The disgrace of District 20 representation in the Charleston County School District continues.
District 20 is located on the Charleston peninsula. Erstwhile resident and Board member Toya Hampton-Green, once the darling of the Riley administration, has moved to Columbia and vacated her post. Not a great loss, since Green didn't care to represent District 20 and had no mind of her own.
But worse, neither of two District 20 candidates' petitions qualified for the November ballot for the downtown seat. Now five residents wish to be appointed for Green's remaining, hardly two-month, term.
Both Todd Garrett and Tony Lewis at least had the energy to attempt to get on the ballot to be elected to Green's slot. Why should a bunch of politicians (and Niki Haley) appoint one of the three others (Jo Cannon, Bruce Smith, or Lewis Weinstein) who couldn't be bothered with petitions but now see an easy way to get a seat and then run a write-in campaign from a position of strength?
Let Green's seat remain vacant for the remaining meetings of the old Board. We'll hardly be able to tell the difference between her being absent while she's on the Board and being absent while she's off the Board.
Appointing anyone else besides Garrett or Lewis doesn't pass the smell test.
Showing posts with label lewis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lewis. Show all posts
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Think Differently on CCSD Board of Trustees
It's time for serious thought on the duties of school-district boards of trustees.
Scandals at Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco, and Worldcom point to the problem of outside directors not knowing enough about the corporations' accounting practices to fulfill their duty as watchdogs of management. What past corporate managment sought was directors of outstanding achievement in fields not directly related to its business whose names would look good on the masthead and who would feel "honored" to serve as figureheads. We have suffered the end result. Perhaps with Sarbanes-Oxley directors will treat their duties as more than honorary.
You may already have spotted the similarity to the Charleston County School District and its Board of Trustees. When school districts were small and handled what CCSD would consider "chump change" now, having trustees (i.e., "outside directors") who viewed their positions as honorary or believed that finding problems within the "system" would hurt the community or were hand-selected by the superintendent (i.e., "management") to run for "election," were relatively harmless in the damage they could wreak. Not so today.
It is past time for the CCSD Board of Trustees to grasp the enormity of their duties. The last element needed in a newly-appointed member to the Board is sycophancy, nor will the presence of an additional dilletante ameliorate a difficult situation. Think of the responsibilities of Superintendent McGinley as gravely as those of Enron, if you like. Hundreds of millions of your tax dollars spew out of 75 Calhoun every year, affecting every corner of the district and your taxes. If its Board of Trustees is as ignorant of how this money gets directed and spent as were the outside directors of Enron, it must share the liability when the bubble bursts--and it will at some point, just like Enron or the housing market.
For Maria Goodloe-Johnson, the bubble finally burst in Seattle last March. We have no reason to believe that her management style, nor McGinley's, was any more effective during her tenure in Charleston.
Maybe, just maybe, Seattle's board took its role as watchdog more seriously, especially in regard to finances and auditing.
Scandals at Enron, HealthSouth, Tyco, and Worldcom point to the problem of outside directors not knowing enough about the corporations' accounting practices to fulfill their duty as watchdogs of management. What past corporate managment sought was directors of outstanding achievement in fields not directly related to its business whose names would look good on the masthead and who would feel "honored" to serve as figureheads. We have suffered the end result. Perhaps with Sarbanes-Oxley directors will treat their duties as more than honorary.You may already have spotted the similarity to the Charleston County School District and its Board of Trustees. When school districts were small and handled what CCSD would consider "chump change" now, having trustees (i.e., "outside directors") who viewed their positions as honorary or believed that finding problems within the "system" would hurt the community or were hand-selected by the superintendent (i.e., "management") to run for "election," were relatively harmless in the damage they could wreak. Not so today.
It is past time for the CCSD Board of Trustees to grasp the enormity of their duties. The last element needed in a newly-appointed member to the Board is sycophancy, nor will the presence of an additional dilletante ameliorate a difficult situation. Think of the responsibilities of Superintendent McGinley as gravely as those of Enron, if you like. Hundreds of millions of your tax dollars spew out of 75 Calhoun every year, affecting every corner of the district and your taxes. If its Board of Trustees is as ignorant of how this money gets directed and spent as were the outside directors of Enron, it must share the liability when the bubble bursts--and it will at some point, just like Enron or the housing market.
For Maria Goodloe-Johnson, the bubble finally burst in Seattle last March. We have no reason to believe that her management style, nor McGinley's, was any more effective during her tenure in Charleston.
Maybe, just maybe, Seattle's board took its role as watchdog more seriously, especially in regard to finances and auditing.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Goodloe-Johnson's CCSD Legacy
The furor has been building in Seattle ever since a state audit of former CCSD Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson's Seattle administration revealed hanky-panky with financial affairs. And her financial guru came to Seattle with her from, wait for it, the Charleston County School District.
And she left behind her protege, now Superintendent Nancy McGinley. Don't you wonder if the Broad Institute covers this sort of thing?
For sure, Seattle is a place where everyone doesn't just assume that people are doing the right thing; unlike the "good old boys" of the South, they trust but verify. And look what happens!
Seems as though many detractors of the present CCSD administration have called for a proper audit of the district to no avail. Could be a wake-up call.
Is there any way to get the state involved?
Does the State Superintendent have the power to investigate?
Do our local legislators care? Or are they pawns of the Chamber of Commerce also, the one touting its victory in handing millions more over to Bill Lewis to provide full employment to his friends?
Ask Chris Fraser.
And she left behind her protege, now Superintendent Nancy McGinley. Don't you wonder if the Broad Institute covers this sort of thing?
For sure, Seattle is a place where everyone doesn't just assume that people are doing the right thing; unlike the "good old boys" of the South, they trust but verify. And look what happens!
Seems as though many detractors of the present CCSD administration have called for a proper audit of the district to no avail. Could be a wake-up call.
Is there any way to get the state involved?
Does the State Superintendent have the power to investigate?
Do our local legislators care? Or are they pawns of the Chamber of Commerce also, the one touting its victory in handing millions more over to Bill Lewis to provide full employment to his friends?
Ask Chris Fraser.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Blackmail for the Board from Lewis
Sorry to say that my home computer has a nasty virus. Feel free to leave your comments on Bill Lewis's shenanigans and the Board's threats of property tax increases until I'm up and running again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
