South Carolina’s poor public schools are so cash-strapped that they can’t even afford books for students, right?
Heard that one before?
That song and dance – oh, and the ever-popular excuse that “thousands of teachers will be fired” – seemed to be on the tip of every educrat tongue in the Palmetto State not too long ago, even though taxpayers will spend over $11,000 per child this year to produce some of the worst academic outcomes anywhere on the planet.
Meanwhile, the administrators responsible for this perpetual failure enjoy vacations at luxurious beach retreats and new putting greens, all on the people’s tab.
So … are the educrat sob stories true?
Of course not. For example, dozens of twice-used textbooks – which are currently selling for nearly $30 apiece online – were found in a dumpster outside of one of South Carolina’s top public schools this week.
The story was broken by The Palmetto Insider, the official blog of the S.C. Policy Council:
Dozens of textbooks were found in a dumpster outside Dutch Fork High School this week, even though the school district is prohibited from simply throwing away surplus property.
Are the books worn out? Most of them appear to have been used by just two students. Are they outdated? The same book is selling today for $27.50 online.
The district says its policies prohibit dumping surplus property. Instead, the district must sell the items, or recycle them.
This next school year District 5 will spend $12,363 per student – even higher than the state average of $11,242 per child allocated in the FY09-2010 budget. That doesn’t include money from a $244 million local bond referendum approved by voters in November – money the district says it desperately needs.
Mmmm-hmmmm.
The district is claiming these books were teachers’ personal property – and thus not subject to the procurement code – but there were multiple copies of the same book all with student names in the front covers, which to us would indicated that these books were issued to students. Unless there was a public auction and the teachers purchased these books as the highest bidder, then these textbooks would appear to still be public property and subject to the procurement code.
Here’s a link to one of the books selling online.
Pics: SC Policy Council
By No Name August 19, 2009 at 3:02 pm
As a former teacher who spent 4 years of her life at Dutch Fork trying to “wring lillies from the acorns,” I can personally verify that the last thing any principal or department head wants at that school is a smart, resourceful teacher who values literacy and is creative enough to use books as versatile tools for learners of all kinds.
By Are You Surprised? August 19, 2009 at 4:08 pm
And how about the local high school that added a $10 “fee” to all students registering for classes that was actually a donation to the Richland Two Education Foundation? The donation was only removed from the bill if parents specifically asked about it. Doubt that many even saw it. Seems like a donation to a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization should be separate and identified as optional, not buried in a school fees statement. 2000 students x $10 = $20K.
By Math Mom August 19, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I am a former public school math teacher and current home schooling mother. As someone who spends hundreds of dollars a year on textbooks, I am appalled that perfectly good resources are being thrown in the trash.
I know that Algebra workbook pictured. I once begged a public school student I was tutoring for his when he was done just to have access to extra problems for my own kids. [I am not allowed to order it without a school PO.] He looked at me like I was nuts. The reason? His teacher never assigned anything out of it. After years of tutoring, I kept finding the same situation. Schools buy these workbooks but never use them.
That is why that teacher chunked them. What a waste. Maybe we should chunk the teachers…
By Parent of child in SC public school August 19, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Since my child was in 1st grade, textbooks have been used very little. I can count on both hands the number of times they were brought home last year.
While in kindergarten, the teacher’s manner of discipline was to take the students out of their learning centers.
The income of those in the local school district is overwhelming and should be reduced.
Sad to say, but if parents are relying on the school system to fully educate their children, it’s not going to happen. I wonder how much potential, with both children and faculty in mind, is wasted everyday in our public school systems.
By Cooter Brown August 19, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Desepublick skools is werkin’ jest fine– day got da young’uns skeered of global warmin’, dey got ‘em pledgin’ allegiance to da yankee gobmint flag ov occupashun (http://rexcurry.net/pledge-utah2.jpg)– jest what ‘Bama, Bush, an’ th’ othas need t’ stomp out the last lil’ spark ov libertie in dese social experiment, I means childuns…
Dey caint read, write, or do basic ‘rithmatic. My granny got 3 years ov skoolin’ back in th’ day and she could whoop th’ dar outta dese lil’ raskles…
Dat’s equality, folks. If’n ye caint bring ‘em up to a higher standard, ye gots t’ bring em down t’ th’ lowest common denominator. Dat’s a natural fact, y’all…
Dey don’t need no stinkin’ books t’ do deir jobs! (I aint a blaimin’ th’ teachers, folks, the gud ones are hogg-tied, slandered, and ‘ventually runned off by the ‘ministration of mis-educashun)
By COURTNEY August 19, 2009 at 4:34 pm
As a teacher in the public schools of S.C., here is another point to ponder…many of us use the books in our classes that are given to us ! What has been the issue in my district for the past umpteen years is that the kids are NOT using the books OUTSIDE of the classroom.
