Bobby Needs to Come Clean on CCSD Over-Payments to Axxis

Superintendent McGinley may be gone, but her methods linger on in Acting Superintendent Bobby's high-handed treatment of the Charleston County School Board of Trustees.

First of all, Axxis, the diversity consulting firm that was so helpful in the watermelon incident, was hired without advice or consent of the board, one of several no-bid or single bidder contracts McGinley entered. The maximum ceiling for its consulting was $50,000. Nearly $69,000 later Bobby asked the school board to extend the contract by $48,000 while keeping it in the dark about the overrun.

So, is CCSD paying up to $98,000 or $117,000? Is there any hope that the board will ever rebel at this kind of deception?

P & C Ignores Inequities of EdFirstSC Salary Expose

Teachers get less money under the new salary system; educrats get more. P & C, cheerleader for "Bring McGinley Back," chooses to ignore reality that CCSD did not follow recommendations of its expensive salary study.

See the following:

Losing Ground

CCSD's McGinley a Goner?

Please, oh please.

SC House Signs on to CCSD's One-Cent Sales Tax Extension

Don't you love it when politicians get together to spend Other People's Money? Our state House has now made it possible for voters to approve an extension of the tax for capital building programs in both Charleston and Horry Counties in the next election cycle. Otherwise, those districts might actually have a chance to pause and take stock of whether previous capital expenditures were really worth it.

My favorite statement from Michael Bobby, who is in charge of CCSD's capital program?

"The school could use the money to finance long-term bonds instead of a "pay-as-you-go" system, which they say would reduce the overall cost of projects. They could also use any additional funds generated by the 1 percent tax to reduce property taxes."

In other words, what we really need is long-term debt. And we can promise the voters that we might reduce property taxes. Actually, I've always been a fan of "pay-as-you-go." That must make me old fashioned. If you think this tax will lower property taxes, well, I've got a bridge. . . . Furthermore, sales taxes are the most hurtful to the poor among us, something CCSD Board Vice-Chairman Tom Ducker apparently doesn't mind.

As you read, Superintendent McGinley and Bobby are busy conspiring to dream up a list of "necessary" capital projects that will be of interest to voters in every corner of Charleston County. They've been working on it for months. You get the picture.

Call or email your state senator and tell him or her to vote against this bill if it actually comes to a vote in the state senate! And ask the CCSD Board of Trustees for an external audit of capital expenditures. It's past time.

CCSD Solicits Input from Downtown Constituents? Maybe

Amazing but true.

The downtown schools (District 20) planning committee for the Charleston County School District has scheduled its community input meeting for Sunday, February 2nd. You can't make this stuff up.

What's that you say? Perhaps something is scheduled for that day that just might keep most of the community at home.

I wonder what that could be.

CCSD Shill for Charleston Chamber of Commerce Brags of Noblesse Oblige

Imagine you had a job to do that required several meetings a month a distance from your home. Your only compensation was $25 per meeting. Would you bother to fill out the paperwork to get your expenses paid? Or would the money mean so little to you that you couldn't be bothered?

Chris Fraser, the place marker for the Charleston Chamber of Commerce on the Charleston County School Board of Trustees, brags that he doesn't need the money, so he doesn't file. Fraser reveals himself squarely in the rich man's corner--those who need reimbursement should feel embarrassed for taking the taxpayers' dime. In fact, from Fraser's point of view only people who don't need money should serve on the Board.

Maybe some day Fraser will live in the real world. 

Meanwhile, Brian Hicks remains more than willing to share Fraser's bragging while inserting snide remarks over Elizabeth Kandrac's reimbursement for training sessions--and Kandrac left the Board some time ago. 

Hicks still bristles over the thought that a white teacher had the nerve to sue CCSD for racial harassment, won her day in court, and then voters elected her to the School Board. 

Neither Fraser nor Hicks reveals that Fraser frequently absents himself from meetings. If he asked for reimbursement, a record would reveal how often he doesn't bother with attending. Maybe we need a member who's more dedicated who takes the $25.

NJ Broad-trained Superintendent Runs Amuck--McGinley Should Take Notice

Those familiar with Montclair, New Jersey, know it as a beautiful suburb of New York City with an excellent, well-integrated school system, hardly what passes in the minds of most as "urban." Nevertheless, some wiseacre school board hired a Broad-trained superintendent whose actions have set the whole town on its ear.

Here is a letter to the local paper that complains about some of Broad's policies. The complaints should sound familiar [reported by Diane Ravitch].

