SC

SC School District In Chaos

Want a good look at how government-run education “works” in South Carolina? Travel an hour outside of the state capital of Columbia, S.C. to the city of Sumter … where a rural district is staring down a rash of violence, teacher defections and a testing scandal that has prompted a…

Want a good look at how government-run education “works” in South Carolina? Travel an hour outside of the state capital of Columbia, S.C. to the city of Sumter … where a rural district is staring down a rash of violence, teacher defections and a testing scandal that has prompted a criminal investigation.

The Sumter, S.C. school district is run by one Randolph Bynum, who left his post in Atlanta shortly before one of the nation’s most infamous cheating scandals broke wide open.

When he arrived in Sumter, Bynum promised local school board officials he had nothing to do with the cheating scandal that brought down his boss, Beverly Hall (who earlier this year was indicted by a Georgia grand jury along with thirty-four of her former colleagues).

But that hasn’t stopped testing scandals from following him to the Palmetto State …

According to the S.C. Department of Education – via reporter Braden Bunch of The (Sumter, S.C.) Item – “testing practices observed at Sumter High School earlier this year were some of the worst the state Department of Education has ever seen.”

Bunch adds that the department has asked the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) to conduct a criminal investigation into the school’s administration.

Wow …

Of course this is just the latest scandal to befall this underperforming school district.

“Police are called to Sumter High School daily because of fights,” one source told us. “It’s a war zone.”

Not only that, we’re told as many as a dozen (perhaps even three dozen) teachers at the district are contemplating leaving their jobs prior to the next school year.

“It’s a full-scale rebellion,” one source explained.

When he arrived from Atlanta, Bynum brought two of his former employees with him. Both of them make more than $100,000 a year and live in the Columbia, S.C. area. Both have housing, car and gasoline allowances, sources within the district tell FITS.

“Failed public education and bureaucrats lining their pockets with public education money,” one source told us.

In other words, par for the course in the Palmetto State …

***

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85 comments

The Senator June 6, 2013 at 2:33 pm

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more going on with this District and the School Board just rubber stamps the nonsense that goes on there.

Reply
The Senator June 6, 2013 at 2:33 pm

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is a lot more going on with this District and the School Board just rubber stamps the nonsense that goes on there.

Reply
Irvin Snibbley June 6, 2013 at 2:56 pm

Hard to tell which is in worse shape,the local school district or the local hospital which has been hit with a potential fine of $237,000,000 for violating the Stark Law.I told my friends in Sumter, if you want to see where Sumter is headed,look at Colleton County.The County Councils and School boards are very similar.

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Irvin Snibbley June 6, 2013 at 2:56 pm

Hard to tell which is in worse shape,the local school district or the local hospital which has been hit with a potential fine of $237,000,000 for violating the Stark Law.I told my friends in Sumter, if you want to see where Sumter is headed,look at Colleton County.The County Councils and School boards are very similar.

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Shiny_Squirrel June 6, 2013 at 2:57 pm

Richland 1 is losing 6 teachers from a single middle school. The principal of said school is being investigated for professional misconduct. Bet you won’t read about it anywhere.

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Thankful I Left June 7, 2013 at 3:25 pm

It’s not unusual for a school to lose so many teachers at once, but it does raise questions. Why is no one questioning this at your school district?

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SumterSC567 July 12, 2013 at 5:13 pm

In the last year and with this year included, Sumter High School has lost over 200 teachers. Thats why, we as students, have stood up against this, and have made into the big of a deal that it has turned into.

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Shiny_Squirrel June 6, 2013 at 2:57 pm

Richland 1 is losing 6 teachers from a single middle school. The principal of said school is being investigated for professional misconduct. Bet you won’t read about it anywhere.

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Thankful I Left June 7, 2013 at 3:25 pm

It’s not unusual for a school to lose so many teachers at once, but it does raise questions. Why is no one questioning this at your school district?

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SumterSC567 July 12, 2013 at 5:13 pm

In the last year and with this year included, Sumter High School has lost over 200 teachers. Thats why, we as students, have stood up against this, and have made into the big of a deal that it has turned into.

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Irvin Snibbley June 6, 2013 at 3:02 pm

After less than 1 year of a two year contract,the Sumter School Board in its infinite wisdow decided to extend Mr Bynum’s contract an additional two years.Will the last teacher leaving the school district please turn out the lights!