Parents do not need to be so quick to judge! Don’t be so quick to believe eeverything that your child tells you about the classroom either. Remember, that works both ways…do you want us believing everything that they are telling us about your home ????
By Gillon August 19, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Isn’t Dutch Fork the high school of Kelly Payne, the candidate for State Supt of Education? Since she’s right there in the same building, maybe she can shed some light on the situation. What better way to launch a campaign for state office than to ferret out and expose suspected waste and/or wrongdoing in your own school.
By Parent of child in SC public school August 19, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Courtney,
Not being so quick to judge, I spent a great deal of time volunteering and saw with my own eyes. Taking kids out of learning centers as punishment is going way too far. As far as teachers go, I would hope that every parent gives them their full support and are doing their jobs at home.
I have seen teachers bullied by parents. I have seen them take flack they didn’t deserve.
However, I remember as a child in 2nd grade that a teacher in my school sandpapered a student’s nose as punishment. No one seems to want to openly discuss the disturbing number of teachers and principals committing sexual offenses against students. Everyone needs to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly, involving parents, students, and faculty.
By COURTNEY August 19, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Dear Parent of child in SC public school,
I myself have taken children out of learning centers when their behavior has hindered that of the other children who were trying to work at the same station. I have refused to take students on field trips unless the parent agreed to go along to supervise their own child. I don’t believe these to be forms of punishment but merely methods of trying to hold students as well as parents accountable for a child’s appropriate behavior both inside and outside of the classroom. I have asked parents to sit in on my classes and monitor their own children and have then had to ask the parents to behave !!!
I would never physically touch a student, either sexually or as a form of punishment…and now days, I do not even give a student a hug for doing well in class as it can be “misconstrued” by the student, as well as the parent, later on in the year if the student gets angry with the teacher.
And your child’s district is lucky to even have volunteers….in 25 years in my district, I can count on one hand the number of times we have had parents volunteering at our school. They only show up to curse the teachers out, threaten the admin, or other students. We can not even get parents to come to school to sign the paperwork for their children to have Academic Improvement Plans set up to help their child meet the requirements under the NCLB Act and then when we give up our planning periods to go to their houses to get the signatures, they won’t even answer the door! And thanks to our governor, it is NOT because they are at work, most are unemployed ! We have had 12 principals in the last 17 years..does that tell you anything ? They haven’t been fired ..they have given up !
And people wonder why our schools are a joke ??? The average beginning new teacher today lasts 3 maybe 5 years in the classroom before deciding they don’t need to put up with all the crap that goes along with the job.
If I sound bitter, I am. I am good at my job and I truly love teaching but day in and day out it wears one down getting verbally disrespected by 12 and 13 year olds whose parents fully support their children.And admin is so afraid of being politically incorrect or facing a lawsuit, there is little support on that end as well!
I don’t know what the solution is but one thing is for sure, the fool in the Governor’s mansion sure doesn’t make teachers or parents jobs any easier. Anyone whose platform it is to try to impress upon the younger genration the importance of values and morals and education is beating their head against the wall as long as our leadership is morally unfit ! And as long as he feels that there is no hope for public schools, obviously they are not good enough for his own kids, our schools will never change. He has never visited most of the districts nor met with teachers to ask for their opinions and I am sure that he treats the parents of public school children equally bad because none of us matter on his personal agenda.
I would love to teach in a school that had a warm learning environment, supportive parents, few discipline problems,good test scores,decent attendance and admin who backed the teachers but in reality, it is not going to happen until things change within our gov’t…societies problems all filter down , unemployed parents, no health care, poverty etc….why should kids care when they see how screwed up our gov’t is..who in their right mind wants to work a job and see their tax dollars being fritered away ???
Okay, off my soapbox …sorry for the epistle….some things are just near and dear to my heart ! Your child is lucky to have a supportive and caring parent!Keep up the good work..there are teachers who are thanking you for all that you do!
courtney
(doublechecked spelling but may have missed a few :) )
By Kobayashi Maru August 19, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Hmmmm. Gillon’s got me thinking. Kelly Payne, Kelly Payne – say, didn’t I read somewhere that she worked at the Policy Council over the summer? How ironic! Let’s see, Payne works at Dutch Fork; Payne works at Policy Council; Policy Council goes dumpster diving (not for the first time) at Dutch Fork and finds gold in the garbage! Something smells about that scenario, and it’s not Dutch Fork’s garbage can.
On the bright side, a few whispers from Payne is all it takes to send the intrepid investigators from the Policy Council rummaging through rubbish – heck, I might vote for her!