Ira Shor wrote the following letter to the editor of the Montclair Times to complain about the influence of the Broad Foundation in Montclair:

Dec. 29, 2013
Is Billionaire Eli Broad Running Our Schools?​
Why is the District refusing to release items regarding the Superintendent’s relation to the Broad Foundation? On October 31, 2013, I filed a request under NJ’s Open Public Records Act(OPRA) for documents regarding Supt. MacCormack’s financial disclosure that she received “more than $2000” in 2013 from the Broad Foundation. We need to know how much “more than $2000” Broad is paying her and for what services. Contrary to OPRA law, Mr. Fleischer, her COO, provided no requested documents and did not explain why he refused. OPRA requires district officers to meet legal requests in 7 business days or explain in writing why not. Mr. Fleischer had 35 days but provided no Broad items and explained nothing.

What is the Superintendent hiding? Who does she work for--Montclair’s families or billionaire Eli Broad and his campaign to standardize public schools? She attended the unaccredited Broad Academy whose “grads” follow Broad’s playbook, imposing one-size-fits-all curricula, endless bubble-tests, and high-priced consultants and testing technology. We have a right to know if she answers to Broad or to us.

The Superintendent and our Board have recklessly disrupted our good schools and squandered taxes on ridiculous subpoenas, while refusing to spend yet another huge surplus on things our kids need: smaller classes, foreign language, aides in all classes, librarians in all schools, instrumental music, and after-school mentoring for at-risk kids. Listen to our over-tested kids reporting fear and stress; listen to our under-supported teachers at monthly Board meetings; then, you’ll agree we should roll back the Broad agenda and its assessment train wreck. The refusal of my OPRA request joins other illegal refusals from Mr. Fleischer and the Supt.’s office. Stop hiding from those you should be serving. Open your books and files.
Ira Shor
302 North Mountain Avenue
Montclair, NJ 07043

Raise CCSD Board of Trustees' Pay Gradually for Future

Superintendent of Charleston County Schools Nancy McGinley's salary tops that of Charleston's Mayor. The district's operating budget must be the highest in the county, with the possible exception of Boeing's. If the job of CCSD's Board of Trustees is to oversee the Superintendent, which it is, the compensation of $25 per meeting appears truly out of proportion.

Why should anybody care? Compensation as now configured presupposes that elected Board officials are mere dilettantes, spending little time on their roles. Or it assumes that members taking their duties seriously must be wealthy or retired. If a single meeting takes even one hour to prepare for and merely two hours in session (and how often is a session that short?), that amounts to a minimum of three hours of work for $25, not much more than the minimum wage.

Why does Dorchester District 2 pay its Board members $600 a month and its Board Chairman $750? Why do other districts in this state pay much more than that? 

It's all very well to talk about noblesse oblige and "giving back." Board members whose compensation amounts to two or three lattes must be more vulnerable to other forms of bribery than those who are compensated well. Not long ago, Louisiana had one of the lowest salaries for its governor, but then he was expected to steal the rest. Think of Huey Long and Edwin Edwards. Human nature doesn't change.

Let's match DD2's compensation for the next round of school board elections. The amount of money involved is chump change in a district flowing with millions in operating and capital expenses.

Such a raise would be a step forward in honesty in government.

Edublob Happy to Reap Profits from Common Core Resources

Diane Ravitch points out the obvious and asks several pertinent questions. We wonder what the answers are for the Charleston County School District:

Common Core: A Bonanza for Vendors by dianeravitch

Education Week reports that 68% of districts plan to buy new instructional resources to meet the demands of Common Core.

That is, some 7,600 districts plan to buy new materials.

Most are planning to buy online resources, presumably to prepare for online testing.

I wish some researchers would estimate the shift of resources to pay for the new stuff.

As districts purchase more Common Core aligned materials, hardware and software, what do they spend less on?

Class size? Teachers? The arts? Physical education? Social workers? Guidance counselors? Librarians? 

CCSD and North Charleston's TIF: What Did CCSD Get?

Still the question remains, thanks to closed-door meetings!

The Post and Courier
North Charleston expands special tax-financing district
David Slade
Posted: Thursday, December 12, 2013 9:42 p.m., Updated: Thursday, December 12, 2013 10:12 p.m.
"North Charleston has expanded a special tax-financing district that will channel some future city, county and school district property taxes into the city's redevelopment initiatives.
"Initially, the funding will mostly support the ongoing development of the city-sponsored Oak Terrace Preserve subdivision near Park Circle. Funds could also be used throughout the designated areas for things such as street and utility improvements, and parks.
"The way it works is, the city has expanded what's known as a tax increment financing district, with the county and school district's approval. The deal extends by 10 years a TIF district that was due to expire in 2018, and increases the size of that TIF district to nearly 700 acres.
"Within the TIF district, for the next 15 years, property taxes generated by new development and rising property values will be used to pay for city-chosen improvements within that same area.
"The Beach Company's Garco Mill development and the former Naval Hospital are both within the TIF area.
"New property tax revenues from development and rising real estate values would have gone to the city, county and school district general funds, if there were no TIF district. The TIF concept is that public improvements will increase property values, which will create tax revenues, which will repay money borrowed to fund the improvements.
"The school district accounts for the largest share of property tax revenue, and will keep 12.5 percent of the new property tax revenues that it would have otherwise received, under an agreement with the city. The TIF district will get the rest.

