Forget the Economy: CCSD Board Sinks to New Low

I hate profanity. If anyone called me a bitch to my face, I'd probably slap him. My father, who as a former Marine probably knew plenty, never used profanity at any time around me when I was growing up. Arthur Ravenel, Jr., revealed to me by his choice of words to a woman that he is no Southern gentleman, but then I never thought he was. I am still offended by any profanity that I hear used by my peers and can't even imagine the duress I would need to be under to use it in the classroom. There.

That said, can we get real here?

Monday night's CCSD School Board meeting was a classic of its kind. [See New Behavior Standards for Members Proposed]. It's politics, folks. This is appeasement of our lovely, ineffective NAACP, as represented by Dot Scott. Why, if the new policy were made retroactive, Hillery Douglas himself would be in the dock! I'll support the policy when every student who calls a teacher a bitch will be sent to Murray Hill Academy or expelled. That will be a cold day in hell.

The Meyers faction is proposing to use its 5-4 majority to expell ELECTED members of the Board who oppose it, pure and simple. Ravenel not only opposes them; he has the contacts to do it effectively. [BTW, there was a time when I wouldn't have believed that I would ever defend Ravenel!] You don't really believe this is about bad language, do you? If so, please see me later about my bridge in Brooklyn.

We have yet to hear from CCSD's new attorney on the legality of the Board's ousting an elected member. Frankly, until I hear otherwise from state sources, I refuse to believe it. Even Meyers admitted that taking such action would be a "'zoo.'" Zoo? It would be a witch hunt! Can you imagine the trumped up charges that would routinely appear in attempts to get those who don't "go along to get along" with Meyers?

This is about intimidation of members who choose to disagree. The P & C is happy to go along with it. If you read the article carefully, you will see that Ravenel's original outburst concerned failure to put an item on the Board's agenda. It states, "He also told McGinley he'd have her job if she didn't put a certain item on the school board's agenda, according to McGinley's account." Our wonderful newspaper neglects to mention what that item was. Can you guess what?

It was approval of arrangements for CSMS to use the Rivers campus. If the item had not been added to that agenda, CSMS would have lost out on using the campus. See, the plot thickens.

AP Education Poll Reflects CCSD Realities

A Bill Gates-financed national AP poll on education, as reported in Saturday's P & C, actually emphasizes the concerns of CCSD parents, especially those in District 20 on the penninsula.

For example, more than half believe students are not prepared for everyday jobs or for college--echoing the concerns of Burke parents who wonder why the new technology campus can't be at Burke and why Burke gets short shrift in vocational courses.

But it's when the numbers are broken out by minority versus white that the story gets interesting. For example, the poll suggests "minority parents are more likely to believe their children are getting a better education than they received." Well, yes, especially if the parents dropped out of school earlier than their white counterparts did--it's not clear if the poll corrected for this factor. Historically, whites have higher educational attainment.

More telling is the disparity in those who rate their schools as good or excellent. Only 42 percent of minority parents agreed versus 59 percent of white parents. Was this adjusted for economic background? Let's see--could schools in poor areas be worse than those in rich areas? Are more minority parents poor? Wouldn't you love to see such a survey done in CCSD? Don't hold your breath.

Is education important to minority parents? Yes. They know education is the way up economically. That's why they consider it just as important as the economy. That's where it becomes obvious that the survey reflects District 20 and its ubiquitous failing schools.

What percentage of minority parents in District 20 would rate their schools as good or excellent? Don't make me laugh.

On a lighter note, the desire expressed in the survey for more math is being met with the Charter School for Math and Science. What an irony that the school board is fighting it!

More Nonsense from the NAACP and CCSD

Monday's CCSD Board meeting was a classic--a classic satire on school board meetings.

• Nelson Rivers III, field director and Burke High School graduate, showed up to prove that he doesn't know what's happening in District 20 these days.
  
• Academic Magnet parents showed up to protest the potential deflation of the Magnet's effectiveness when combined with the School of the Arts.
  
