based on watching taped CCSD Board meetings, reading P & C articles, and contemplating what I have found on both the Web and my blog's comments section. I do pay attention to what happens in CCSD.

With that caveat in mind, here's what I see so far concerning the three candidates.

Toya Hampton-Green (THG): has strong ties to the Democratic party in Charleston County. Her husband ran against state Sen. Robert Ford in the Democratic primary and lost with only 25% of the vote, even though he managed to raise and spend more money. Here's what I said about them in April:

"[. . .] the Greens have been enjoying the perks of being Charleston's young black 'power couple.' Toya's election to the school board after representing CCSD for a local law firm was well bankrolled by local Democrats, and she won despite lack of support from District 20, the constituent district she represents (oops, I mean the one she lives in, since she claims that she represents the WHOLE county). Strangely enough [sorry, the sarcasm just slipped through] the Greens' child was a winner in Buist Academy's "lottery." Readers of this blog will understand that we are using the word "lottery" loosely here."

Although her husband is a native of Charleston, THG is not. She has consistently supported the agenda of the Meyers-Douglas voting bloc and rarely speaks at its public session. The Greens live in a newly developed area of District 20, not in one of the old neighborhoods.

Marvin Stewart (MS): maybe the most vociferous chairman of the District 20 constituent board ever. Has been described as a "former teacher and downtown-schools activist." Stewart has watched the treatment of District 20 like a hawk and has not wavered in challenging the School Board in its decisions concerning Buist, Charleston Progressive, Fraser, etc. He has also supported the development of CSMS. I surmise that he is a graduate of Burke High and a native of Charleston (and District 20). Maybe some readers can supply further information.

Robert Russell (RR): a professor at the College of Charleston who has been involved in the development of CSMS (although I don't know the details). Has four children who may or may not be in CCSD schools now. Obviously an advocate of charter schools but his views on the rest of District 20 and CCSD School Board shenanigans remain veiled so far. Not a native Charlestonian as far as I can tell, but certainly his courses on architecture sound interesting. Students rate him as tough but brilliant. Here's the information from the CofC website:

Robert Russell
Professor, Architectural History/Urban Design
Director, Historic Preservation & Community Planning Program

Courses:

ARTH 245 Introduction to Architecture
ARTH 260 Addlestone Seminar on the Arts and Culture of the Lowcountry
ARTH 265 The City as a Work of Art
ARTH 335 History of American Architecture
ARTH 394 History of 18th and 19th Century Architecture
ARTH 395 History of 20th Century Architecture

BA, Southern Illinois
Ph.D. Princeton University

From these descriptions regular readers of this blog know already with whom I am muy simpatico so far. That would be Marvin, of course.

CCSD: "It's Going To Be a Bumpy Ride"

What can I say: when I'm right, I'm right (see Sunday's posting).

Fasten your seat belts.

Monday's article (Math & Science Backer Under Fire], quotes only outgoing CCSD School Board President Hillery Douglas on Park Dougherty's shortcomings and supposed "lies." Does anyone (with the possible exception of Courrege) believe that Douglas supports CSMS? Then, in the most convoluted reasoning I've seen recently, the story also twists Dougherty's support of ANYONE BUT TOYA (ABT) into "playing the race card" by quoting Armand Derfner, whose successful suit nixed at-large representatives on the Charleston County Council. "A judge in that case found that people here, and elsewhere, tend to vote along racial lines, he said." Never mind that the Lowcountry just elected a black Republican to the state legislature.

By Derfner's Orwellian reasoning, Dougherty's saying he would support ABT--either Marvin Stewart (black) or Robert Russell (white)--for the District 20 seat now held by Toya Hampton-Green, makes him a racist. He's a racist because he supports candidates that he believes will vote to support charter schools! [Why do I hear Dot Scott's voice echoing in the background?]

Actually, I happen to believe that members of the CCSD School Board should be voted in by the residents of their districts. Then, Dot Scott and her cronies who reside outside of District 20 wouldn't be able to vote for Hampton-Green. Then District 20 wouldn't get a representative who claims that she doesn't represent District 20. Sounds good to me.

Douglas lauds Hampton-Green's support of charter schools in his absurd claim that Dougherty is a liar. Read the background on support of Sea Islands YouthBuild in previous postings on this blog. Hampton-Green supports charter schools THAT ARE SUGGESTED BY 75 CALHOUN, not by actual residents of individual constituent districts (that would be Dougherty and CSMS). Douglas claims that Dougherty is playing "lowdown dirty politics." Why didn't he attack Russell for attempting to take a "black" seat? Is this ranting simply a result of what happened to Douglas in the North Charleston mayoralty race?

Take the beam out of your own eye, Hillery.

P & C Plans Hatchet Job on Charter School Organizer

What are the chances that Monday's promised article on Park Dougherty will be balanced? Golly, maybe between slim and none? Even the article's teaser in today's on-line version [see Charter School Leader Spurs Controversy] trashes Dougherty by saying that "some [note, unnamed] say Dougherty has resorted to 'low down, dirty politics' and 'playing the race card' by pushing two candidates for one seat," the one now held by Toya Hampton-Green.

It's an opening volley from 75 Calhoun Street in the election of new board members. The Superintendent and Gregg Meyers know that many issues have been decided on a 5-4 vote from the present members of the board. No one, not even Toya Hampton-Green, would claim that her voiceless votes in lockstep with Meyers have supported Dougherty in his quest for CSMS to be a success.

What I can't figure out is how Dougherty's support of Marvin Stewart and Robert Russell is "playing the race card." All he's doing is saying, ANYONE but Toya. If both of these candidates were white, the statement would be justifiable (barely!), but they're not.

Wanna bet that the "some" are Dot Scott and her cronies? They can't attack the balanced racial makeup of the school, so they've gone to Plan B. The P & C is happy to oblige.