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Irvin Snibbley June 6, 2013 at 3:02 pm

After less than 1 year of a two year contract,the Sumter School Board in its infinite wisdow decided to extend Mr Bynum’s contract an additional two years.Will the last teacher leaving the school district please turn out the lights!

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jimlewisowb June 6, 2013 at 3:21 pm

Do you know the difference between and a dog turd and Randolph Bynum

If one were to take a dog turd, place it in a brown paper bag, gently place the bag on anyone’s front porch, set the bag afire, knock on the door and run, the odds are 98% that the individual who opens the door will stomp on the flaming bag

Now, if one were to replace the dog turd with Randoloh Bynum the odds increase to 100% that the bag will be allowed to burn

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jimlewisowb June 6, 2013 at 3:21 pm

Do you know the difference between and a dog turd and Randolph Bynum

If one were to take a dog turd, place it in a brown paper bag, gently place the bag on anyone’s front porch, set the bag afire, knock on the door and run, the odds are 98% that the individual who opens the door will stomp on the flaming bag

Now, if one were to replace the dog turd with Randoloh Bynum the odds increase to 100% that the bag will be allowed to burn

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BrigidBernadette June 6, 2013 at 3:35 pm

Where are the Corridor of Shame people? They could turn it out for protests at the Statehouse, where are they now?

Reply
Brigid June 6, 2013 at 3:35 pm

Where are the Corridor of Shame people? They could turn it out for protests at the Statehouse, where are they now?

Reply
The Colonel June 6, 2013 at 3:36 pm

This ought to play out very interestingly.

Sumter, Lakewood and Crestwood Highs are all similar in makeup but very different in outcomes. Only Crestwood is rated as “excellent” by the “SC Annual School Report Card” (though I really can’t figure out why). Lakewood and Sumter High are rated as average with an expected growth rate of “at risk and below average”. Lakewood is easily the worst of the three with less than half the students performing at grade level.

Bynum was a miserable failure in Atlanta and would have probably been fired regardless of the test cheating scandal – how the carpet bagger managed to land on his feet in Sumter after being closely tied to the cheating scandal is beyond me

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Irvin Snibbley June 6, 2013 at 3:49 pm

Of the 3 finalists for the Sumter position,Bynum was the only one of the 3 without prior Superintendent experience.You hate to think race had a part in his selection,but he was the only minority candidate and the school board is majority black.Having a hard time seeing him as the most qualified when he had the least experience.

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Old Time Sumter Boy June 6, 2013 at 5:19 pm

He was Black.

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atodds June 10, 2013 at 1:41 pm

The schools are not similar in makeup. Sumter High as 3 times more students then the others.

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The Colonel June 12, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Demographic make up is very similar and Sumter has just over 2,000 student while Lakewood and Crestwood have more than 1,100 each. Last time I looked that was 2 times, not 3.

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SumterSC567 July 12, 2013 at 5:13 pm

Recent numbers were around 2500-2700 students

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India June 11, 2013 at 9:31 pm

About a year ago Lakewood and Crestwood where called Sumter school district 2 and was run by super Intendant Dr. Baker. Dr. Baker knew the children, parents, community, teacher, faculty, and staff at every school on a personal level. While Sumter High was in School District 17 and over seen by Dr. Jackson. Crestwood score are higher because of the type of students that go there. When I attended Crestwood it was known as the School of Defense because a lot of the students there are from military families or live on Shaw Air Force Base. But from personal experience I can say that Crestwood use to have a lot of old school teacher that care about the children’s future and they work hard to know each student to address their individual weakness. Now they have join the two school districts and my fear is that Crestwood will suffer in the future because they are planning to re-zone what type of students go to what school and soon Crestwood will become the all black school. Taking on more minority students from problem areas and putting them all together.