• Toya Green's absence (is there some reason she couldn't have voted by phone also?) guaranteed that the proposed budget for next year would not be passed.
  
• The Board refused to renew the charter for James Island High School.
  
• Hillery Douglas pretended he didn't know that, as chairman, he needed to sign the Board's approval (from its April meeting) for CSMS to use the Rivers campus.

Meanwhile, the ground is being prepared for the construction of the combined Academic Magnet and School of the Arts off Enterprise Avenue in North Charleston, now that the Special Day School has been completed. Has the public ever seen the final plans on that building? Has anyone? Has any traffic study been done? Where will the entrance to this "gi-normous" school be, off Enterprise or Montague? What is this, a state secret?

Last Gasp of a "Failing Mindset": NAACP & Ravenel

Dot Scott has lied to Nelson Rivers III, whose speech can be seen on the P & C's website. At least, I assume that Rivers wasn't being ironic when he said that the organizers of CSMS "want a segregated, or almost segregated, school" at Rivers. Maybe that was a joke? Or maybe a school that is all-black, such as virtually every school in District 20 except Buist Academy, isn't considered segregated by Scott and Rivers? Frankly, given the circumstances, Rivers's comments are bizarre.

Dot Scott is worried. Oh, not about the de facto segregated schools on the peninsula--about getting an integrated one. This is the most logical explanation for the illogical line that Scott, as Chairman of the Charleston NAACP, draws between Arthur Ravenel, Jr.,'s now famous blow up at 75 Calhoun Street and the Charter School for Math and Science's use of the Rivers campus. Scott hopes to use those remarks to drive an old man from office and prevent the election of another one who just might oppose the 5 - 4 majority of the present Board. See Friday's P & C for Meeting AddressesInequities in Schools.

Given that headline, didn't you assume that finally the NAACP and the phantom Interdenominational Alliance (that exists only for public meetings like this one) were going to demand that Charleston Progressive Academy, an almost all-black magnet school only two blocks from Buist Academy, get the resources it needs to be truly a magnet? Or that Fraser Elementary get its very own principal? Nary a mention. Instead we get more of the same from Scott and her cronies.

Let's all keep in mind that Ravenel, who certainly has his flaws, has been one vocal and mostly effective opponent of the majority of CCSD Board members led by erstwhile civil-rights attorney Gregg Meyers and Board Chairman Hillery Douglas, who can't even get control of the Board's agenda (if McGinley has been writing it, as the circumstances of the brouhaha suggest).

This meeting kicks off the election campaign to make sure that November's replacements for Board members follow the racist agenda set up by the NAACP. Despite who shows up at Monday's CCSD Board meeting, it is a "failing mindset." Thank God.

P & C Takes Sides in CCSD Dispute

Splashed all over the front of the P & C Friday morning was one of the most important stories to come out of CCSD this year! At least it must have been to receive the place of honor above the fold. So, was this startling information about the school district banner news about its achievements or even its failures?

Of course not. It was about a spat among CCSD school board members facilitated by employees of 75 Calhoun. [See Threats to McGinley's Job Alleged ].

Lost in the explosion about "he said--she said" was the reason for the anger. Found in the detritus was a stick to beat members of the school board (mainly Arthur Ravenel, Jr.) who don't take directives from Gregg Meyers et al. Seizing the chance to overreact in an election year, Douglas and his toadies made noises about changing the policies of the Board so that language might be a cause for public censure: "A board member who violates the code could face public discipline."

Spare us the sanctimonious simpers. No one excuses foul language, not even Arthur Ravenel, Jr., as it seems from his later TV interview today, and his explosion of temper was truly uncalled for, for the person who took the agreement with the Charter School for Math and Science to use the Rivers building off the Board's agenda was not present. In fact, no one has said who took it off, so we must read the tea leaves. Judging from remarks regarding the Superintendent, it must have been McGinley.

Needless to say, the P &C ignored the issue, hoping not to pick at the scab that has formed over the ongoing dispute between organizers of CSMS and the school board, which is seething quietly over its inability to stop CSMS's fulfillment. That continues to be the real story.