A little transparency, please.

CCSD's Barter Discovers Board of Trustees Position not Honorary

Another elected member of the Charleston  County School District's Board of Trustees has resigned only one year into his term. John Barter, a retired executive, claims to have found his duties too time-consuming. His attitude most likely stems from promises made by those behind the scenes who encouraged him to run for election. No doubt they told him all he had to do was to support Superintendent Nancy McGinley in whatever she wanted, no questions asked.

Barter has taken on another unpaid position, this one at his alma mater, a fact that he cites in his decision to quit. No one forced him to take it. Why would he accept when he already had an important commitment to fulfill?

We may never know, but it's just possible that after a year on the CCSD Board, Barter realized what a can of worms festered in the finances and management of the district. Being a person used to getting such problems under control, he probably saw that straightening them out would not only antagonize his previous supporters but eat up whatever retirement plans he had left and believed going along and getting along was reprehensible.

It's a thought. Let's hope our legislative representatives do a better job of selecting a replacement than they did last time. How about Henry Copeland?

CCSD's Stacking the Deck Decoded by BRIDGE Opponents

BRIDGE--another program introduced by the Charleston County School District that is directly encouraged and funded by federal grants in the Race to the Top national competition.

Whether you agree or not with Sarah Shad Johnson's opposition to standardized testing, her Letter to the Editor published Saturday shows she understands how Superintendent Nancy McGinley guarantees her intended outcomes in CCSD. Long-time watchers know how she has stacked community committees for her entire tenure.

Johnson's analysis shows that the Bridge steering committee deliberately omits "parents who are not CCSD employees" and "independent community members," while including only four teachers, one of whom represents StudentsFirst. The rest are administrators, and we all know whom they answer to in fear of their jobs.

CCSD claims to "'welcome input of our teachers, principals, parents, and community partners.'"

BRIDGE's goal is to replace current salary structures for teachers with value-added merit pay based on standardized test scores. In other words, each child is a product on the assembly line of schooling, and each teacher adds value until the student reaches the end of the assembly line, or graduates. Furthermore, that value can be measured from year to year.

What's wrong with this picture?

What Lies Beneath Mount Pleasant's Invitation to Francis Marion U

Something lurks beneath the sudden push for a satellite campus of Francis Marion University to be located in Mount Pleasant. Only Mayor Billy Swails and maybe some members of the town council know. What it is, is neither need nor logic.

Swails's recent op-ed proves the point. He carefully documents the percentage of local freshmen at the College of Charleston but has no hard facts to back up his contention that "constituents have been telling us for years" how difficult it is for students to stay local in their choice of a four-year degree. "Accessibility and affordability" are his criteria.

Really? How many constituents complain about college options to their mayor? Someone has an ax to grind, and it's probably to make money.

Then there's the idea that his criteria must be met by a four-year school. Um, why?

If a student's scores and/or grades are not high enough to get into one of our local four-year colleges, why would we want to import a school whose standards are lower? Getting in to one of our local four-year programs in no way resembles getting into Harvard. In fact, for one of them, graduating from high school is enough!

Current in the national conversation is the discussion of the many college dropouts who are stuck with thousands in student loans and without a job justifying the debt. Swails apparently wants more of them. Anyone who believes that all high school graduates should matriculate at four-year colleges is delusional. What is the problem with proving academic dedication at a two-year college and then moving on to the four-year degree if it makes sense at that point?

Pointing out the virtues of the nursing program at Francis Marion is the final fallacy. First of all, the nursing program at FMU was run by MUSC until 2004, so those stats he's citing boomerang to another of our local choices for a four-year nursing degree. In addition, starting FMU with a "nursing" program is a red herring when FMU uses a 2 + 2 system towards its four-year nursing degree: the first two years are in the general college And, finally, someone should figure out if what the Lowcountry needs is nurses with four-year degrees! Certainly Swails hasn't provided any numbers for support.

Someone might just wonder if one of Swails's clients a building for sale that would fit his description of what the Council will look for.

Latest Outrage from McGinley-Fraser Nexus Comes to Light in CCSD

When the Charleston County School Board is merely a rubber stamp for its most highly paid employee, Superintendent McGinley, why should it know when the district applies for a grant, even one that comes with strings attached that will require the school district to implement certain procedures?

Basically, that is the position of the superintendent and former Board chair Chris Fraser. Even though Fraser was no longer chair of the Board, he signed off on the district's pursuit of the Race to the Top grant, one that the rest of its members knew nothing about.  No doubt he believed, as the Chamber of Commerce's voice on the Board, that their opinions didn't count.

