Downtown education advocates converge to tour nontraditional schools, discuss new options for peninsula

A group of community members hosted a half-day gathering today with the hope of inspiring community engagement and building momentum for their next project.

“We hope that we have a group of stakeholders who are committed to making changes,” said Mary Carmichael, executive director of the Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina. “We're trying to spark a movement.”

The alliance helped organize the more than five-hour event, but officials said a broad, representative group of residents with varying interests were involved. About 70 participants began with breakfast, toured four downtown schools and attended a luncheon and panel discussion. An anonymous donor covered the day's expenses.

They called the event, “Education: A 2020 Vision for the Peninsula,” and they said it wasn't meant to contradict the district's five-year plan, Vision 2016. They picked 2020 because they thought it would take longer than a few years to complete their next project.

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