Oh, and one other observation. Courrege apparently parrots whatever Meyers et al say to her. How else to explain the statement that, "Cook and Toler frequently vote with Ravenel on controversial issues"? That statement was, of course, made to cast doubt on their neutrality in the dispute. Instead, it reveals the reporter's ignorance about the relationship between Cook and Ravenel.

May we get on to the topic at hand--when IS the CCSD board going to grapple with the CSMS agreement? When hell freezes over?

YouthBuild Builds at Last: CCSD Soap Opera

The long, sad odyssey of Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School seems to be coming to a resolution, if a temporary one. Today's P & C reports that the school finally has a building. [See Sea Islands YouthBuild Home at Last ]

At the end of the school year. The school managed to dodge the cut-off of district funds several times during the year [see several postings on this blog], but this summer the CCSD School Board will be forced to choose: is it going to fund this school in the future or not? Has the school met its obligations to remain in good standing?

Comparisons have been made between Sea Islands and the new Charter School for Math and Science over the last few months. It's time to take stock. The two charters certainly have been treated differently by the CCSD School Board; that's because, leaving aside differences in their missions, these two charters are entirely different in genesis, motivation, and parental involvement. Perhaps there are some lessons to be learned.

• Sea Islands was encouraged by 75 Calhoun to form under the well-meaning guidance of a former employee of CCSD and friend of 75 Calhoun in order to meet the needs of older at-risk students who would no longer be eligible for Murray Hill Academy because the district changed its policies regarding Murray Hill. The students targeted for YouthBuild were unlikely to have much parental support or involvement in its organization.
  
• Charter School for Math and Science started as a grass-roots effort among parents of District 20 students who were discouraged by their choices of failing schools. From the beginning, it seems, the CCSD board was miffed that it did not control the actions of this group.
  
• When the CCSD Board of Trustees approved YouthBuild, it failed in its duty to these needy students by trustingly accepting the word of its organizer that a facility that would meet state standards was available for use. Such was not the case.
• The CCSD Board of Trustees never trusted CSMS in any regard because it hated the idea of a charter high school downtown, with members repeatedly hinting that its organizers were racists. Strong grass-roots support among all races downtown won over public opinion.
  
• The lack of a building and monthly perambulations of YouthBuild from pillar to post, coupled with lack of busing, guaranteed a major reduction in the number of students in attendance. Meanwhile, the district continued to pay funds based on initial numbers of students. Records of attendance were not made available to the district when requested.
• When CSMS organizers saw the old Rivers High School building sitting vacant and requested its use, the School Board attempted to quash and/or gain control over it by suggesting exorbitant rent, then raising the number of millions needed to bring the building up to standards (never mind that the building had been vacant for a very brief period) to a ridiculous figure.
• Perhaps as part of its agreement with CCSD to keep getting funding despite its not following the rules, Sea Islands did not ask for space in public school buildings, although certainly such space exists. Now it has signed a three-year contract to rent an old warehouse that students themselves will renovate.
  

According to Larry Blasch, chairman of YouthBuild's board, "the school will spend another $30,000 improving the space so it can clear state and local inspections and be occupied by students." So the space will finally meet requirements just as school is getting out for the summer?

Given that expenditure and the signing of a three-year contract, it seems reasonable to assume that the fix is in, even though the Board will be not updated in regard to continuing its support until its meeting later this month.

Taxpayers deserve to know what CCSD has gotten for their money in regard to students at YouthBuild: How many credits have been earned per tax dollar? How many diplomas?

And has CCSD learned its lesson?

CEN's Butzon Butts in on Charter School Rent

Don't you just love the edu-blob? It pretends to have the best interests of students at heart, when in fact it has its OWN interests at heart. Take Jon Butzon, of the Charleston Education Network, a Riley and Chamber-of-Commerce front--please take him!

Monday's P & C's op-ed page has a message from Butzon: The sky is falling in CCSD. Run for your life.

