Mathis Charter High comes under fire

Fired principal says school has few certified teachers, no long-term plan

A North Charleston charter school for at-risk students that received more than $550,000 from the school district this past school year had few certified teachers, no long-term plan and its governing board could be breaking state law, the school's former principal said.

School officials disputed some of those claims and didn't respond to questions about others.

Greg Mathis Charter High School Principal Annette Goodwin, a long-time principal who came out of retirement to help the school, was fired earlier this month and escorted from the school with police officers watching.

Greg Mathis, formerly YouthBuild Charter High School, opened in the fall of 2003 as a charter school. The population last year consisted of 94 at-risk students who weren't doing well in a traditional school environment; most of the students either have failed, been expelled or dropped out.

Charter schools are public schools that receive public money and are governed by elected boards of parents and community members. Charter schools do not have to follow school district policies or mandates, but the state or local school boards must approve them before they open.

Goodwin cited a list of issues with the school and its board, including:

--Only two of the school's seven teachers this past year were certified by the state.

--None of the school board members was elected, which is required by state law. Board members have been appointed by other board members, and Goodwin said most of the appointees were friends of the board chairman. Goodwin could name only four of the eight board members.

--Other than giving reports on the school to the board, Goodwin has not been allowed to stay at board meetings. No parents or teachers are on the school board.

--The school didn't have supplementary teaching materials other than textbooks provided by the state. Goodwin said she bought markers for the school's dry-erase boards with her own money.

--The classrooms are too small for the number of enrolled students.

--The school board chairman's wife is a secretary at the school.

--The school doesn't have a long-term strategic plan.

Goodwin's concerns aren't the first problems that have arisen at the school. The Charleston County School Board revoked Greg Mathis' charter in April of last year after the school couldn't pay its bills and owed more than $45,000 to its creditors.

The county board allowed the school to open this school year if it could enroll 75 students by the 45th day of school and have sound financial practices approved by the district's financial chief. The school met those requirements and remained open this school year.

Messages were left for school board Chairman Vernon Holmes on Wednesday and Thursday. He returned a call late Thursday, but after a few questions he said he could not talk any longer, and an appointment was set for Friday at 9 a.m. to talk further.

Holmes left a message at The Post and Courier on Friday morning saying he would not be participating in the 9 a.m. interview or "cooperating with any additional interviews." He referred further questions to the school's Chief Operating Officer, Fouchina Kirkendoll.

Kirkendoll said she had no comment, and when school officials were ready to comment, they would do so.

Thursday, Holmes said the school was looking for certified teachers, and the board wanted to provide students the best education it could. He would not answer questions about the number of certified teachers who taught at the school this past year and would not respond to Goodwin's claim that he said certified teachers were too expensive and instead wanted to keep the school's staff from this past year.

"Ask her to prove that," he said. "That is absolutely untrue. I see what's going on here. She's conveying mistruths, and I'm not going to get into that."

When asked when the school board's eight members were elected, he abruptly ended the phone conversation saying, "I have got to leave because I have a meeting. ... I should not address that."

Messages were left for board member James Bell on Wednesday and Thursday but not returned. The Rev. Ed McClain, a board member, said the board agreed to let Holmes speak for the board and he could not answer questions about the school. He said he was appointed to the board by its former chairman about two years ago.

Don Kennedy, the district's chief of finance and administrative services, said his staff is investigating allegations made against the school, including its financial position, student enrollment and academics. District officials will determine whether the school is in compliance with the state charter school law, as well as its charter with the school district, he said.

Kennedy will make a recommendation to the school board in July as to whether the school should be allowed to remain open.

If the board votes to close the charter school, it wouldn't be the first time that's happened in Charleston County. Education Redirection, a school for at-risk teenagers, was closed in 1999 when the school owed various groups $700,000. The district also revoked the charter of Elease Butler Ivy Academy, a North Charleston school for kindergartners through fifth-graders, three years ago after it received roughly $365,000 more than it should have from the district by budgeting for 300 students while only enrolling 80.

Goodwin said she tried to fight for more supplies for students and more qualified teachers, but the board wouldn't provide what was necessary. Goodwin threatened to quit before she would start another school year without the appropriate faculty and supplies, she said.

"They don't know the skills and techniques to work with children," she said of uncertified teachers. "I spent most of my time in their classes trying to show them what to do."

Carolyn Watson's son attends Greg Mathis. She's volunteered at the school and has a keen interest in her son's education. She said she's never voted in an election of the board, has never received notice of a board meeting and didn't even know the school had a board until recently.

No information was sent to parents about Goodwin being fired or her temporary replacement, she said.

"We're out of the loop, and the board should've been mindful of us," she said.

She said she doesn't want the school to close and wants Goodwin to be reinstated as principal because she helped improve the school. She wants qualified teachers in the school's classrooms, she said. She and 10 others made similar pleas to the county school board at its meeting last week.

The children suffer if the school isn't run efficiently, she said.

"We want accountability. They have to account for where did the money go. I feel like the rug is being pulled from underneath."

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