Marriage Made in Heaven? Greg Mathis & Sea Islands

If you foolishly lease a building for a charter school that is about to be terminated, what do you do when it is? Apparently, Sea Islands YouthBuild has found the answer--turn it over to another charter school that's having a tough go: Greg Mathis Charter. [Greg Mathis Charter Expands to Include Shuttered Sea Islands YouthBuild .]

Both charters were designed for at-risk students. Greg Mathis has enrolled the remaining Sea Islands students in its school while taking over the Sea Islands-leased building. Greg Mathis's financial picture should improve. The students from Sea Islands will get their chance. Looks like win-win.

Let's hope that the administration at Greg Mathis can get a handle on its previous problems regarding truancy and discipline.

Sea Islands YouthBuild Hemoraging CCSD Funds

If Charleston County Schools Superintendent Nancy McGinley really wants public support for closing Sea Islands YouthBuild charter school (the charter that she encouraged to form), she would do well to publicize the per pupil cost of each semester that it has been in business. Is that really too much for taxpayers to ask? [See Thursday's P & C for YouthBuild Charter School Loses Appeal.]

See previous postings on this blog for the long, sad history of bunglings by CCSD's Keystone-Kops School Board.

Just My Imagination? CCSD's Discipline School

I'm so confused now. Didn't CCSD open a discipline school for students having trouble in its other schools? Wasn't an entire building built from scratch just within the last few years to provide a home for "at risk" students? Isn't it named Murray Hill Academy? Didn't it cost $ 9 million, and doesn't it still sit holding classes in North Charleston?

Maybe someone can enlighten me, then, as to why the long-beleaguered Greg Mathis Charter School would be needed for the same purpose. [See Charter School Skating on Thin Ice in Tuesday's P & C.] According to Tuesday's article,

"Most of Greg Mathis' students have been suspended or expelled from other district schools; and for many of the students, the North Spartan Boulevard school is their last chance to earn a diploma. The only other school that served a similar student population was Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter, which the board closed less than a month ago. That school is appealing the decision."

What is this? Down the memory hole? This year, after having its own problems, Murray Hill Academy was changed to a 6-10 school by Superintendent McGinley. However, its brand-spanking-new building could easily hold the 75 students now at Gregg Mathis and then some. That would hardly be a monster-sized school even then, as its limit is supposedly 240 students. So it adds the 11th and 12th grades. That's a problem?

Here's what non-district evaluators say of Greg Mathis:

[They] cited a list of problems, including a lack of clear sense of direction, poor attendance, a need for faculty training, an unorganized governing board and an absence of on-time, four-year graduates. Nearly one-fifth of its students were suspended or expelled for violent or criminal offenses in 2007 [italics mine], and the school did not have a certified special education teacher to ensure its special-needs students received required services, according to the review.

Also, "Its estimated budget this year was $607,401. Sellers [its principal] said it's difficult for Greg Mathis to offer a comprehensive high school curriculum because of its small enrollment."

Talk about wasting taxpayers' money! Last Friday when the school was visited, 25 of the school's 75 (approximately) students were absent. Isn't something wrong with this picture?

I wonder how long they've been absent.

Sea Islands YouthBuild for 2008-09?

Click on Sea Islands YouthBuild below if you haven't been following the Perils of Pauline (aka the Hunt for Red October aka the effort to find a building for this CCSD-encouraged charter school) during the last year.

After a most confused and mismanaged year, when the students had dwindled down to 21 enrolled (although not always in attendance), Sea Islands negotiated a three-year lease on a building to house the program in early May. Then during the same month the CCSD School Board voted not to renew its charter. However, the school continues to run, and as the P & C reported over the weekend, not one, but two, scheduled meetings for July with representatives of the Board have not materialized.

Thanks to a reader, I'm quoting from state law on charter schools:

(C) A charter must be revoked or not renewed by the sponsor if it determines that the charter school:

(1) committed a material violation of the conditions, standards, or procedures provided for in the charter application;

(2) failed to meet or make reasonable progress, as defined in the charter application, toward pupil achievement standards identified in the charter application;

(3) failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management; or

(4) violated any provision of law from which the charter school was not specifically exempted.

(D) At least sixty days before not renewing or terminating a charter school, the sponsor shall notify in writing the charter school's governing body of the proposed action. The notification shall state the grounds for the proposed action in reasonable detail. Termination must follow the procedure provided for in this section.

