School board votes 8-1 to keep YouthBuild open

Accusations triggered debate

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.

The Charleston County School Board ultimately wasn't ready to shut down the school and agreed 8-1 not to take action against it. Board Chairman Hillery Douglas was the opposing vote. Charter school officials said the board was given inaccurate information but still made the right decision.

It's been a rough year for Sea Islands, which opened in August and has been embroiled in controversy since then. The school board voted last fall to close the school but later chose to give it more time to show that it could be successful. The charter school didn't get along with its landlord, and the school had to find a new building. School officials have identified an office building off Azalea Drive and are waiting for final approval from the state education board to move into it.

The board had planned to merely discuss school officials' February visit to Sea Islands YouthBuild. But when some board members were briefed last week about the negative report, they changed their agenda so the board could vote on Monday on the school's future. The school district has given the school $347,000 this year and will give $73,000 more.

District administrators recommended that the school be closed. Chief Academic Officer Randy Bynum said a team of six educators evaluated Sea Islands for four hours and used the same approach taken with other district schools. They saw little to no instruction and extended periods with no supervision for students, he said.

In one case, a student was using a table saw without an adult watching, Bynum said. Activities that were on the school's schedule did not take place, and only 10 students were in class, he said. The school could not produce attendance records; 75 students were enrolled on its first day.

Charter school officials weren't given an opportunity to respond to Bynum's report during the meeting. They said afterward that district officials didn't give them a verbal or written report on their findings, although Bynum told the board that had happened.

Renee Chewning, the school's director, said school officials don't understand what the school is trying to do, specifically the concept of students taking ownership of their education. The charter school serves students who haven't been successful in a traditional school environment. Many have been expelled and failed elsewhere, and Sea Islands tries to meet students' needs in a nontraditional way.

Students have more than an hour of independent study in the mornings, Chewning said. Little direct instruction takes place, and after a five- to seven-minute introduction, students do their course work alone, she said.

The school doesn't have transportation, which has affected the number of students who can attend, she said. Some of the 25 enrolled students ride on public buses for three hours to get to school, she said.

The school doesn't own a table saw, and students are appropriately supervised, Chewning said. Students are building 200 bookshelves for Mount Zion Elementary, and one student has graduated, she said.

Reach Diette Courrégé at dcourrege@postandcourier.com or 937-5546.