350 jam schools meeting, demand to be heard
Downtown residents bucked Charleston County School District rules Tuesday night, refusing to obey the district-imposed time limit for public comment and challenging the agenda for the public hearing on proposed options to close and restructure schools.
Tyrone Walker
The Post and Courier
Pat Fosberry of Charleston let his placard do his talking Tuesday at the Charleston County School District's meeting to discuss school-closing proposals for the downtown area.
They demanded that officials amend the agenda to begin with public comment to allow the swollen crowd of more than 350 people to speak.
Wilmot Fraser, whose father is the namesake of Fraser Elementary School that could potentially be closed, would not follow Superinten-
dent Nancy McGinley's request to sit down and allow officials to make their presentation, and he was escorted out of the room by two police officers.
McGinley attempted to regain order, but people stood up and screamed, saying these were their children and they would not be silenced. McGinley threatened to cancel the meeting, and that only provoked the crowd further.
They eventually simmered down and allowed officials to proceed.
Tuesday's meeting at Burke High was the fourth in a series of community hearings to gather feedback on proposed options to close up to a dozen schools and restructure more than a dozen others.
Graphic: Gill Guerry
The Post and Courier
Click here for an interactive graphic showing the proposed options for for Charleston County Schools closing and restructuring.
The school district is facing what it describes as a "financial crisis," and the school board has asked district staff to come up with ways to save money by restructuring and closing schools.
This vocal, outspoken crowd refused to yield when officials tried to conclude the public-comment portion of the meeting, and they continued to speak for more than an hour after the meeting was supposed to end.
It was the lengthiest public-comment portion of any meeting thus far, and those who spoke did so with passion and conviction.
Many in the crowd were there to support Charleston Progressive Academy, which the district has proposed to close.
Video
Charleston County School District Superintendent of Education, Nancy McGinley, speaks to the school district to give them an update on the school redesign and consolidation initiative. Video provided by Charleston County School District Watch »
They were led by Harriet Wilder, one of the founders of the downtown K-8 magnet school, who said she understood the economic situation facing the district but that her school continually has faced threats and it has remained resilient through the adversity.
Others were there to speak out against the proposal to move the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science, which is on the former Rivers Middle campus, to the Archer building, which is being used by Sanders-Clyde Elementary.
Charter supporters said the Archer building is inadequate for their middle and high school programs. They asked the board to allow the school to stay put, and not doing so would be "a death sentence," charter school parent Beatrice Whitten said.
"This process is taking place too quickly," she said. "It's not giving us the opportunity to look at all of the options."
Previous story
Islands' residents offer school plan, published 12/16/08
Some, such as Sandra Perry, were there to support Fraser Elementary.
"I've been there 50 years, and I haven't seen an earthquake knock down Fraser yet," she said in response to the district's position that some schools need seismic upgrades.
"I know one thing, you will not take away the foundation from these children. You will not pack these children in a suitcase as if they were clothes."
IF YOU GO
Public hearing on the district’s restructuring plan:
District 23
SERVES: Hollywood, Ravenel, Adams Run, Yonges Island, Edisto Island
WHEN: 6:30-8 tonight
WHERE: Baptist Hill High School cafeteria
Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.
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Comments
This article has 21 comment(s)
Posted by eyecantspel on December 17, 2008 at 2:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The following is a list of items left out of the piece that should have been included.
1. A reporter from the Post C took off their shoes and threw them at the super-in-ten-dant.
2. Everyone there offered to pay more in taxes to keep the extra schools open.
3. Much to the suprise of the group, the CCSB announced that the kids affected would not be sent to other schools once their's were closed, but instead forced to scrub the floors and walls of 75 Calhoun until they were old enough for welfare or a TARP loan.
4. One of the options the super-in-ten-dant offered was to raise extra money by renting out extra classrooms to a half-way house for sexual predators.
5. The options are so grim for the district that Nancy herself is threatening to teach in the spring semester.
6. The super-in-ten-dant offered a plan to buy the little used, seldom filled north charleston coliseum and use it as a k-12 school for the entire county. There would be no teachers, just a satellite feed showing on the mini-jumbo-tron from other functioning schools from across the country. That, or just leave the channel on MSNBC.
The whole story was not reported on!!!!
Posted by EqualityB4theLawThinkAgain on December 17, 2008 at 6:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
eyecantspel...you are clever...I especially liked item #2.