Butzon tries to link CCSD's financial woes to its failure to charge rent to the new Charter School for Math and Science. For example,

"Locally sponsored charter schools are already a financial albatross for school districts. When charter school proponents complain about the slow growth of charter schools in South Carolina, they typically attribute that slow growth to anti-charter sentiments among educators and school boards. But as the law is currently written, having charter schools is a financial disincentive for school boards."

What you really mean, Jon, is that school boards lose control of the money that goes to those students. I agree it's a financial disincentive but only because many on the school board have other agendas than the best interests of the students involved. You and I both know that the amount of money alloted per student in the district does not change--only who handles it.

More to the point, why should the Charleston Education Network get a chair at the table? Who elected it to decide what policies the district should have about anything? Why do so many friends of Riley and Democratic activists sit on the committee? What qualifies Jon Butzon to sound off on the finances of the district and its funding? Let's see his credentials.

As I inquired in a posting last July 27th,

Who calls the shots in this unwieldy committee of 26?
Who decides what policies to push?
Where does more than $92,000 in "public support"[as of 3 years ago] come from?
What are Butzon's qualifications for sitting in on CCSD meetings?
Why does CCSD list CEN under "parent" organizations?

Well, Jon? Why did CEN leave its offices at the Citadel? Why is it that on CEN's website not a single member of the committee is listed under "Who We Are"?

Don't you just love it?

CCSD's Legal Costs Fiasco

$625,000 spent in an eight-month period on legal bills.

Let's see. At this rate CCSD will dole out something approaching a million dollars for attorney fees during this school year. Is anyone crying, "Stop! Hold! Enough"? Yes, but it's not 75 Calhoun. It's Arthur Ravenel, Jr., who has questioned the ballooning costs of the district's arrangement with Alice Paylor's law firm. In one of her most it-goes-without-saying statements so far, Superintendent McGinley has pointed out that "every call the district makes to its legal counsel is billed." Duh.

What could be costing so many hours' worth of Alice Paylor's time? Why, that would be

• personnel issues (hmm),
• construction contracts (mm-hmm),
• special education (huh?), and
• charter schools (oh! yes, of course).

That's Nancy McGinley's story and she's sticking to it.
([See Charleston Schools Looking to Hire Attorney.]

So, why did CCSD cut out the position of staff attorney "years ago"? Whose boondoggle is this? Is CCSD getting its money's worth? Or are its actions so ill-advised that it will always cost this much to defend them in court?

Harlem Charter School Success?

Let's face it. This is Ruth Jordan's worst nightmare:
Charter School Frenzy in Harlem

Charter School for Math & Science: Elite?

Let's go to the dictionary for this one.

Elite: the choice part; the best of a class ; the socially superior part of society; a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence; a member of such an elite —usually used in plural (Merriam-Webster On-Line).

With CCSD School Board Trustee Ruth Jordan's recent words about the "wealthy elite" desiring a charter school downtown, we need to look at the present demographics of the group of about 170 students enrolling so far. [A previous post has the black-white breakdown]:

• 78% from Charleston County Public Schools
• 19% from private schools
• 3% from home schools
  

Also

• 22% of private school students are African American
• 60% of home school students are African American
  

And

• 34% are eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch

Well, Ruth?

SC Senate District 42: The CCSD Connection

Have you ever tried reading the contributions reports of candidates running for office? They can easily be found on the website of the State Ethics Commission. Inspired by the P & C's report of contributions made to State Senator Robert Ford and his challenger Dwayne Green, I tracked down the senate district number (42) and scrolled through both lists of contributors. [See Green Passes Ford in Senate Race Cash ]

Although I said months ago that Dwayne Green, husband of Toya Hampton-Green of the CCSD Board of Trustees, planned to be mayor of Charleston someday, I must now qualify that by admitting that Green wants to replace State Senator Robert Ford first. I don't know Sen. Ford, nor have I followed state politics closely enough to know if he is vulnerable to this challenge. But what I do know is that 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.

