Office for Civil Rights Comes to Town

Evidently attorneys from the Office for Civil Rights want to hear from parents and community members affected by the recent school closings. They will be meeting Wednesday, July 29 from 6pm-8pm at the St. Julian Divine Center on Cooper Street.

Fraser parents filed a complaint against the school district for racial discrimination when the district decided to close numerous schools in order to address their budget crisis. The only schools chosen to close were predominately African-American Title I schools. Fraser parents want to know why the burden of the budget crisis fell on only this group of students. The schools these students are scheduled to transfer to are also predominately African-American Title I schools.
According to their complaint, "The impact is falling disproportionately on black children in Charleston County creating a disparate impact."

I feel for the Fraser parents. Many of them simply wanted to wait until the Fall of 2010 to move when the new Sanders-Clyde building will officially be ready (We all know the new school is not going to be ready in December 2009 as promised).

It makes you wonder. What will the Office for Civil Rights do? Can they do anything? The schools are closed. The children have been forced to prepare themselves for attending different schools in a few weeks. Can the Fraser parents prevent this from happening to other schools? Will community members from other constituent districts finally rally together against CCSD? I guess only time will tell.

If you had any doubts...

You now should have no doubts as to where the Superintendent of Charleston County Schools priorities lie. For Dr. Mac, it's all about appearances. So much so, that Elliot Smalley, Director of Communications got a $10,000 raise. Budget crisis? The perfect storm? Think again...the storm affects the CLASSROOM...you know...teachers and students. But no way no how is Dr. Mac going to lose the posse paid to make her look good.
I enjoyed the Post and Courier's editorial on this so much, I think I may renew my subscription. Here's the link for those of you who may have missed it:
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/jul/22/joining_six_figure_club89927/

Ray Toler, Elizabeth Kandrac, and Cousin Arthur voted against the raise. We should be asking the rest of our school board how they rubber stamp such nonsense.