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SumterSC567 July 12, 2013 at 5:19 pm

they are making the schools into different types, etc they are making sumter high an educational primed school, while they are making Crestwood a magnet school for the arts. Definitely not good for the schools. Sumter high has provided me with a great education that even parents that have kids in Wilson Hall perfer to transfer them over. But with all these changes they’re trying to improve upon Crestwood and Lakewood. But it wont work, instead of boosting those schools up, they are bringing down Sumter High to be on the same level as Crestwood and Lakewood

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EJB June 6, 2013 at 3:36 pm

These are just a few of the things wrong with K-12 education in SC. Choice, vouchers, tax credits don’t fix this, jail time will help. People that care and are willing to roll up their sleeves to fix things are what is needed. I wish I could remember the school district but I think it is in or near Blackville that was very bad and two reformers won election to the school board but were never supported by the people in the district and were constantly hounded by the other crooked members of the board until they resigned in thoroughly disgusted with the whole mess.

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Chasvoiceedu June 6, 2013 at 4:08 pm

Vouchers and choice will actually make it easier for this kind of misbehavior to occur.,look how hard it is to shut down a charter school.

Reply
nitrat June 6, 2013 at 11:12 pm

We don’t get any stories on that at this site. And, it sure does go on.
Just look at Sumter and Lee counties trying to close down 2 fly by night charter schools.

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LULU June 7, 2013 at 8:43 am

Sumter is where Shaw Air Force Base is. It is 45 minutes from Columbia on 521. I graduated from there 30 years ago. I hate to see this happening

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The Colonel (R) June 6, 2013 at 3:36 pm

This ought to play out very interestingly.

Sumter, Lakewood and Crestwood Highs are all similar in makeup but very different in outcomes. Only Crestwood is rated as “excellent” by the “SC Annual School Report Card” (though I really can’t figure out why). Lakewood and Sumter High are rated as average with an expected growth rate of “at risk and below average”. Lakewood is easily the worst of the three with less than half the students performing at grade level.

Bynum was a miserable failure as the deputy for high schools in Atlanta and would have probably been fired regardless of the test cheating scandal – how the carpet bagger managed to land on his feet in Sumter after being closely tied to the cheating scandal is beyond me. Bynum is also closely tied to the “Broad Education Foundation” – a “corporate school reform” organization that by the admission of the founder doesn’t really know anything about education.

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Irvin Snibbley June 6, 2013 at 3:49 pm

Of the 3 finalists for the Sumter position,Bynum was the only one of the 3 without prior Superintendent experience.You hate to think race had a part in his selection,but he was the only minority candidate and the school board is majority black.Having a hard time seeing him as the most qualified when he had the least experience.

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Old Time Sumter Boy June 6, 2013 at 5:19 pm

He was Black.

Reply
atodds June 10, 2013 at 1:41 pm

The schools are not similar in makeup. Sumter High as 3 times more students then the others.

Reply
The Colonel (R) June 12, 2013 at 5:15 pm

Demographic make up is very similar and Sumter has just over 2,000 student while Lakewood and Crestwood have more than 1,100 each. Last time I looked that was 2 times, not 3.

Reply
SumterSC567 July 12, 2013 at 5:13 pm

Recent numbers were around 2500-2700 students

Reply
India June 11, 2013 at 9:31 pm

About a year ago Lakewood and Crestwood where called Sumter school district 2 and was run by super Intendant Dr. Baker. Dr. Baker knew the children, parents, community, teacher, faculty, and staff at every school on a personal level. While Sumter High was in School District 17 and over seen by Dr. Jackson. Crestwood score are higher because of the type of students that go there. When I attended Crestwood it was known as the School of Defense because a lot of the students there are from military families or live on Shaw Air Force Base. But from personal experience I can say that Crestwood use to have a lot of old school teacher that care about the children’s future and they work hard to know each student to address their individual weakness. Now they have join the two school districts and my fear is that Crestwood will suffer in the future because they are planning to re-zone what type of students go to what school and soon Crestwood will become the all black school. Taking on more minority students from problem areas and putting them all together.

Reply
SumterSC567 July 12, 2013 at 5:19 pm

they are making the schools into different types, etc they are making sumter high an educational primed school, while they are making Crestwood a magnet school for the arts. Definitely not good for the schools. Sumter high has provided me with a great education that even parents that have kids in Wilson Hall perfer to transfer them over. But with all these changes they’re trying to improve upon Crestwood and Lakewood. But it wont work, instead of boosting those schools up, they are bringing down Sumter High to be on the same level as Crestwood and Lakewood

Reply
EJB June 6, 2013 at 3:36 pm

These are just a few of the things wrong with K-12 education in SC. Choice, vouchers, tax credits don’t fix this, jail time will help. People that care and are willing to roll up their sleeves to fix things are what is needed. I wish I could remember the school district but I think it is in or near Blackville that was very bad and two reformers won election to the school board but were never supported by the people in the district and were constantly hounded by the other crooked members of the board until they resigned in thoroughly disgusted with the whole mess.