Toya-Hampton Green has been one of the most vocal critics of CCSD's allowing the new Charter School for Math and Science to use the Rivers building, so I certainly should not have been surprised to see the name of Alice Paylor, present attorney for CCSD, as a contributor to Dwayne Green's campaign.

Cozy, isn't it?

CCSD Nay-Sayers: Keep Segregation Downtown!

No surprises. The vote Monday night at the CCSD Board of Trustees meeting on charging rent to the new Charter School for Math and Science was 6 to 3 in favor of no rent. [See Charter School Vote Breaks Racially] Those voting "no" had already voiced their reasons at previous meetings; they had no new arguments, not even ones challenging Attorney-General McMaster's ruling that rent couldn't be charged.

Chutzpah? Gall? Nerve? Arrogance? Effrontery?

We could exhaust the thesaurus trying to grasp the attitude of Toya Hampton-Green, Ruth Jordan, and Hillery Douglas. The organizers of CSMS have shown considerable forbearance in not responding to the racist attacks hurled their way by these three, who purport to be defending the schoolchildren in District 20.

Ruth Jordan actually "said that [the] vote would show the district has a long way to go to ensuring fairness and equity in education," accusing the organizers of being a wealthy elite who no longer wish to pay private school tuition. What she refuses to acknowledge, thanks to her racist agenda, is that this school is the best step towards "fairness and equity in education" downtown in decades.

Here we have a school in District 20 (not Buist!) that will actually be integrated, and purposely so! Present sign-ups for the school show a population that is 46 % white and 42 % black. That must be what nettles Jordan so much.

Maybe we should call in civil rights leaders to protest the horrible injustice of CCSD's supporting a non-segregated charter school? After all, what other charter schools in CCSD claim a balanced population?

School Choice, Diversity Training, & Duck Death

Wednesday's diversions from the P & C:

"The push for school districts to offer more choices to students has been stopped this year by lawmakers."

Whose push is this? Oh, yes. The State Superintendent of Education. We're using the word "choice" here loosely, as in charter schools. If school districts need more charter schools, let's see elected school boards and community members organize them without the help of the legislature.

"After meeting with [Nancy] Cook about her controversial comment [see my previous blog about CCSD airheads] over the weekend, the [NAACP] said she should enroll in sensitivity and diversity training, and urged other members of the county school board to condemn her comment."

Can we require President Dot Scott to attend also? She believes anyone with a white skin must be racist [i.e., her previous remarks on organizing of the new charter high school downtown--a racist plot]. That couple could contribute so much to the class!

See Driver Charged in Accident, Duck Death

No wonder we have such a high homicide rate in North Charleston.

I know--it's not that funny when you read the article. Still.

Toya's Op-Ed: It's a Gusher for CCSD

If you've given up subscribing to the P & C, you probably haven't seen the latest puff-piece in support of the CCSD School Board in Wednesday's op-ed piece, "One School Board Member's Update: Grounds for Optimism" by school board member Toya Hampton-Green. I'll spare you the bulk of it, since much of it rehashes the rent controversy over the Charter School for Math & Science and explains how the district's budget is being affected by the changes in funding. Needless to say, her viewpoint is indistinguishable from that of Gregg Meyers, et al.

However, some statements were interesting.

According to Green, "We would be fortunate to have [Superintendent McGinley] in Charleston until she retires, which is something she has stated she is interested in doing." Since McGinley's already worn out her welcome in many quarters, that longevity seems unlikely. On the other hand, who else would pay her as much as we do?

Also, Green states, "A board majority voted in favor of allowing [CSMS]'s use of a facility with a rent charge." Although she rehashes the legal issues involved, Green never mentions the unusually high rent proposed nor the racial-quota aspects of CSMS's getting it lowered, an aspect clearly against the law.

Green touts as the Board's accomplishments the release of funds to increase the pay of principals and administrators in the district with a new evaluation process as adjunct. Yes, CCSD officials are fleeing the district due to non-competitive pay in the "Southeast region."

