Unbelievable! Read just how awful the S.C. school the young lady that won't quit is in!

[1776Forever]

Thanks to Skidmore's post that reminded me this young lady who wrote the letter for help for her school lives in South Carolina where her Governor is considering turning down the money for school improvements!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8226288&mesg_id=8226288

I looked up some of the facts on her school district and found this:

Ailing S.C. school sees Obama stimulus plan as lifeline
Place president cited in speech prays bill may mean new building

By Howard Witt | Tribune correspondent
February 12, 2009

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/educatio...

DILLON, S.C.—Ty'sheoma Bethea went to the public library in this struggling South Carolina town Tuesday night to write a letter to Congress about the economic stimulus bill.

The 8th grader had never thought about writing to Congress before. She didn't even have a clear idea what a "stimulus bill" is. She went to the library because her family has no computer at home, and the handful of computers at her crumbling middle school — hand-me-downs once used by felons in the state prison system—were unavailable.

(snip)

The local school district, already running a $1.2 million deficit this year just to keep teachers' paychecks from bouncing, does not have anything close to the $40 million it would take to rebuild J.V. Martin. The school consists of a partially condemned main building constructed in 1896, a "new" wing built in the 1950s and a handful of portable classrooms scattered across the muddy, grassless school grounds.

(snip)

For 16 years, Dillon School District No. 2, along with 35 other rural and largely black South Carolina school districts along the Interstate Highway 95 corridor, has been waging a protracted court battle against the state, seeking an equal share of school funding from a system that leaves wealthier, whiter communities far better off.

This year, for example, Dillon School District No. 2 has a total of $8,624 per pupil to spend—half of what the state's wealthiest districts receive. For some of the plaintiff school districts in the lawsuit, which were featured in the 2005 documentary "Corridor of Shame," such limited funds have meant underpaid teachers working in overcrowded schools where raw sewage puddles in hallways and students often must wear hats and gloves in unheated classrooms.

"In South Carolina, the folks with the most votes and the most power are taking care of their kids in their areas," said Ray Rogers, superintendent of the Dillon No. 2 District. "But they are leaving our kids, and lot of others across the state, to whatever fate may bring."

In a state where the Confederate flag still flies in front of the Capitol building, some South Carolina civil rights leaders assert that racism lies behind the school-funding disparities.

"It's by design," said Lonnie Randolph Jr., the chairman of the state NAACP chapter. "It's made that way because it's very similar to what the slavemasters did: Keep the blacks backwards and illiterate so they can't read and understand their rights."

State officials dismiss charges of racism and the assertions of structural inequality contained in the lawsuit. They say they are doing all that is required under the state constitution, which mandates only that the state government provide a "minimally adequate" education to schoolchildren, leaving local communities free to raise and spend more if they choose. The case has been awaiting a decision in the South Carolina Supreme Court for months.

But in a rural town like Dillon, where the local unemployment rate is estimated at 17 percent and 90 percent of the middle-school students come from impoverished homes, raising additional school funds is nearly impossible. Property and sales taxes have long been depressed by the faltering local economy.

And a local bond issue approved by voters in 2007 to construct a new J.V. Martin school building ran aground of the national credit crisis: No bank will loan the school district the construction funds.

......

And the condition of this and I am sure other schools in his state is what the Governor of South Carolina says are not in need of the help offered to his constitutes? WTH is wrong with this man?

Shame on you South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford!

[livetohike]

1. I taught in rural S. Carolina for a couple of years thirty years ago

I cried when I saw Ty'sheoma at the speech last night. It brought back memories of my experience, the building I worked in and of course every one of the students I taught. Shame on Gov. Sanford and the legions of politicians before him who didn't care about all of the S. Carolina kids.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Shame on both Senators too from S.C- I think Obama

did this to point out the state's hypocritical republican govt. and
to help out a much needed injustice.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

Shameful and disgusting.

[PVnRT]

4. A story repeated throughout the country, I'm sure

Those governors refusing this money on ideological grounds will have a lot to answer for, given situations like this woman's.