Reply
Chasvoiceedu June 6, 2013 at 4:08 pm

Vouchers and choice will actually make it easier for this kind of misbehavior to occur.,look how hard it is to shut down a charter school.

Reply
nitrat June 6, 2013 at 11:12 pm

We don’t get any stories on that at this site. And, it sure does go on.
Just look at Sumter and Lee counties trying to close down 2 fly by night charter schools.

Reply
LULU June 7, 2013 at 8:43 am

Sumter is where Shaw Air Force Base is. It is 45 minutes from Columbia on 521. I graduated from there 30 years ago. I hate to see this happening

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Chasvoiceedu June 6, 2013 at 4:02 pm

Actually this is an example of the Ed reforms pushed by the free marketers. Bynum is a Broad Academy person with a terrible track record. He left Atlanta as the scandal developed. He lasted a year in Charleston. Will, do your homework.

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Ben Cook June 7, 2013 at 10:56 am

Thank you! Finally! Someone said it!

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? June 7, 2013 at 11:14 am

Someone said what?

If you mean both of you inferred that you don’t know what a “free market” is, yeah…I guess so.

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Chasvoiceedu June 6, 2013 at 4:02 pm

Actually this is an example of the Ed reforms pushed by the free marketers. Bynum is a Broad Academy person with a terrible track record. He left Atlanta as the scandal developed. He lasted a year in Charleston. Will, do your homework.

Reply
Ben Cook June 7, 2013 at 10:56 am

Thank you! Finally! Someone said it!

Reply
? June 7, 2013 at 11:14 am

Someone said what?

If you mean both of you inferred that you don’t know what a “free market” is, yeah…I guess so.

Reply
GrandTango June 6, 2013 at 4:12 pm

To much of Our Very and overly-expensive public education system has been brought down on the level of the WORST and FAILED, because the liberals HATE earned upward mobility…, Democrat constituents are too lazy and/or too un-interested to want a Quality system. Education is an investment, and they are GIMME-EASY and GIMME-NOW, handout takers…

These are the SAME people who will have full and TOTAL control of your HealthCare…

ObamCare is like MAKING everybody ride the public Bus so that all will be the same…It is what they’ve done to our schools…

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Dumb And Happy June 6, 2013 at 4:17 pm

Ain’t any one party going to change shit, GrampTus! Pop a top, apply that sunscreen, and break out that old time Rock and Roll…

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GrandTango June 6, 2013 at 4:32 pm

Nobody said anything about a party. It’s the people, face-to-face, you’ll have to eventually mitigate.

But there are a lot of voters like you…and they vote multiple times, all for democrats……

You’re lazy good-for-nothing, stupid and hateful. You are taking my country. You won’t get it sitting on your drunk @$$, no matter what Obama has you believing…He’s used courts and corrupt agencies so far…and he’s just about used up all this country’s gracious nature…

I can’t wait for the surprise you’ll get when it occurs to you what I’m telling you…I will LMAO…and I’d love to see your face…

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Smirks June 6, 2013 at 4:35 pm

There are a lot of voters like you…and they vote multiple times, all for democrats……

Nah, that’s just your irrational mind making up fantasies to explain why a majority of America isn’t following you off the cliff.

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GrandTango June 6, 2013 at 5:44 pm

Hey Smirks: how’s if feel to be an @$$-Clown???… (read below)…

VOTER FRAUD: Ohio Poll Worker Melowese Richardson Who Proudly Boasted of Voting For Obama Twice In Ohio, May Have actually Voted Six Times

Thanks for the times
That you’ve voted for me
The memories are all in my mind
And now that we’ve come
To the end of our voter fraud
There’s something
I must say out loud
You’re once, twice
Six times an Obama voter
Yes you’re once twice
Six times an Obama voter …and I love yoooooou….

Dumb And Happy June 6, 2013 at 5:53 pm

They all do that shit, GT! Doubt you’ll get that “your country” will never manifest…well, at least you have a dream.