Finally, Green suggests that a strategy to get experienced teachers employed elsewhere in CCSD to "voluntarily transfer to schools in the district that are rated below average or unsatisfactory" is the fruit of eliminating the input of teacher hiring and transfer oversight by constituent boards. What? You mean the district has tried to provide incentives previously? When?

Most ironically for some of us who can recall Hampton-Green's position that she does not represent District 20 but the entire district, she states, "Keep the inquiries coming." Does THAT apply to District 20 also?

Finally, she challenges the P & C to provide more "positive" coverage of the district, providing her own ironic ending.

P & C Charter School Piece Good for a Laugh

CCSD is an "incubator"! Why, thank goodness. Our failing school system has a positive aspect as an incubator for charter schools, no less! I'm sure the various folk involved with the new Charter School for Math and Science got a good chortle over that one this morning, but maybe Courrege is right--just not in the positive way she spins it.

From Merriam-Webster's On-line Dictionary:

one that incubates: as a: an apparatus by which eggs are hatched artificially b: an apparatus with a chamber used to provide controlled environmental conditions especially for the cultivation of microorganisms or the care and protection of premature or sick babies c: an organization or place that aids the development of new business ventures especially by providing low-cost commercial space, management assistance, or shared services

Yes, we can agree that CCSD has provided the "controlled environmental conditions" needed for the spread of charter schools. That would disastrous policies and poor planning that have led to the mess we are in today, one that encourages parents to get their children out of traditional public schools in any way they can.

Even in a back-handed way, we can agree that CCSD has aided "the development of new [charter schools]," albeit in a negative fashion. That is, as more and more diverse groups of constituents find common cause in jumping ship from its sinking system, new charter schools are being born. However, someone needs to read the last part of the definition to CCSD: that of "providing low-cost commericial space, management assistance, or shared services." Well, actually these charter schools can thrive without the last two!

In fact, if trends keep up, perhaps the CCSD School Board will no longer need to exist.

See School district has most charter schools in state, expected to grow

CCSD's Douglas: We Won't Hold CSMS Back

Can I quote you, Hillery?

Acting on the advice of CCSD's "experienced educators," the Charter School for Math and Science's organizers had pared down their original plans for two sections of eighth graders to a request for one, or about 20 students, in their 180-student school.

Turns out the waiting list for eighth grade was another section long. Why should that be a surprise? Could it be that many parents of rising eighth-graders want their children better prepared for high school?

According to the P & C's report on Monday night's CCSD Board meeting, the Board unanimously agreed to allow another section without any discussion. [See Math & Science School to Grow ]

My favorite comment? from Board Chairman Hillery Douglas: "'We would not want to hold them back.'" It falls into the same category as Gregg Meyers's statements about not charging rent for the Rivers building, although he can't seem to get around to putting that item on the agenda.

Would You Believe. . Broad Lectures on Charter Schools

Strange, isn't it? Our local CCSD superintendents and administrators have fought the new Charter School for Math and Science with all they've got. In fact, they're not finished yet--even though the end game is at hand.

So it seems hilarious that the P & C published on Monday's op-ed page a long piece by Eli Broad, founder of the Broad Foundation that produced Maria Goodloe-Johnson, Nancy McGinley, and Randy Bynum. In it Broad earnestly touts the benefits of public charter schools.

Maybe they didn't listen in class?

"Pete" Lawrence: Definitely a Fisher of Men

Kudos to the P & C [I know, can you believe I said that?] on its feature of Arthur "Pete" Lawrence, leader of the West Side Neighborhood Association, in Saturday's edition. District 20 (the downtown school district) does have its leaders, although they're not always the ones making the most noise--just quietly getting the job done. For those of us who do not know Lawrence personally, the article provided some interesting background on a kindred spirit.

One note on his forming the Friends of Burke: Lawrence's comments on how the powers-that-be couldn't touch his job if he spoke the truth must have resonated with many who are concerned with the operations of CCSD and its Board of Trustees. Can anyone forget the "ambush" of Lawrence several months ago by members of the NAACP for his support of the new Charter School of Math and Science? That stand took real courage.

