District 10 Drama Continues

Something rare happened at a recent District 10 constituent school board meeting – a unanimous vote was taken. The District 10 board voted 4-0 to recommend to the consolidated school board to rebuild Stono Park Elementary rather than renovate the school.
Missing at the meeting was Chairwoman Tamara Avery.  Vice Chairman David Childress conducted the meeting. Avery has been criticized by other board members for not allowing votes to be held with the accompanying comment that “this board has not arrived at a consensus.”
Responding to the vote to support rebuilding Stono Park to accommodate 500 students, Avery sent out a rant on the West Ashley United Chat Facebook page stating the $27 million project was unjustified. The rebuild was actually included in the 2010 capital projects referendum passed by Charleston County voters. School district officials have indicated that they would prefer to renovate the school, which was built in the 1950s.
Avery posted on Facebook, “So congrats to the women (and you know who you are) who champion a new Stono Park you never intend to have your children attend. (You) just want to revitalize your neighborhood, increase your property values and push out the middle class.” Avery stated that she plans to resign from the District 10 board.
District 10 is one of the eight constituent school boards within the Charleston County School District. It is responsible for determining attendance zones for West Ashley’s six public elementary schools and two middle schools and conducting student disciplinary hearings.
West Ashley has a complex attendance situation with two magnet schools, Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary School and St. Andrews Math and Science Elementary School, to which parents must apply for their children to attend. Orange Grove Charter School is an independent charter school not governed by the school district. All three schools operate on a lottery system for student admission.
Parent and Parkshore resident Ginger Bergstrom has navigated the magnet school lottery system for years and has been actively involved in the redistricting process. She supports shifting the attendance lines for the Old Charles Towne neighborhoods from Springfield Elementary to a 500-student Stono Park. She notes that Stono Park is the only pure neighborhood school in West Ashley east of I-526.
Bergstrom states, “With so many families enduring the stress of the lottery process, having a guaranteed seat in a convenient, high-performing school is critical to the health of the community.” She notes that Ashley River Creative Arts Elementary, St. Andrews Math and Science Elementary and Drayton Hall Elementary are all over-capacity and that attendance lines should be redrawn to have more students zoned for Stono Park, Springfield and Oakland Elementary. She says there are also issues about students who don’t live in West Ashley attending the magnet schools.
Stono Park currently is operating at the former St. Andrews High School with an enrollment of about 300. It is a Title 1 school, meaning that more than 70% of its students qualify for free or reduced school lunch. Springfield, Oakland and West Ashley Middle School are the other Title 1 schools in West Ashley. Changing the attendance lines would alter the socio-economic make-up of those schools. Stono Park’s test scores exceed the average for Title 1 schools in all areas.
The decision to rebuild or renovate Stono Park will be made soon by the Charleston County School Board. It will be on the agenda for the board’s Audit and Finance Committee Mon., Sept. 12. The committee, which is open to all nine board members, will make a recommendation, which will likely be acted on Sept. 26. Bergstrom organized a petition drive to influence the board. https://www.change.org/p/charleston-county-school-district-board-rebuild-stono-park-elementary
If Avery does resign from the District 10 board, the vacancy will be advertised to the public. She has more than two years remaining on her term. Two seats for District 10 will be filled by voters on the Nov. ballot.
West Ashley United founder and District 10 parent Teresa Tidestrom says the board needs people who can get along with each other and respect the input from parents and taxpayers. “It has become so toxic that parents don’t even want to attend the meetings,” she said. Perhaps the drama will soon come to an end.
John Steinberger is the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party, a leading Fair Tax advocate, and a West Ashley resident. He can be reached at John.steinberger@scfairtax.org.