[1776Forever]

8. Yes, Gov. Jindal I am sure has the same issues in LA!

What goes through these people minds? I guess I just cannot be that devious to even understand someone that would not want the best for their people.

[tangent90]

5. You can get a job writing headlines for the National Obfuscator!

:rofl:

[1776Forever]

6. Did I spell something wrong? I am not sure what you meant.

Glad it made you laugh though.:hi:

[dysfunctional press]

12. the grammar of the subject line is a little...rough.

i think that's what he's referring to.

[tangent90]

13. If you could diagram it for me, that would be a big help!

just kidding, I just thought it looked like some of those things you see in instruction manuals that were written in Korean and translated into English by a Japanese. :D

[1776Forever]

15. Ah so - maybe I am Japanese - No I am just an old Irish/German/English mutt.

:+

[Jennicut]

7. Unbelievably shameful. Raw sewage puddles? Are we a third world country?

I am beyond angry over this. I am studying to become a teacher. I cannot imagine having to teach children in that kind of an atmosphere. Of course, its a Republican Governor.

[1776Forever]

9. I found an article when I was looking around from a Carolina TV source that astounded me.

One of the comments at the bottom of the page said the people of Dillon were just too lazy to do anything about this. What the H are these people thinking? Do they have brains? How can a city do anything to better themselves or their children without a good education? This has been going on since the Civil War down there! I am outraged!

Here is the link if you want to check it out:

http://www.wyff4.com/news/18791619/detail.html#-

Here is the comment:

Wht cant the little girls neighborhood do something about the school ??Why do I have to be involved ? Lazy coloured people fishing for a free handout from whites.

:banghead:

[Jennicut]

17. Which is why assistance to schools needs to come out of state funds

not just what can be raised in property taxes, etc. It sets up a system where one area gets a great school and the other, poorer and many times minority parts of a state get stuck with 3rd world conditions. We just had a new high school built in my town here but we could afford it and we were lucky. We had a similar problem with an elementary school that was built in the 1890's, too old and out of date and unsafe for our kids. America needs its priorities shifted to education being a right, not a privilege. This should not be happening here or anywhere, period.

[Captain Hilts]

28. South Carolina was a 3rd world country when I lived there in the early 70s. nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. Are there any other state constitutions which contain the phrase "minimally adequate"?

If so, let 'em secede.

[1776Forever]

11. Excellent point - Read on>>

South Carolina needs to amend state constitution
Dr. Tom Truitt
Published: June 15, 2008

http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/opinion/op_ed/article/south_carolina_needs_to_amend_state_constitution/7906/

A state’s constitution is a covenant between the government and the people. Since most of us haven’t read the South Carolina Constitution, we don’t know what it says about education nor understand why the education clause needs to be amended. But if we want to move from the bottom of the educational rankings and have South Carolina students prepared to compete in a global economy, we need to make a change in our state constitution. Here’s why.

Article XI, Section 3, of the South Carolina Constitution states:

“The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools open to all children in the State and shall establish, organize and support such other public institutions of learning, as may be desirable.”

Most states include qualifying phrases that establish standards for their education systems. For example, the Kentucky and Ohio constitutions contain the phrase “thorough and efficient.” The North Carolina Constitution guarantees “an equal education for all students.” Both Florida and Virginia include the word “quality” to describe the kind of education they will provide to their students.

But notice the absence of any qualifier in the South Carolina statement. You won’t find “minimally adequate” either, but that is the standard for our state’s students as determined by the State Supreme Court in 1999.

When 40, mostly poor and rural, school districts sued the state in 1993 over funding issues, the state asked that the lawsuit be dismissed, arguing that our constitution does not require a fair or equitable system, only a system. When Judge Thomas Cooper agreed with the state and dismissed the lawsuit, the plaintiff school districts appealed to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

In April 1999, the state Supreme Court ruled that children in the state have the right to the “opportunity for a minimally adequate education.”

The Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court for trial. Judge Cooper, who had earlier dismissed the case, then tried the case on whether the state was meeting its obligation to provide the “opportunity for a minimally adequate education.”