Hubris and lack of transparency in CCSD.

Yawn. What else is new?

Grades Do Matter

My daughter's Maryland school district changed its report cards last year--ostensibly to conform to the new Common Core standards.  No more A, B, or F. Instead, three nonjudgmental letters that make her third-grader's progress a mystery, along with something like 24 standards written in educationese. Teachers no longer may write their own comments.

So it is a brave statement that South Carolina is making to the world of education by assigning to its school districts letter grades that parents actually understand. Let's hear it for transparency!

"Teaching to the test" is a shibboleth that needs to be retired.  Do the questions test information and skills that are essential to becoming a high school graduate and well-informed citizen? If they don't, change the test. If they do, then test content should take top priority in the classroom.

Can a third-grader read at grade level? Can a seventh-grader tackle her math homework with a solid foundation gained in previous years? Can high school freshmen read their textbooks?

Parents need to know if schools perform these basic tasks. What does it matter if the dropout rate is zero if a quarter of those who graduate cannot function in society?

The Forgotten Five CCSD Schools: Just a Statistic

Justice delayed is justice denied, as the Federal Office of Civil Rights sits on the complaint filed for Charleston County School District's closing of five schools in 2009. More than a thousand elementary and middle-school students were uprooted from their neighborhood schools while Superintendent McGinley promised them a better education.

McGinley also promised to follow through to see that the end justified the means; however, she isn't nearly as interested in providing that evidence as she is in showing that, as a result of moving these students, a smaller percentage of students district-wide are attending "failing" schools.

You see, making the statistic look good was the goal, not better education for these students. If McGinley really had the interests of these students at heart, she would be brimming over with tales of how their lives have been improved.

Once again, the superintendent has been rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Don't they look attractive on her pie chart?

CCSD's Secret Agenda on Buist and Magnet Admissions Policies. Really

You would think that, after all the complaints about the Buist admissions process over the last few years, the Charleston County School Board would be sensitive to its constituents. Wrong again.

The CCSD School Board has a workshop scheduled for Wednesday morning, time unannounced to the public, on magnet admissions processes and procedures. Even board members themselves are caught unaware of this agenda.

Sneaking another one by, are we McGinley?

Surprise! CCSD Super Ignores Neighborhood Planning Team

Strangely enough, the District 20 Neighborhood Planning Team (NPT) took its duties seriously over the last few months and produced a masterful plan to create D20 schools that actually reflect the makeup of its neighborhoods on the peninsula.

No matter. Superintendent McGinley has her own agenda, especially regarding a stand-alone middle school. You see, Burke High/Middle is on the verge of state takeover yet again (can you say, deja vu?). The superintendent has determined to keep Burke's middle school students out of the clutches of a state takeover.

Now, would you believe it, she wants to turn the new Sanders-Clyde elementary school building into a stand-alone middle school, complete with retrofitting that will keep CCSD contractors on the payroll. The plan not only "saves" Burke's middle-school students; it distributes Sanders-Clyde's student body among the remaining elementary schools. Thus, the super can declare she has yet again reduced the percentage of "failing" elementary schools on the peninsula. Masterful.

You can't make a parody of this; it already is.

CCSD "Comes a Cropper" on Redistricting Trends

What business would pay upwards of $250,000 for statistics needed for redistricting if it could get more accurate data for $20,000?

What business would contract with Cropper GIS Consulting in Columbus, Ohio, for information that it could get more cheaply from the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments?

Why, the Charleston County School District, of course.

And they say we don't need a performance audit.

Closed-Minded Meyers Pontificates for CCSD's McGinley

We need a little communication once in a while to realize why it's such a relief that Gregg Meyers no longer sits on the Charleston County School Board. Recently, Meyers boasted in the P&C that Superintendent McGinley's long tenure has provided "continuity," a "new idea" in the district

Yes, continuity, but at what cost? McGinley's has been the least transparent and most ineffective tenure of all time. Her skill consists of puffing herself up at the expense of principals, teachers, and students. She even brags about how a lower percentage of schools are failing when she artificially created the drop by closing neighborhood schools. McGinley promised to track the affected students and show how the change benefitted them.

Seen any data yet?

McGinley has new ideas all the time--remember the A+ academy at Burke? These dazzle the public briefly, just like a firecracker, and then fizzle with little fanfare.
Keep in mind that Meyers opposes charter schools, despite his comments in the P&C that "charter schools have added helpful options for parents." He was behind the moratorium the district. In fact, years ago Meyers used his clout on the Board to create Buist and the Academic Magnet for his own children; who cares about everyone else's--let the rest of the chips fall where they may.
Meyers thinks candidates running for the school board should be asked if they support Dr. McGinley. Actually, I agree. Anyone new to the Board who mindlessly says "yes" is a potted plant and should be voted down.