Circulating among District 20 residents is a letter to Lawrence and Leroy Connor, a fellow co-founder of the Friends of Burke, portions of which I am reposting here:

To many of us who live and/or work downtown and who value our downtown schools, you (Pete) have proven to be our experienced helmsman. Leroy has been your able watchman from the bridge and bow. The two of you continue to guide us safely through the night. Pete, you have been steadfast and in the forefront on the issue of quality schools for all, among the many other related concerns shared by peninsula residents. You cut a confident figure of leadership, even when our directions seemed unclear or the horizon wasn't in sight. Like a matched team of experienced boatmen, you and Leroy have used your talents in tandem to show us the way and teach us how to recognize dangerous obstacles. Then you've shown us how to turn these same obstacles into friendly landmarks and to recognize some of them as valuable opportunities.

I know these are analogies that might seem more appropriate to a Navy sailor than an Army soldier, but they still accurately apply to you in the best ways. Maybe the water based comparisons reflect your continuing good fortune at fishing as your grandfather recognized these talents when you were still a kid. Appropriately named, like St. Peter, you have become a fisher of men.

Pete, you are one of the reasons that our peninsula neighborhoods are starting to reconnect after having been divided for so long. Not only divided, usually along racial lines, we have too often felt defeated, if not conquered. You are showing us that we have too many common interests that should unite us. Please know that due to your patience and willingness to educate many of us, including some of our more recently arrived white neighbors, a growing majority of all colors increasingly stand ready to back you on many of your most valued goals and priorities. These include raising the educational opportunities available to all students at Burke, establishing a sailing program where none exists or showing up to support you on whatever is best for your downtown neighborhood (and by association, our adjacent neighborhoods, too).

As you have helped us to articulate on all fronts, your downtown neighbors have discovered that our common enemy is "Average". Our true ally and ultimate objective should be nothing less than "Excellent". Truth and knowing the facts are powerful tools in this struggle. Our only assumption is that if given the chance, we, as a united body working together, will rise to the challenge every time by choosing "Excellence" over "Average" for our schools, our neighborhoods and our city. This has so far been true for OUR new charter school, for OUR Burke HS and for OUR new city gym named for Arthur Christopher.

Thanks for helping us to understand how all of these goals are connected.

Charter School's Lottery & Results: Diverse

Showing that a real lottery can work, the results of registrations for the first year of the Charter School for Math & Science are in. As reported by Octavia Mitchell of Channel 2,

Enrollment numbers are in for the new Charleston Charter School for Math and Science, proposed for the Rivers Middle School site. School officials say they're on track with diversity goals.

Park Dougherty, chairman of the Charter Committee says they sent out 180 enrollment packages to students selected in a lottery. Parents had two weeks to return forms confirming enrollment, and for the first time they now have a clear picture of the school's diversity makeup. Fifty-two-percent of 120 students who returned their enrollment forms are White; 41-percent are African American; and 7-percent are Hispanic, Asian, or multi cultural; 30-percent are on free or reduced lunch.

Charleston-branch NAACP President Dot Scott, who has opposed the school at every turn, is left to mumble about keeping diversity. Pitiful, isn't she?

CCSD's Cinderella Gets Invitation to the Ball

"Of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition. It is action and reaction." So said Henry Clay, nineteenth-century Kentucky statesman, past Speaker of the House of Representatives, the "Great Compromiser," and multiple-time nominee for President of the United States.

Does anyone believe that CCSD would have gotten around to adding rigorous course offerings at Burke High School if the downtown Charter High School for Math and Science had not taken form?

• Sure, lots of talk but no action in the decade or so since the Academic Magnet moved from trailers at Burke to the old Navy Base. Those were Burke students in geography but not in makeup or name anyway.
  
• Sure, lots of talk but no action as Burke gradually deteriorated to its unsatisfactory rating and near takeover by the State Department of Education.
  
• Sure, lots of talk but no action as parents of students living in District 20 found various routes (including permission to attend high schools off the peninsula) to avoid attending Burke, resulting in a decline in the size of its student body and de facto segregation.