By Sloan August 19, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Love the black gloves in the last picture. How cloak and dagger! Not to mention an indication that someone was planning to make political hay…
By Whatever August 19, 2009 at 8:43 pm
All regular citizens see here is wasted tax money. A school tossed textbooks knowing it shouldn’t have. Kudos that they got busted and had to admit it was wrong.
That’s as complicated as this is. The noise in these comments about who or why someone got the photos doesn’t matter. And btw..if you were going to a dumpster wouldn’t you wear gloves too? Enough with the silliness.
By BIN News Editorial Staff August 19, 2009 at 10:05 pm
Just another staged willie scam.
Those books “just happened” to be found in a dumpster at the school where Kelly Payne teaches. And someone with black gloves “just happened” to have a high resolution camera and “just happened” to take those cute pics like they were play acting the script of a stupid CSI T.V. script.
And before we forget, Ms. Payne “just happens” to work part time for the S.C. Policy Scam Council. And the Policy Scam Council “just happens” to get the pictures. Who do you think believes you these days? No one.
And the inside of the book shows it was last issued in 2003. A six year old obsolete text book. Looks like the mistake is that they should have gone in the recycle bin rather than a dumpster.
And your post “just happens” to motivate teachers (one claims to be from Dutch Fork) and others who claim insider knowledge. What political pimps.
sic(k) willie, you “ignorant slut.” (We love that old SNL line!)
Over eleventy brazillion obsolete textbooks are recycled every year all over the U.S.A. You know it. So does the S.C. Policy Scam Council.
Keep this in mind. Vouchers are dead in S.C. Jakie said so!
And now that Howie’s voucher scam cheerleader-in-chief (sanfraud), is no longer taken seriously by his own party, vouchers are deader than ever.
BIN News Editorial Staff
Flair and Balanced
P.S. You have a new child? Where do you plan to send her to school? Just wondering. Will she attend a Corridor of Shame school? Will, seriously, you are a political pimp. Just like your former boss.
By No Name August 20, 2009 at 8:09 am
To the BIN NEWS editorial staff from the abovementioned “one who claims to be from Dutch Fork”:I am not “from” Dutch Fork. I taught there for four years. I also taught in an Upstate public school for four years and in a “Corridor of Shame” school for half a year until I was physically abused by a student. The people in positions of leadership within these schools and districts were all the same: self-aggrandizing anti-intellectuals who loved ‘em some state money. The people who stick around learn to go along to get along. They socially promote students to keep those graduation rates up, they tacitly allow bullying and violence by pretending not to see it, and they blindly follow the dictates of the educational improvement program du jour their school or district has spent big money to purchase. It’s a bureaucracy and bureaucracies are systems devoted to self-perpetuation, not nurturing individual excellence. Those dumpster books were probably either publishers’ samples or what teachers call “desk copies”: books that kids lose, then have to buy in order to receive their grades, then find and leave somewhere at school at the end of the year. Most teachers who actually teach love to keep these found books since often students don’t bring their books to class and thus exempt themselves from participating in their own learning and instead devote themselves to disrupting the learning of others.
By Are You Surprised? August 20, 2009 at 9:34 am
BIN,
What new advances in Chemistry and Calculus have been identified since 2003 that would make textbooks paid for with tax dollars worthless?
What would be the harm in simply making them available for anyone to take? (like homeschooling parents who paid for them just like every other taxpayer did)
How about you pay my tax bill if waste doesn’t bother you?
By Whatever August 20, 2009 at 4:57 pm
This comment was posted to the WIS website after their story. Its sums up the core point perfectly. Everything else is just spin.
“My daughter is in an honors calculus class at Batesburg Leesville High School. There are 8 students in her class that don’t have the same book as the other 17 students in the class because they don’t have enough books. While watching this news report on TV when they were showing the books, my daughter notices that one of the books is the one she needs for her calculus class. She and the other students without the correct book are doing different homework assignments this week out of the older version of the book. I was already very upset about this situation and became infuriated when I saw the book she needs had been thrown in a dumpster by another school! I would love to have this book so that my daughter can have the correct book for her class.”
By LTT07 July 11, 2011 at 2:48 pm
As a former DF student and now attending college in the Pee Dee where the schools have no money what so ever, this is of no shock to me. The kids here in the Pee Dee dont come from money and wealth like the kids in the Irmo/ Dutch Fork district and for them to just waste these books because “they can” just shows the arrogance of the people in this community. Another side note of how this district is wasteful “just because they can” is the new construction of Irmo Elementary School. They are demolishing a perfectly good building and building a state of the art facility to replace it for no reason other than they want to have a state of the art school like the new ones that have been built recently. Now at the same time, Florence elementary schools are falling apart and the district is having to decide which school they are able to replace. Im SOOOO glad I dont live in Irmo anymore.