The Charleston County School District’s (CCSD) Board of Trustees really needs to step up as leaders for everyone in the county instead of acting as two distinct cliques. They need to unite, not divide. They should collaborate, not eviscerate. They must put students first, not their own tunnel visions of school policy.
We understand how it’s hard to listen, compromise, work collaboratively and sometimes take a middle course. It’s much easier to ram something down the throats of people with whom you disagree, especially when you have the votes to do what you want. But that doesn’t make that kind of behavior right, just, kind or compassionate. Frankly, it’s just plain rude.
Two January incidents illustrate how trustees took the low road, not the high.
First came a closed Jan. 18 meeting of the conservative group Moms for Liberty at a Mount Pleasant hotel. New CCSD chairman Keith Grybowski agreed to speak about his experiences as a trustee over the last year plus address a controversial English Language Arts curriculum.
“To me, any group that would like me to talk, I’m more than happy to talk about my experience as a trustee,” Grybowski said, seemingly ignoring the bigger hat he wears as board chair.
The rub here, of course, is that Moms for Liberty, unlike an Exchange Club or Rotary Club, doesn’t allow the press and observers who aren’t members to listen to what a public official is saying about public policy. And since Grybowski and four others on the board form a majority backed by Moms for Liberty, the incident smells of rotten fish and has the appearance of special treatment. Rather than shuffling along that he was just merely talking to the group as one of nine, he is the board chair. He should have insisted that the meeting be open to anyone. To do less wasn’t acceptable.
Four days later came the Gang of Five’s unexpected move to push through an offer for acting superintendent Anita Huggins to negotiate a three-year contract to become the district’s permanent superintendent. The vote blindsided the board’s four-member minority whose members thought they were going to develop a process to search for a new superintendent following last year’s debacle with Dr. Eric Gallien.
The criticism here isn’t about Anita Huggins, who indicated this week that she would accept the job as permanent superintendent after meeting with all nine board members. The issue is about process — that the board’s majority, with Grybowski making the motion, roiled the minority instead of spending time to bring them along and embrace Huggins. It is completely conceivable that had they been involved in the process, the vote on Huggins would have been unanimous, not split. We deserved unity, not continued division.
This board, warts and all, may have a unifier in Huggins. But the board needs to work together and become the leaders we want them to be for the good of all students.
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