Charter school vote breaks racially1 school board member argues school will benefit wealthy By Diette Courrégé (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
In a split and controversial vote that elicited heated discussion and raised questions of equity, race and fairness, the Charleston County School Board agreed Monday to allow the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science to use parts of the former Rivers Middle School campus. The board settled the nearly two-year-long debate in a 6-3 vote that the new charter school would be able to use the Rivers gym and cafeteria as well as land for mobile classrooms for the next four years at no cost. The vote split board members by race, with board Chairman Hillery Douglas and members Toya Green and Ruth Jordan voting against the majority. The board went a step further and agreed in a 5-4 vote to support an amendment proposed by Arthur Ravenel Jr. that the school district, not the charter school, pay for the mobile classrooms the schools would have to use, as well as the cost to set up those units. Board member Gregg Meyers joined the minority in that vote because the charter school already had budgeted to pay for the mobile classrooms for two years, and he wasn't willing to spend the estimated $250,000 that the vote would cost. Other board actionThe Charleston County School Board took the following action Monday night: -- Hired Judith Peterson as principal of Academic Magnet High School for next school year. -- Appointed Lou Martin associate superintendent for high schools for next year. -- Appointed Terri Nichols associate superintendent for elementary schools for next year. -- Approved changing the name of Special Day School to Liberty Hill Academy in honor of the historical significance of the property where its new school building is being built. The charter school will pay for all bills associated with use of the site, such as electricity, water, waste removal or any connection fees. This is the first time the board has agreed to pay for a building to house a start-up charter school, and some members took issue with the fairness of that decision. "Are we prepared to do that for every charter school in Charleston County?" Douglas asked. In an impassioned and pre-written speech, Jordan said the building use proposal was one from elite parents who no longer wanted to pay private school tuition. The proposal would undermine and weaken public education in the county, she said, and it was arrogant for a charter school to request so much of the district during difficult budget times. She predicted the 6-3 vote along racial lines because "a privileged few are accustomed to getting what they want," and she said that vote would show the district has a long way to go to ensuring fairness and equity in education. Others argued that state law requires the school district to provide anything that is otherwise available to a public school. After a heated exchange with Douglas about the manner in which he was handling his position of chair during this debate, board member Brian Moody said the school district's list of expenditures that haven't worked would be a long "trail of tears." He said this new charter group is trying to put a school downtown that will work, and it's insulting and unfair to paint the board with a broad brush when every vote it takes supports minority students in the county. "I don't know why this is insipidly evil to try and do something that hasn't been done in District 20 (downtown)," he said. The board has delayed making a decision on what should happen to the main Rivers building. District officials say the Rivers building can't be renovated for use as a school without seismic improvements, and the total cost for those and other improvements aren't covered in this building program budget. Use of the main building was not a part of the agreement with the charter school. The school board also gave a 6-3 OK for $913,126 in renovations to make the Rivers kitchen and cafeteria usable. Douglas, Green and Jordan voted against the majority. Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postand courier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 16 comment(s)
Posted by Mayor on April 15, 2008 at 5:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Douglas, Green and Jordan should castigated for their votes. Their purpose is to improve the schools, not try to keep these children from advancing as far as possible. I'm sure their children wouldn't qualify for this school anyway. Just a hunch. I'm not real impressed with the location of this school. We are about to put every geek in a war zone.
Posted by belovedbliff on April 15, 2008 at 6:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Lies! Lies! Lies! What happened to the notion that this school sas structurally unsound and unsafe for children and this is why Rivers had to close?
Posted by moonpie on April 15, 2008 at 6:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
bb their just using the cafeteria, gym and property to put mobile buildings on site. Did you miss that part?
"Jordan said the building use proposal was one from elite parents who no longer wanted to pay private school tuition. The proposal would undermine and weaken public education in the county, she said"
YEAH SEND THEM ALL TO BURKE! YOU DIDN'T SCREAM WHEN BURKE WAS RENOVATED. SMART MOVE FROM THE PARENTS. THE CHAS CO SCHOOL SYSTEM IS FAILING TREMENDOUSLY. I HAVE FRIENDS THAT BUS THEIR KIDS FROM N.CHAS TO MT PLEASANT TO SEND THEM TO A PASSING SCHOOL. THATS OUTRAGEOUS. WANT TO KNOW WHY OUR SCHOOLS FAIL LOOK HERE http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/F...
Posted by karmann on April 15, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Once again, politics rules the day when it comes to educating our children.
Posted by Early on April 15, 2008 at 7:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I really don't know which group is the minority or majority but I do know this, that CCSD is so freaking paranoid they will offend the minority that they have lost their true vision of what the CCSD's job is and that is to educate the children of the future on a fixed budget. They have to make intelligent decisions on how to use the fixed resources for the MAJORITY of students regardless of race, creed or family ties.
Posted by desspec on April 15, 2008 at 8:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Go back to "neighborhood schools", end busing, re-instate discipline and re-create vo-tech schools for those who won't fit-in.
Posted by cnast777 on April 15, 2008 at 8:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Jordan said the building use proposal was one from elite parents who no longer wanted to pay private school tuition. The proposal would undermine and weaken public education in the county, she said"
Uh, the Elite don't have a dog in this fight. They can well afford private school.
Amazing, I am a liberal and have never lived in a city where the leaders of the Black population resisted so much because of Race and continues to short change all. Soon enough the oppression doctrine that they preach to their substituent’s that keeps them in office will wear thin.
Posted by ColdBeer on April 15, 2008 at 8:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said desspec!
It sounds like the vote was divided along economic lines, not racial lines. But hey, we can't expect the P&C to miss a chance to throw out the race issue any time it can.
