CCSD Blames James Simons Community for Building Delays

Anyone paying attention knows that construction has been going great guns on the new Buist building slated to open next August. Neighbors have even complained regarding noise on the building site at night since March of 2012. Not so the three other District 20 buildings being seismically redone, in particular, not so for James Simons Elementary. While the new building is constructed, those students are getting up at 6 a.m. to be bussed to the old Brentwood campus near the intersection of Ashley Phosphate and I-26 and arriving home who knows when.

Now it turns out that Superintendent McGinley blames slowness at the Simons building site on its community. (You can't make this stuff up.) Any changes to original plans should be laid squarely at her doorstep, since she never listened to what the community desired in the first place.

And what caused the hurry at Buist? Those well-connected parents will raise hell if the school isn't finished on time; James Simons parents don't possess that amount of clout.

Will the delay hurt development of the Montessori program at James Simons? Well, it won't help.

CCSD: Mt. Pleasant Charter School More Equal than Others

Superintendent McGinley and East Cooper Montessori Charter Principal Judy Swanigan "have been in 'creative brainstorming conversations' for a few months," according to the P&C, and those have led to a proposal for the district to bankroll renovating the old Laing campus so that the charter school can occupy it "at a reduced rate" to meet rising demand for its program.

Substitute "Charleston Charter School for Math and Science" in the appropriate slots. Can you imagine such a far-fetched scenario?

How about its rising demand? How about its being the only truly integrated school in the entire district? How about its lack of permanent facilities? How about its excellence?

CCSD Uses Elephant Gun on Tweet

Do the Math: 30 Times $100,000 = Over $3 Million for Administrators in CCSD

Let's see. In Charleston County what organizations might have 30 or more employees making over $100,000 per year in salary alone?

Well, clearly Boeing, all of the hospitals, maybe one or two big law firms--and the Charleston County School District. Now we all know about the grossly overpaid superintendent. No one should be surprised by finding Michael Bobby on the list or John Emerson or even Bill Lewis. Even five principals make over $100,000 when bonuses are figured in.

That leaves 21 "administrators" in the district who hold less responsible jobs and still make over $100,000. It's for the administrators that McGinley wishes to institute performance pay first. Do do what? Their jobs?

Oh, that's right. It's OPM.* Remember the next time you pay your school taxes.

*Other People's Money

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?