*snip*

(F) The charter school's governing body may request in writing a hearing before the sponsor within fourteen days of receiving notice of nonrenewal or termination of the charter. Failure by the school's governing body to make a written request for a hearing within fourteen days must be treated as acquiescence to the proposed action. Upon receiving a timely written request for a hearing, the sponsor shall give reasonable notice to the school's governing body of the hearing date. The sponsor shall conduct a hearing before taking final action. The sponsor shall take final action to renew or not renew a charter by the last day of classes in the last school year for which the charter school is authorized. [italics mine]

What the most recent P & C article doesn't mention is that Sea Islands must get its due process. As the Board put off making a decision about the school for months, did it occur to them that the school would continue to operate and, more importantly, receive its funds due from CCSD for at least several months AFTER a vote to close it? Maybe I'm reading too much into the last part of the law (in italics above), but it appears that Sea Islands may continue to operate until June of 2009.

How many more hundreds of thousands of dollars will that be for 20 or so students?

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.

Let's Hear NAACP's Scott on Sea Islands Failure

Would you believe that Charleston's chapter of the NAACP is now calling for Governor Sanford to remove Arthur Ravenel, Jr., from the CCSD Board of Trustees over Ravenel's use of language? As reported by local TV stations, Dot Scott is at it again.

Some things that don't bother Scott and the other officers of the NAACP:

• de facto segregated schools in District 20 (on the peninsula);
  
• under-the-radar busing of white students out of District 20 and black students in to make segregation possible;
  
• the CCSD Superintendent's foray into charter schools as part of changing Murray Hill Academy represented by the monumental and expensive failure of Sea Islands YouthBuild;
  
• the failure of CCSD to provide programs at Burke High School desired by its parents;
• overloading of resources on Buist Academy as a magnet school while withholding same from Charleston Progressive Academy, an almost all-black magnet school only two blocks away; etc.

How could Ravenel's remarks possibly be as damaging to CCSD as these failures? It's all politics, folks. As long as the majority on the CCSD board aligns itself with Dot Scott, we can expect more of the same.

To Draw Attention from CCSD Board's Failures

The P & C is at it again. And why not? No news source in the Lowcountry will counter its propaganda. Well, The Chronicle might, but unfortunately it doesn't have much clout.

So it is that once again the local rag finds Arthur Ravenel's comments of a month ago to be front page news, complete with Board Chairman Douglas's sanctimonious posturing, while important new information gets buried in the back pages. Instead of headlining Ravenel's Comments Denounced, the news should have read " CCSD Finally Votes to Revoke SeaIslands Charter." But then the focus would have been on the Board's AND the Superintendent's failures instead of Ravenel's.

Let's not forget who bear the responsibility for encouraging this charter school in the first place.

One way that McGinley and her cronies could build a bit of "street cred" is to admit their mistakes. Why, if they like, they can even say "Mistakes were made," not naming themselves.

Not going to happen.

CCSD & Sea Islands YouthBuild: What Now?

If you can make any sense out of what is going on with this charter, I'd be glad of your comments. The P & C's recent article [YouthBuild Gets 2-week Reprieve ] was not illuminating!

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?

Too Embarrassing: YouthBuild and CCSD

Is Renee Chewning of Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School calling Randy Bynum, Chief Academic Officer of CCSD, a liar?

How else to interpret her remarks in response to the findings of CCSD's team visit to her hapless charter school. [See School board votes 8-1 to keep YouthBuild open.]

This failed attempt at assisting those overage students who were not allowed back to Murray Hill Academy is like a nightmare that won't go away. See my analysis

Another Sea Islands YouthBuild Update?

Space for YouthBuild? That's Easy

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: CCSD & First Baptist Johns Island

CCSD has failed in its oversight of tax dollars and students. According to Tuesday's article, "the school district has given the school $347,000 this year and will give $73,000 more." Talk about throwing good money after bad! This sum that is approaching half a million dollars is going for a school where maybe 10 students will show up on any given day.

It's March. The school still does not have a state-approved building, and yet the board went against its own previous requirements for one, voting to continue funding this charade of a school.

Of course, given the P & C's tender feelings towards the CCSD school board, the announcement was hidden on page 6 of the local section of the paper. Even the reporter stated, "School officials' accusations about the lack of learning, supervision and safety at Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School were so serious that school board members debated Monday whether they should close the school." Debated, yes. Did nothing.

Are we to assume that the school board doesn't trust Mr. Bynum? That his statements that he did give a report to Chewning, saw an unsupervised table saw being used, and could not find attendance records are all lies, lies, lies? Why have an Academic Officer, then? We could save the money.

Another Sea Islands YouthBuild Update?

In the ongoing saga of the building-less Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School, as of January 24th, the following information appeared in the P & C:

Charter officials are negotiating almost daily on a multi-year lease, and they hope that will be finished by the end of next week [Note: that would be by February 1st]. Two state agencies also must sign off on the building, and that hasn't happened yet. Chewning [the director] hopes students will be able to move into the new site by the third week in February.