Where the hell did I leave my bong…damn near beer-thirty already.

“Tweet-tweet, just asingin’ my tune…”

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worthyenemy June 7, 2013 at 9:37 am

I slightly disagree with your assesment that this is a party problem. The real issue behind this is the fact that the majority of the kids that go to these schools are black. Crestwood is 70%, Lakewood is 53%, and Sumter is 62%. I think the problem is that no one cares about really educating black kids. And yes, that includes black law makers. Black kids are thought to be lost causes anyway so just take the money and run, right?. Yes, democrats are at fault, but I don’t see any rebuplicans rushing to the rescue either.

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Stinkbait June 7, 2013 at 12:32 pm

“Democrat constituents are too lazy and/or too un-interested to want a Quality system.” Where’d you come up with a RACIST idea like that, you nit-wit.

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nitrat June 6, 2013 at 11:04 pm

When will school boards learn that when they do nationwide searches for superintendents, they just prove how stupid they are?
If they knew what they were doing they would hire from within so they know something about the person first hand. That doesn’t guarantee success, but they have a better chance than when they hire from out of state or out of county.

Reply
nitrat June 6, 2013 at 11:04 pm

When will school boards learn that when they do nationwide searches for superintendents, they just prove how stupid they are?
If they knew what they were doing they would hire from within so they know something about the person first hand. That doesn’t guarantee success, but they have a better chance than when they hire from out of state or out of county.

Reply
? June 7, 2013 at 11:13 am

I’ve seen this guys face before….hmmm….where was it?

Oh yea, that’s right….his picture was right next to the definition of “Shit eating grin” in the dictionary. Right under Andy Patrick’s.

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? June 7, 2013 at 11:13 am

I’ve seen this guys face before….hmmm….where was it?

Oh yea, that’s right….his picture was right next to the definition of “Shit eating grin” in the dictionary. Right under Andy Patrick’s.

Reply
Thankful I Left June 7, 2013 at 3:24 pm

I don’t understand why the two he brought with him qualified for housing and car allowances? The gas allowance should only cover the distance traveled in personal car from the district office to a school site and then back. It should not include travel from home to the district or school site. No other teacher gets this. No other principal does either. (Or do they if they go to the right church?) I know of many wonderful teachers and administrators that carpooled together from Columbia for YEARS! They only got compensated for gas when traveling IN DISTRICT or to a district function. That needs to be looked into. And while I hate making things about black and white, I agree- the issue here is the black board did not look past the color of the skin of the candidates. Why would you select someone with no experience (AND GIVE THEM MORE MONEY THAN OFFERED – A LOT MORE MONEY!!!) over someone with experience? And I don’t blame teachers for wanting to leave. Teachers get pushed, poisoned, assaulted, threatened and NOTHING happens!

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Thankful I Left June 7, 2013 at 3:24 pm

I don’t understand why the two he brought with him qualified for housing and car allowances? The gas allowance should only cover the distance traveled in personal car from the district office to a school site and then back. It should not include travel from home to the district or school site. No other teacher gets this. No other principal does either. (Or do they if they go to the right church?) I know of many wonderful teachers and administrators that carpooled together from Columbia for YEARS! They only got compensated for gas when traveling IN DISTRICT or to a district function. That needs to be looked into. And while I hate making things about black and white, I agree- the issue here is the black board did not look past the color of the skin of the candidates. Why would you select someone with no experience (AND GIVE THEM MORE MONEY THAN OFFERED – A LOT MORE MONEY!!!) over someone with experience? And I don’t blame teachers for wanting to leave. Teachers get pushed, poisoned, assaulted, threatened and NOTHING happens!

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Polyphemos June 7, 2013 at 11:14 pm

The only thing I’m wondering is when the citizens of our state are going to awaken from their state of self-imposed stupor and end the current public education system.

There are several solutions which can be used to fill the empty slot. I have one, but the easiest and quickest is to dissolve all school boards and most of the the bureaucracy, fire all principals, and school “teachers aids,” turn all public schools into Charter schools and let the TEC schools run them. All teachers should be retested for subject content knowledge and proof of experience and ability to teach and THEN worry about degrees, which currently are bare proof of anything. (As an aside, there would be no changes to the special ed classes nor their interaction with state agencies.)