It is time to close some schools, cut the fat, use technology as a teaching tool to eliminate overhead, and run our schools like a business instead of waistful govt. agency.
Cut, cut, cut, then cut some more!!!! It sure would be interesting if all district personnel were responsible for going back into the classroom, one semester, every 3 years. I don't think you'd see nearly as many stupid initiatives come down from the ivory tower.
Posted by moonpie on December 17, 2008 at 6:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Mrs McGinley its hard for some people to understand a "finiancial crisis" when they have been GIVEN everything by some government entity their entire life. Close the schools as you see fit and what best takes the district out of a crisis situation. Entitlement thinking thugs can't think clearly enough on their own to make educated decisions. This is why you were hired. Unfortunately we don't have the Obamaessiah to bail this one out!
Posted by singleroni on December 17, 2008 at 7:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ignorant can't and won't understand! it's free- free!
yell loud enough and people will give in to you.
Posted by Teach7775 on December 17, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about cut all the fat at 75 Calhoun!!! How many thousands of dollars are wasted on useless positions?
Posted by islandbenzbc on December 17, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
After January 20th we has de powwwa!(sic)
Posted by dawhetsell on December 17, 2008 at 8:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Henry Hazlitt a great economist said " The goverment does not make anything, if they give money they must TAKE it from someone else ". We are in hard times and it is going to get worse. It seems like the have nots want the haves to pay more to keep what is not working going.
Posted by abarron on December 17, 2008 at 9:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
In Charleston's 300 year history, the public school system has never been successful, stemming from racial bias since the beginning. At what point will people learn that education is an investment in the future? The children have a right to a good education. 'Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.'
Posted by cwmarkland on December 17, 2008 at 9:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
After reading some of the above comments, I realize that some citizens are not taking seriously the financial state of our school district. After January 20th, we will not have the "powaa" as suggested above. Unless we can come up with the 20+ million dollar shortfall, we are in very serious trouble as a district. As a teacher as well as the parent of a CCSD student whose school is up for moving, I am terrified and YOU should be too.
Posted by JC on December 17, 2008 at 9:28 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Leave the schools open and let the parents of all kids who go to all the schools foot the bill....not the rest of us who have either no kids or no kids in school. I pay enough taxes. Close them.
Posted by blah_blah_blah on December 17, 2008 at 9:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
All you in favor or closing schools will be the first ones posting on these blogs when the uneducated desperate children commit crimes.
Cut the fat in all government programs first. Start with the wasteful spending in the military!
Education is an investment in the future!
Posted by Charles_Town on December 17, 2008 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I understand the financial crisis is just that a crisis and you cannot make money where there is no money, but there are three areas that should not be cut in this:
- health
- Education
- Law Enforcement
Why not stop trash pickup and make people take their own trash to the dump. Eliminate use of county vehicles for personal business. There are probably many more options of areas that can be at least trimmed down to reduce the impact on the three areas listed above.
Posted by wjhamilton3 on December 17, 2008 at 10:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The Downtown School system is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with Charleston. We had to leave the city due to the school situation. Very few children still live downtown and the fights over admission to the one magnet school have gone on for years. One of the remaining private schools is getting ready to move away. Half the students in the private schools downtown live outside the city. Everyone involved has someone else to blame, but when you're a parent you don't have years to help the city work out its problems. You have to figure out where your child is going to go to school next fall.
A city which has lost its children has lost it's future. Most children in our area seldom go downtown. They don't feel connected to its history and culture.
I and many other people wanted to live downtown and raise our children there, but it was just impossible unless you got lucky in the magnet school lottery. Racism, the hostility towards public education and the endless political fights just never seem to get in the vicinity of progress.
A city which wants its culture and history to survive makes sure all its children can attend quality public schools. Charleston will have to settle for training tour guides to recite its culture to tourists and hope some of them decide to buy houses. It is a great deal less than the city was. In a generation there will be only a handful of children who grew up in Charleston and remained there as adults. it will be the end of the living tradition and a huge loss.
Posted by DIS_A_PLAN on December 17, 2008 at 12:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Being a student of history one lesson rings true; problems of this magnitude are rarely caused by one ignorant action. Rather years of deceit and injustice. That being said, there will be no single or silver bullet solution to Charleston's failure to educate its children. We are all in this up to our necks. To those who blame the poor and say they are a burden on the tax payer, the wealthy accept more more tax cuts and hand outs than all of us combined. To those who charge the wealthy, who could blame someone for wanting the best available for their children. I hope my colleagues are wrong, I hope there is a peaceful resolution. The alternative is revolution and revolution can be messy. Finally a second lesson from history; the truth always points to the future. Until we begin to truthfully communicate with each other and correct the injustice in the Charleston County School district our children have no future.