Oh, excuse me. I should have said effective action. Lots of motion has occurred. Even lots of taxpayer dollars have been thrown at the problem. Look at the A+ Program instituted by Goodloe-Johnson that failed for various reasons, not the least of which was that it was not properly implemented or supported. None of them have worked.

Probably more than a third of high-school-age students resident on the peninsula attend schools-other-than-Burke, with resulting transportation costs for CCSD that are probably in the hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last decade. Finally NCLB has added the options, thanks to several years of Burke's failing to make progress on its standards, of changing the school's structure, allowing it to become a charter school, replacing all teachers and administrators--well, you get the idea. CCSD is being forced to address the Burke problem again for the 2009-2010 school year, both from competition for higher-achieving students from CHSMS and from NCLB oversight.

Thanks to millions of taxpayer dollars, Burke High Middle has a beautiful facility, even if its playing-field situation is less than stellar; however, there are other ways to have a "Corridor of Shame" than decrepit buildings. You only have to contemplate what has happened to schools on the peninsula since their consolidation with those in Charleston's suburbs. It's been a downhill slide all the way. While you could argue that CCSD's academic "corridor of shame" actually meanders all over its district (with the exception of Mt. Pleasant), certainly District 20 has become the Cinderella ill-treated by the stepmother and her ugly step-sisters. Even true representation on its Board of Trustees has been bought away by political payoffs and at-large voting.

So, with great fanfare, Superintendent McGinley officially announces her plan for an "AP Academy" at Burke, first put forward as a counterpart to approval of CHSMS last year.
[See Burke to offer new AP Academy ].

Everyone wishes those at Burke who will try to make this "school-within-a-school" effective the best of luck. It is not automatically doomed to join its sister programs in failure, but as the old proverb goes, "The devil is in the details." One detail that should have been obvious is that the Academy will begin in the ninth grade: it should have begun at LEAST as early as the seventh. And that would have been possible, since Burke High Middle, as its name implies, does contain seventh and eighth grades. This start at ninth grade probably was a political decision made primarily because only middle school students at Burke would have been given the opportunity for these classes, leaving out other middle-schoolers on the peninsula. [Hmm. Why not spread resources to other middle-schoolers, say those at Charleston Progressive Academy? Oh, I forgot--that's a "magnet" school. It doesn't need an AP Academy. Right? What a can of worms that would open.]

Effective middle-school teachers are saints. There are some great middle-school teachers out there. They are definitely racking up brownie points in heaven by teaching at the sixth through eight grade level. Anyone who has ever attended middle school, subbed in middle school, or taught in middle school knows exactly what I am talking about. Despite the best efforts of all, middle schools in general [and that goes for many private ones as well as public] are sinkholes of academics for all but the most highly motivated and gifted. It's the nature of the beast. Whoever decided to invent schools that separate these specific grades from their saner counterparts deserves a special place in hell--maybe in the ninth circle,--that would be traitors to preteens.

Why do I say to start at seventh grade at the latest? Partly for the above reasons gleaned from personal observation and partly from knowledge of the national College-Board sponsored AP program itself. Probably McGinley is well aware (at least I hope she is) that the CB recommends the use of Vertical Teams to prepare students for AP courses. If you look at the materials for these Vertical Teams, you will see that they assume that preparation begins prior to high school. That is especially necessary for students who come from less-educated, lower-income families. Isn't that what CCSD is dealing with here?

A rigorous academic course in ninth grade is a shock to incoming students, no matter what previous school they attended. Even students from highly rated middle schools will have difficulty reaching the place they need to be to take AP courses successfully in the junior or senior years. We can hope that CCSD's administration has thoroughly thought through the needs of this program at Burke and will extend the serious help needed to make it successful.

If my calculations are correct, CCSD plans for up to 50% of its incoming freshmen to be in these honors courses. That's a high percentage for any school, even those with entrance requirements (except for the Academic Magnets of this world). Only time will tell.