Now of course, when you have an entire minority which makes its living off the corridor of shame, you’re not going to get much agreement on this from the people who represent them. They don’t need a union, they have Democrat and RINO legislators who perpetuate the system and in turn are kept in their positions.

Does anybody see why this would work and why it’s NEVER going to get a chance to work?

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Trevor Bauknight July 9, 2013 at 10:07 am

“The only thing I’m wondering is when the citizens of our state are going to awaken from their state of self-imposed stupor and end the current public education system.”

If that’s what you want, just sit and watch, because that’s exactly what Bynum and Co. brought to Sumter from Atlanta, a canned, corporatist approach to education “reform” developed by libertarian billionaires that think they know what’s best for the Americans whose government they bought. Sound familiar? It should. This is the Tea Party in action, even if the school board was duped into buying into it because the salesman was black.

It’d be like America’s minorities getting together to elect an Allen West only to scratch their heads and wonder how a fine man like that could run their country into the ground in two weeks flat with some idiot agenda to sell everything to Big Biznass. The Tea Party would sit up and bark like seals until the country they wanted back was padlocked and shipped to China, at which point they’d blame the black guy.

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Polyphemos July 9, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Please supply sources for your angry ant tirade. All you have done is drool formulated drivel. Charter schools produce learned students in most cases. Public schools produce uneducated drones, in most cases. I know. I have to teach both when the get to college and the public school students are pathetic, while the Charter and Private school kids are a pleasure to teach. Pour quoi? you may ask.. Because I don’t have to teach them what they didn’t get in High School.

Now, you can rant and rave all you want to, but you have no standing, because you have no facts on your side. The facts stand before me, every semester, and they are children who have been promoted beyond their capabilities by your disgusting public system.

SHAME ON YOU, TREVOR BAUKNIGHT, AND ALL LIKE YOU!

Reply
Slartibartfast June 7, 2013 at 11:14 pm

The only thing I’m wondering is when the citizens of our state are going to awaken from their state of self-imposed stupor and end the current public education system.

There are several solutions which can be used to fill the empty slot. I have one, but the easiest and quickest is to dissolve all school boards and most of the the bureaucracy, fire all principals, and school “teachers aids,” turn all public schools into Charter schools and let the TEC schools run them. All teachers should be retested for subject content knowledge and proof of experience and ability to teach and THEN worry about degrees, which currently are bare proof of anything. (As an aside, there would be no changes to the special ed classes nor their interaction with state agencies.)

Now of course, when you have an entire minority which makes its living off the corridor of shame, you’re not going to get much agreement on this from the people who represent them. They don’t need a union, they have Democrat and RINO legislators who perpetuate the system and in turn are kept in their positions.

Does anybody see why this would work and why it’s NEVER going to get a chance to work?

Reply
Trevor Bauknight July 9, 2013 at 10:07 am

“The only thing I’m wondering is when the citizens of our state are going to awaken from their state of self-imposed stupor and end the current public education system.”

If that’s what you want, just sit and watch, because that’s exactly what Bynum and Co. brought to Sumter from Atlanta, a canned, corporatist approach to education “reform” developed by libertarian billionaires that think they know what’s best for the Americans whose government they bought. Sound familiar? It should. This is the Tea Party in action, even if the school board was duped into buying into it because the salesman was black.

It’d be like America’s minorities getting together to elect an Allen West only to scratch their heads and wonder how a fine man like that could run their country into the ground in two weeks flat with some idiot agenda to sell everything to Big Biznass. The Tea Party would sit up and bark like seals until the country they wanted back was padlocked and shipped to China, at which point they’d blame the black guy.

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Slartibartfast July 9, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Please supply sources for your angry ant tirade. All you have done is drool formulated drivel. Charter schools produce learned students in most cases. Public schools produce uneducated drones, in most cases. I know. I have to teach both when the get to college and the public school students are pathetic, while the Charter and Private school kids are a pleasure to teach. Pour quoi? you may ask.. Because I don’t have to teach them what they didn’t get in High School.

Now, you can rant and rave all you want to, but you have no standing, because you have no facts on your side. The facts stand before me, every semester, and they are children who have been promoted beyond their capabilities by your disgusting public system.

SHAME ON YOU, TREVOR BAUKNIGHT, AND ALL LIKE YOU!

