As the Moms-for-Liberty-backed majority faction within the Charleston County School District (CCSD) Board of Trustees continues to run the show, it seems that either the group has not yet reached, or hasn’t yet targeted, the leaders of the county’s constituent district school boards.
The county school district’s organization is unique in South Carolina, with eight constituent district boards that oversee student transfer requests and disciplinary action and inform the Board of Trustees of the well-being of district schools. This set-up has allowed trustees to focus on bigger-picture policy decisions.
“Every area is different,” said Carla Gadson, chair of the Constituent District 4, which oversees North Charleston. “The needs of North Charleston are totally different to the needs in Ravenel or Johns Island or Mount Pleasant. The majority of [the District 4 board] are from North Charleston. We’ve seen the changes here, and we have a better insight as to what’s going on and can better communicate to the trustees what we would like to see changed.”
Districts 4 and 10 (which oversees West Ashley) have the heaviest case loads, according to District 10 chair Rodney Lewis.
“We take in more kids from downtown, North Charleston, James and Johns islands and Hollywood,” he said. “We take in the majority of those kids.”
Politicization not yet set in
But while the right-wing political group Moms for Liberty (M4L) has targeted local elections and the county school board, constituent board leaders say they haven’t seen anything on their level. However, Gadson said, the bad publicity garnered by the trustees over the last few months has negatively impacted the image of the constituent boards.
“I think it reflects on us,” she said. “When people hear that you’re on the school board, they kind of cringe now, and we have to say, ‘No, not that school board.’ People look at us differently. There’s more scrutiny to every decision we make. People assume we have other motives.”
Conservative boards across the country have come under fire for attempting to ban books or alter curriculum that they see as inappropriate.
“Moms for Liberty does not want to touch anything we do,” Lewis said. “Moms for Liberty is trying to control the education system. They want to control what is taught, the books that are read and the curriculum. They want to whitewash education, especially history. The constituent board responsibilities have become so narrow that they don’t handle anything that relates to education,” he said.
Room for improvement
Though the constituent boards have not had to deal with the politicization of the district, there is still room for improvement, Lewis said. But several boards are working to make a bigger impact in their districts. For example before Lewis joined the board in 2003, he said, there were no Black members.
“We needed representation that looks like us because there were more of us going before these boards than people who didn’t look like us,” he said.
But Stewart, who previously served on the board for 10 years before taking a four-year break and returning again in 2022, said he is seeing his district slip.
“I see a nonchalant attitude,” he said. “‘Let’s get the meeting over with so we can go home.’ We have not had a single person from the public attend any of our meetings. I don’t know if that is due to the fact that [meeting times are] not [widely] advertised.
“I think our board should be more of an advocate for the community. They could be the ears on the ground for the people in the community. It has been very frustrating.”
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