Posted by GG on December 17, 2008 at 1:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Over my 35 years as an educator I have worked in 5 school districts. In every one there came a time to close schools for various reasons - safety, funding, lack of student enrollment. etc.
Each closing caused these types of outcry from the local parents. Unfortunately, many of whom had never stepped their foot in the schools of their children. They never came to Open Houses, parent-teacher conference days, band or choral performances, PTSO meetings, classroom volunteers, etc. Yet they were there to scream at the top of their lungs to "Save Our School."
CCSD needs to listen to everyone, of course. Then it needs to take the constructive advice, not the emotional pleadings, and go back to decide what the final outcome will be. This cannot be an easy task, and some schools will be closed.
I believe these closings have been necessary for quite some time, but it has been my experience after working in several other more successful districts, CCSD has always been years behind in making progressive decisions. This is too bad for the children of this district.
I congratulate Dr. McGinnis for trying to be proactive for CCSD in these difficult economic times.
Posted by osojess on December 17, 2008 at 2:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I couldn't respect Nancy McGinley more. I'm very greatful she's at the helm.
Posted by SpiderJohn on December 17, 2008 at 2:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To the posters that are against public education........when you are old and grey and living in a home who do you think your care giver will be?
Remember you reap what you sew.
Take education away and you have a work force no industry will employee, you have individuals that make below poverty that will use the ER as a normal doctor appointment, you will have an increase in crime; which will lead to an increase in prison costs, you will have an increase in welfare enrollment..............and on and on and on!
How is South Carolina or America supposed to be a global leader with uneducated masses?
Posted by JC on December 17, 2008 at 11:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
GG - well said.
SpiderJohn - Their education is not being taken away. It will just not be in their backyard. We cannot continue to operate all these schools. If we had the money, sure, BUT WE DON'T.
What part of we are doing this because we don't have the money do people not understand? Should the things the school can't afford be put on visa and mastercard:) Oh wait, better idea...lets borrow the money from China.
Posted by Relaxed85 on December 18, 2008 at 12:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WJ Hamilton, I don't know that I've ever seen District 20's dilemma and ripple effect articulated so well. Kudos. All of my older relatives-maternal&paternal- attended and graduated from Burke High School, most attended college and went on to lead successful lives in one way or another. However, they went to Burke during a different era. As described to me, it was an era in which there was community involvement, community interest and CONNECTION to the schools. Most of their teachers had attended the schools themselves! There was an immense pride in education. By the time I reached middle school age, this had disappeared; so much so that my parents decided to move away from Charleston and SC so that I wouldn't be subjected to the sub-standard conditions. The last school I attended in Charleston was Mitchell Elementary, where I had outstanding teachers. My foundation was solid...and I am a recent college graduate headed to Law School in the fall. Reality is, the schools downtown have been neglected for so long, they may as well be labeled drop-out factories, as ultimately only a few people make it "out". Out of what some of you may ask. Out of the vicious cycle of drugs, crime, poverty, and ineptness that lack of education breeds. No, I'm not suggesting that it is the state of SC's responsibility to educate every wannabe "Gangsta" or "Baby-Mama" that doesn't take advantage of a free education and prefers to be in someone's jail cell. However, it sure does not help when most of the kids don't have a fair chance from the beginning when they are left to deal with sub-standard facilities, out-dated learning materials, and ill-trained teachers fresh from college, many of whom cannot relate to the kids they're teaching! What a recipe for disaster. Oh wait, there was that one victory in District 20 recently. Burke High School was finally finished in 2005..it was the same "State of the Art" school promised when my uncles graduated in 1984, go figure. Is this the timeline for CHANGE and progress in the district? If so, it is at best shameful and ugly for Charleston, a gem of a city with beautiful people and such rich history.
Posted by AFWally on December 18, 2008 at 9:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Close 'em and give a rebate to tax payers.....I'll use mine towards the purchase of ammo and a new flak jacket.
Posted by charleston1960 on December 18, 2008 at 11:25 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Alas, the missed oportunities. It would have been a perfect time to hold a PTA meeting. It would probably have been the first for 80% of the attendees. But then again I could be wrong it may be more like 95%.