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BeaufortTiger June 9, 2013 at 10:46 pm

Pick just about any school district in the I-95 corridor of shame; from Dillon County which earned national embarrassment in the 2008 election cycle, all the way down to Jasper County, where the school district repeatedly fails to properly answer FOIA requests. What you’ll find is consistent mismanagement by district bureaucrats and know-it-all school administrators who are more concerned with turf and territoriality than they are with teaching students. It’s pathetic and it holds back every public school student (i.e. nearly all black residents, as most whites are in private schools) in these counties.

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atodds June 10, 2013 at 1:46 pm

Sumter is not in the Corridor of Shame…..yet….

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BeaufortTiger June 9, 2013 at 10:46 pm

Pick just about any school district in the I-95 corridor of shame; from Dillon County which earned national embarrassment in the 2008 election cycle, all the way down to Jasper County, where the school district repeatedly fails to properly answer FOIA requests. What you’ll find is consistent mismanagement by district bureaucrats and know-it-all school administrators who are more concerned with turf and territoriality than they are with teaching students. It’s pathetic and it holds back every public school student (i.e. nearly all black residents, as most whites are in private schools) in these counties.

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atodds June 10, 2013 at 1:46 pm

Sumter is not in the Corridor of Shame…..yet….

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Irvin Snibbley June 10, 2013 at 1:21 pm

According to a June 8,2013 article by Braden Bunch in The Item, 40 teachers from Sumter High alone will not be returning next year.

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Irvin Snibbley June 10, 2013 at 1:21 pm

According to a June 8,2013 article by Braden Bunch in The Item, 40 teachers from Sumter High alone will not be returning next year.

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retiredmilitarymom June 13, 2013 at 9:54 am

I have children that attend Lakewood High School, were a military family, and let me inform you that I grew up in Brooklyn NY, never did we see the problems were I grew up like we are seeing here, I also have a child at Furman Middle School were we have been battling a severe problem with bullying all year, there is absolutely no excuse for what is going on with this school district, when you choose to work with children you better absolutely love what your doing, we put trust and faith in your hands, you are taking care and teaching our kids while were not with them, school officials need to stand behind there teachers and support them with the resources that they have, I have friends that are teachers in other states and there lucky if they make $30,000 a year, so why is it we have a couple come from another state making almost $100,000 with housing and gas allowances, you mean your you’re going to pay them this amount instead of putting it towards better education, or buses that run so our kids get to school on time, or not get home 2-3 hours late in the evening, I mean common now, why isn’t the state house backing parents and teachers that actually care? what the hell has this state come too?

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retiredmilitarymom June 13, 2013 at 9:54 am

I have children that attend Lakewood High School, were a military family, and let me inform you that I grew up in Brooklyn NY, never did we see the problems were I grew up like we are seeing here, I also have a child at Furman Middle School were we have been battling a severe problem with bullying all year, there is absolutely no excuse for what is going on with this school district, when you choose to work with children you better absolutely love what your doing, we put trust and faith in your hands, you are taking care and teaching our kids while were not with them, school officials need to stand behind there teachers and support them with the resources that they have, I have friends that are teachers in other states and there lucky if they make $30,000 a year, so why is it we have a couple come from another state making almost $100,000 with housing and gas allowances, you mean your you’re going to pay them this amount instead of putting it towards better education, or buses that run so our kids get to school on time, or not get home 2-3 hours late in the evening, I mean common now, why isn’t the state house backing parents and teachers that actually care? what the hell has this state come too?

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Diane July 5, 2013 at 3:38 pm

Past time for Sumter Residents to stand up for OUR Children and Teachers!!!!! Where do we (SC) fine such unqualified individuals… There has to be a COMPLETE Back ground check on people we put in these positions!!! BEFORE THEY ARE EVEN CONSIDERED!! WAKE UP QUICK!!!!! :(

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Diane July 5, 2013 at 3:38 pm

Past time for Sumter Residents to stand up for OUR Children and Teachers!!!!! Where do we (SC) fine such unqualified individuals… There has to be a COMPLETE Back ground check on people we put in these positions!!! BEFORE THEY ARE EVEN CONSIDERED!! WAKE UP QUICK!!!!! :(

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Trevor Bauknight July 9, 2013 at 9:57 am

As a Sumterite, it has been fascinating watching the local Tea Party imbeciles twist themselves into knots of anger over the school board’s decision to hire Randolph Bynum and Co. from Atlanta in the wake of that city’s cheating scandal. It’s mildly amusing watching them kvetch, because what they’ve done is take an bad situation rooted in the public school privatization agenda of Eli Broad and his superintendent academy and turn it into a racial issue, because that’s just what they do.

