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A specially called meeting of the Charleston County School District (CCSD) descended into chaos earlier this week when board members sparred aggressively about the calendar for the upcoming 2025-2026 school year.
At the center of the storm was board member Carolina Jewett, who claimed her seat last fall when she defeated incumbent board member Ed Kelley. Jewett proposed an amendment at the CCSD meeting on Tuesday evening (June 9, 2025) which would have amended the district’s calendar in an effort to help preserve teacher work days and allow for potential inclement weather during the peak of hurricane season.
Jewett’s motion to amend the calendar was seconded by Michele Leber, wife of S.C. senator Matt Leber.
By a 7-2 vote, Jewett’s motion failed – prompting her to become audibly incensed.
“No,” she gasped.
“I hope you guys get the wrath of your constituents,” Jewett told her colleagues.
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When a follow-up vote approved the calendar without Jewett’s proposed amendment, she proceeded to invoke not only the wrath of constituents… but the wrath of God.
“I hope we get lots of hurricanes,” Jewett said. “I hope you guys get lots of hurricanes.”
“Mark my words: September,” Jewett continued. “Lots of hurricanes.”
At this point, Jewett abruptly departed the board meeting…
FITSNews was contacted this week by a group called “Wando Parents United.” In an email provided by the group to the CCSD board, several concerns regarding Jewett were raised – including what its members termed her “very emotional” response to losing the school calendar vote.
“It was conduct unbecoming of an elected official,” the group noted in its email to the board. “Saying that we should be devastated by a hurricane because she didn’t get her way is not appropriate and is insensitive. Should this lady be an elected official or is she unfit? Many people have lost their lives and fortunes because of these storms.”
FITSNews has reached out to Jewett in the hopes of getting her thoughts on the board meeting – and her reaction to the criticism. Stay tuned for updated coverage in the event we receive a response from her.
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UPDATE |
Jewett has submitted this response, which we are publishing in its entirety…
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OUR TAKE…
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Unlike the left-leaning propaganda machine at The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier – which hasn’t covered this story yet – we don’t reflexively clutch our pearls whenever an elected official says something ill-advised in the heat of the moment.
With so many real battles to fight… who has time for the cosmetic ones?
We also don’t mind it one bit when elected officials get passionate about issues impacting their core constituencies (in this case, students, parents and teachers). Isn’t passion for public service something we ought to be encouraging?
Having said that, Jewett’s statements at the last board meeting were clearly chosen poorly – and we are investigating the other allegations leveled against her by the parents’ group in the hopes of separating fact from fiction.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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5 comments
“Unlike the left-leaning propaganda machine at The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier – which hasn’t covered this story yet – we don’t reflexively clutch our pearls whenever an elected official says something ill-advised in the heat of the moment.
With so many real battles to fight… who has time for the cosmetic ones?”
The amount of irony here is just incredible. “Unlike the news media we don’t like, we don’t do what they do (even though they didn’t do it here, either).” And this is coming from the “news” org whose M.O. is replying with emojis and getting clicks over incendiary content.
I’d be more concerned with her storming out of the meeting than her poor choice of words. Only one other person supported her idea, and she couldn’t take it. She had to leave and take her constituents’ representation with her. And over something like the school calendar? Maybe she’s not emotionally stable enough to hold public office.
I agree with JustSomeGuy and in looking at her webpage, would say her sensitivity was on display during her campaign.
And we all know if this would have been a conservative, the P&C would be blowing up my phone with “breaking news about unhinged school board member” The silence is always very telling.
And who exactly are you?
So anytime she doesn’t get her way she’s going to leave the meeting? Sounds like she needs to be kicked off the school board. Let’s all say a prayer for the mindless cuck who’s married to her.