During the trial, the state attorney defined “minimally adequate” as “the least that will do.”

In other words, the policy of the state of South Carolina is to do as little as it can get by with when it comes to educating its children.

(More at link)

[malaise]

14. Great post

Needs it's own thread.

[redqueen]

16. Sick.

Seriously, this is just sick.

During the trial, the state attorney defined “minimally adequate” as “the least that will do.”

In other words, the policy of the state of South Carolina is to do as little as it can get by with when it comes to educating its children.

[watrwefitinfor]

18. A few observations about J. V. Martin School.

It is not in a largely black school district. It is the Junior High for all of the Dillon County School district that the town of Dillon is located in. It is probably majority black students now, but the only reason for that is because so many whites who could afford to have put their children into private "Christian" schools.

60 Minutes did a very good segment on J. V. Martin School last year or in 2007 - before Obama held his rally there during the primaries.

All of Dillon County schools are in the same financial boat. J.V. Martin is special because it is so very old, and it is falling in - it is beyond repair. And there is no money to replace it.

The part of SC where Dillon County is located has almost ALL Democratic congressional representation, both US and state. Dillon County votes overwhelmingly Democratic in almost every presidential election. But it is poor, rural, and what little industry it had has mostly got up and went.

The unemployment rate is one of the highest in SC, which is 3rd highest in the country. And our idiot Sanford wants to prance about making a fool of himself saying he won't take the federal money.

OH. I didn't mention that Ben Bernanke may have attended J.V. Martin. I know he went to Dillon High School, and so assume he went to Jr. High (or middle) in Dillon, too. I haven't heard him mention any of that, though.

Wat

Edit to correct creative spelling.

Also to add STRESS that Dillon is overwhelmingly Democratic and it is not a majority black county and J.V. Martin is not a majority black district. Those racist comments about black schools, quoted above, are just full of shit. Dillon County, with virtually no tax base, is just SOL for schools. The posts above about the lawsuit by the poor counties, and the standard for SC schools being "minimally adequate" are exactly correct! Horry County, which bounds on Dillon, is the location of Myrtle Beach. They have some of the best schools in SC because their tax base is so high.

[1776Forever]

19. Thanks for the post - it is good to hear from a local on the issue.

I remember last night Jindal bringing up Charter and Private schools too - I cringed when I heard that because I know that only those that can afford this type of education will then be given the best chance to excel and that brings down the rest of the children that need it even more!

[watrwefitinfor]

20. Thank you, 1776, for the OP.

I'm crossposting to the SC Forum if you don't mind. :hi:

Wat

[1776Forever]

29. Please do whatever it takes to get the message out! This is our future - all of ours!

:grouphug:

[libnnc]

21. we pass through Dillon on our way to Myrtle Beach

there is literally *nothing* there. Compare that county to Horry County schools--their high school looks like a brand new shopping mall. It's astounding, sad and inexcusable.

[KoKo]

24. Dillon is home to Ben Bernanke.... They had a little spurt of growth before

the last textile mills shut down. Used to have some great outlets for clothes and housewares. Sadly gone and it left the are a wasteland. :-(

[blm]

26. SC DUers need to contact Office of School Quality....we CAN make a difference now that the story has

received national attention to this degree. I'm not in SC, anymore, but, I'll help.

Dr. John Suber, Director, Office Of School Quality, South Carolina State Department Of Education

[e-mail]

[goclark]

22. Great Post ~ thanks a lot

[Divine Discontent]

23. a fine example of dirty play going on even within schools b/c of either wealth/poverty or race

great post! K&R

President Obama & "A Witness to History" Inaugural items - www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable in the Obama/Biden section!

[Sancho]

25. I taught in a small town middle school in SC for five years...

the article is correct. There is a large difference between the resources from district to district, and there is still a lot of race-based discrimination. Sanford is an idiot.

[Captain Hilts]

27. I was issued textbooks in the 7th and 8th grades there my sister used in 5th and 6th in RI. nt