For those of you who might have forgotten, CCSD closed Murray Hill Academy to older students, while agreeing to expand YouthBuild into a charter school to accommodate them. YouthBuild's director promised a suitable facility without having one, and CCSD Board members didn't verify that it did.

These shenanigans have resulted in the following headlines:

• August 22, 2007: "Students Start from Scratch" (spin about its lack of equipment);
  
• September 8: "Charter School in Jeopardy";
• September 12: "YouthBuild Charter Officials Perplexed by Board Directive"(can't understand why charter would be yanked if it doesn't have a building);
• September 13: "YouthBuild Told Why It Must Close";
• September 22: "Johns Is. School Evicted";
• October 5--"District: Charter Won't Get Funding";
  
• October 16--"Panel: Give Charter School 90 Days";
• October 23--"Charter School Given 60-Day Reprieve";
• October 25--"Jury Could Decide School Eviction Case in 2 Weeks";
• November 7--"YouthBuild Charter School, Landlord Reach Agreement";
  
• November 9--"When School Suffers, Students Do Too";
• November 24--" Charter School Requests Services";
  
• November 25--"Charter School Students to Study at Home While Facility in Limbo";
• December 27--"YouthBuild Still Without School Site"; (the end of the 60-day reprieve?)
  
• January 24, 2008--"Charter School Has Temporary Site for Classes"(after spending two weeks at a Boy Scout facility on Wadmalaw Island).
  

Are we actually going to hear next week about YouthBuild's new permanent facility? Are even 20 of the original 75 students left in the program after these months of confusion? Is the CCSD School Board still keeping track?

Finally, how much money has been given to the school so far, and is it accounted for?

"First Take the Log out of Your Own Eye"

Not again!

The Reverend Joseph Darby again opines on the P & C's op-ed page in response to an editorial supporting legislative efforts to allow public charter schools to use public school buildings (already the policy in many states). As is his wont, he strongly implies that the new Charter High School for Math and Science is really a plot to introduce segregation to downtown Charleston, when in reality it is a plot to introduce integration to downtown Charleston.

See Tie measurable diversity goals to free rent for charter schools .

Nothing will be gained by another reasoned response to such willful disregard of the facts. Clearly, the Rev. Darby has an ax to grind, and for whatever reason, the P & C sees fit to provide the grindstone whenever Darby wants it.

Notice what is part of his argument here:

". . .the Charter School for Math & Science is a 'start up' charter school that simply wishes to claim a public building and not pay its way. Should the school district choose to allow them to do so, then the same thing should be done for all future and existing charter schools, like the YouthBuild Charter School.

YouthBuild has had considerable struggles in finding and paying for operating space. Should the Charter School for Math & Science be given a free building, then the same should be done for YouthBuild.

Gee, I haven't heard Darby call for "diversity goals" for YouthBuild.

The reasoning here just doesn't hold water. YouthBuild is in its horrible circumstances because CCSD encouraged it to take on students who the district determined would not return to Murray Hill Academy [for reasons having to do with failures in its McGinley-selected for-profit administration]. The CCSD Board of Trustees was so anxious to have these students at YouthBuild that they didn't look too closely at YouthBuild's director's assurances that a suitable facility had been arranged.

Unlike the charter school under discussion, YouthBuild has never asked for use of a public school building. You might ask yourself why. Obviously that is a solution to its housing problems, as I have said before, and such space does exist.

But don't hold your breath waiting for Darby to call for "diversity" in YouthBuild's classrooms. The de facto segregation in District 20 and in CCSD's other charter schools is part of the outmoded racist thinking of the Charleston branch of the NAACP: under the present segregated conditions it can wield greater power (and get long op-ed pieces into the P & C).

Who cares what's best for the students involved, black or white? Maybe the organizers of CHSMS?

Space for YouthBuild? That's Easy

So reports the P & C:

• Still no facility for Sea Islands YouthBuild Charter School on Johns Island.
  
• McGinley supports continued attempts to find space.
  
• The Superintendent is totally sympathetic to the needs of these "children."
  
• Instead of beginning the new semester on a school campus, the students will undergo leadership training at a Boy Scout camp on Wadmalaw Island. . . .
  
• Yada, Yada, Yada

But WAIT!

If McGinley is so sympathetic to the school, why not give it space in St. John's High School? Let's have a school within a school. It's been done elsewhere, and I understand there's plenty of room. She is quoted as saying,

"We don't want to see children out on the streets or in jeopardy. We will try to support them, on behalf of children, with getting a stable facility. I don't know what that means yet. I don't want to see the students shipped around or scattered and not having some place safe."

Especially since the 17-year-olds (a good portion of the student body) are now barred from Murray Hill Academy under this year's contract.

She owes them.