Posted by wjhamilton3 on April 15, 2008 at 10:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I lived downtown for 13 years and watched the city lose most of its families with children. Eventually we moved to Mt. Pleasant. Outside of winning the Buist lottery, school options downtown are basically limited to now segregated schools. We tried a number of things to turn it around, but none of those projects went anywhere. At this point families of all races are leaving the city, which appears destined to be a retirement community, tourist destination and college student housing. In twenty years, there won't be many children who have grown up in the city and thus, few real Charlestonians.
You can't move here at 65, install a hundred thousand dollar kitchen in a historic home and make yourself a Charlestonian, despite what the real estate agents promise. You need to grow up climbing on the canons at the battery, walking the streets, getting to know your neighbors. I had realy hoped my son could do that, but it didn't work out.
First Baptist, a private school, will be leaving the City soon for James Island. Over half of the enrollment of the Private schools remaining downtown comes from outside the city and some of those schools are also looking for campuses outside the penensula.
My son has attended public school since the 1st. grade, always in an integrated, racially diverse setting. I wish that had worked out downtown.
We had a great time living downtown with our son, but once he became school age, the school issue became overwealming. Many people are happy to send their children to racially diverse schools, but not many kids can handle being a minority of one.
Charleston's history with slavery and racism certainly isn't the worst in the South, but historic sins have historic consequences. It's complicated and no one group or individual is to blame, but history has consequences.
Perhaps this charter school will enable a break with history, which is the only way Charleston can move towards a racially diverse downtown public school system. Without that, its future as a real city in a historic context isn't posssible.
Posted by CHRISJIII on April 15, 2008 at 10:12 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The newspaper needs to be ashamed of itself for printing this type of garbage just to incite racial tensions.
Posted by mlm on April 15, 2008 at 11:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Well said wjhamilton3.
As for the race issue, Douglas, Green and Jordan are exploiting this to their own ends. That's the real story here. They are the elite and they don't care if anyone on the peninsula (Black or White) have a choice.
Green "won the lottery" to send her child to Buist. Douglas has a son that finished The Citadel and sits on its Board of Visitors and Jordan makes her money as a suburban real estate executive. Don't give me the story that anyone of these people really care a hoot about anyone that still struggles to raise children downtown. They don't.
The race card is the political stick they have chosen to keep their "supporters" in line. They are overseers of a plantation and they don't want the riff raff to get out of control. What they don't realize is that their "supporters" have tired of this and will hopefully prove this to be true in November.
If Jordan was serious about racial disparities, she would have taken CCSD to task about the 36 out of 79 schools that are totally segregated, in some cases or nearly so in others, throughout Charleston County but especially downtown. She very carefully avoided saying that this start-up charter school that has reached most if not all of its enrollment goals is already becoming a true and accurate mirror of the racial, cultural and economic diversity of Charleston County. Unfortunately the public school system that CCSD administers isn't. The charter school scheduled to open at Rivers this fall is truly open and becoming what Buist Academy and other CCSD magnet schools promised but because of the admissions games the county school board has continued to allow, haven't delivered. The new math and science charter school may finally give us academic excellence within a truely accessible public school.
And there's more disinformation going around. The Rivers building is structurally sound. By saying it's not safe is part of CCSD's efforts to block the charter school from using it. They fear that an academically successful charter school which is both racially and economically diverse will just show us all how much CCSD has failed to do its job.
As for the location, Rivers may prove to be much safer and in a more supportive environment than Wando, West Ashly, North Charleston...and maybe even First Baptist. At least the local residents and neighborhood leaders around Rivers seem to want the charter school to be there over what CCSD's track record has done for them.
Posted by Early on April 15, 2008 at 12:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Growing up, out of sate, we had schools that catered to students that excelled in school. There was no race credentials simply your academic achievements. Why can't we do this here in Charleston County?
Posted by mlm on April 15, 2008 at 4:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, Early, that's what this new charter school is all about. It's possible that when this new math and science school is up and running, they may be able to show CCSD how to do it.
Posted by mrsmomofthree on April 15, 2008 at 5:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
OMG!! I like how they just slip in the article they hired Judith Peterson for Principal at the Academic Magnet. What a nightmare! No discipline skills!! That school is horrific. I would not send my kid to that school if my life depended on it. They have the nerve to call it a magnet school. Charleston County schools needs to take a hard look at what they have going on. A lot of discipline problems that are not addressed but are swept under the rug. Moving a under performing principal to a school that is rated high in the nation. If something is working let's screw it up. Maybe they will go to the lottery at the Academic High School. Oh Yeah, that has already been discussed. Gee, I hope it comes true!! Shame on you Charleston County!!
Posted by merlinthewizard on April 15, 2008 at 11:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)
AMHS should be tickled pink to get Judith (and to get rid of Dr. Temple!). Don't know what you have against CEWMS, but for the children who want to learn, there is an excellent education to be had. And by the way, it's not a full "magnet" school, but the feeder school with automatic admission from St. Andrews and Ashley River, which are EXCELLENT magnet schools. The problems are created by those tranferring in from NCLB....Also, if CEW is so bad, why are there so many 8th graders who have been accepted at AMHS???
Posted by mrsmomofthree on April 17, 2008 at 8:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Maybe you should pay a visit to the school. There are kids being accepted from all sorts of schools. CE is a horrible environment. Teachers there don't even want their kids there. I have my kids in a magnet school in Charleston county and it is going down the tubes. We need to do something about discipline and quit giving second and third and fourth chances. I am in the school system and I can promise you things are not what you think. Maybe you should go spend some quality time there.