Bynum is black, and that fact stirred racial tensions brought on by the merger of Sumter School Districts 17 and 2, the city and county schools. As usual, however, the real issue is the canned corporatist agenda Bynum and Co. are promoting. This isn’t liberal “throw money at the schools” policy, it’s Bush-era education management teach-to-the-test garbage in which teachers seemingly spend an overwhelming amount of time collecting data for a program called “Sweet 16,” a cookie-cutter approach to determining teachers’ value, the copyright of which is actually owned personally by one of Bynum’s new highly-paid “cabinet” members that came with him from Atlanta.

Whenever these tax-cut and privatization policies hit home, they’re wildly unpopular among the tricorn set, from civilian furloughs in the military to White House tours, from the privatization of public education to the coverage mandate invented by the Heritage Foundation and demanded by Big Insurance. It’s fine as long as it’s somebody else’s ox getting gored, but when it’s your own, why, look what those black folks are doing to us!

I have spoken out against the Broad Academy privatization agenda that Bynum represents. Finding myself in league with the local Tea Party mouth breathers is uncomfortable, but what’s really sad is watching the dismantling of my alma mater, an outstanding public high school, by those with nothing to offer but platitudes about excellence in education. Wake up, idiots…this is the fascism you have demanded with your anti-government bellyaching, instead of realizing that government is the only tool in our hands to stop the descent of America into a neo-feudal condition.

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Trevor Bauknight July 9, 2013 at 9:57 am

As a Sumterite, it has been fascinating watching the local Tea Party imbeciles twist themselves into knots of anger over the school board’s decision to hire Randolph Bynum and Co. from Atlanta in the wake of that city’s cheating scandal. It’s mildly amusing watching them kvetch, because what they’ve done is take an bad situation rooted in the public school privatization agenda of Eli Broad and his superintendent academy and turn it into a racial issue, because that’s just what they do.

Bynum is black, and that fact stirred racial tensions brought on by the merger of Sumter School Districts 17 and 2, the city and county schools. As usual, however, the real issue is the canned corporatist agenda Bynum and Co. are promoting. This isn’t liberal “throw money at the schools” policy, it’s Bush-era education management teach-to-the-test garbage in which teachers seemingly spend an overwhelming amount of time collecting data for a program called “Sweet 16,” a cookie-cutter approach to determining teachers’ value, the copyright of which is actually owned personally by one of Bynum’s new highly-paid “cabinet” members that came with him from Atlanta.

Whenever these tax-cut and privatization policies hit home, they’re wildly unpopular among the tricorn set, from civilian furloughs in the military to White House tours, from the privatization of public education to the coverage mandate invented by the Heritage Foundation and demanded by Big Insurance. It’s fine as long as it’s somebody else’s ox getting gored, but when it’s your own, why, look what those black folks are doing to us!

I have spoken out against the Broad Academy privatization agenda that Bynum represents. Finding myself in league with the local Tea Party mouth breathers is uncomfortable, but what’s really sad is watching the dismantling of my alma mater, an outstanding public high school, by those with nothing to offer but platitudes about excellence in education. Wake up, idiots…this is the fascism you have demanded with your anti-government bellyaching, instead of realizing that government is the only tool in our hands to stop the descent of America into a neo-feudal condition.

Reply
Moved Away! July 14, 2013 at 1:55 pm

I graduated 20+ years ago and there were scandals and jail time associated with that administration. Sumter will never change. It is run by people too afraid of national organizations to legitimately put the education of the county’s children first. The smart people scrape the money together to send their kids to private school to avoid the never-ending political correctness at the expense of the kids.

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Moved Away! July 14, 2013 at 1:55 pm

I graduated 20+ years ago and there were scandals and jail time associated with that administration. Sumter will never change. It is run by people too afraid of national organizations to legitimately put the education of the county’s children first. The smart people scrape the money together to send their kids to private school to avoid the never-ending political correctness at the expense of the kids.

Reply

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