Sharron Haley/Clarendon Citizen - Dr. Nancy W. Busbee (far right) with the South Carolina Department of Education met with local educators and the public concerning the No Child Left Behind waiver on Jan. 3 at Manning High School.
Motive for meetings questioned
Deputy superintendents with the South Carolina Department of Education are touring the state drumming up support for a waiver to the federally mandated Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) also known as the No Child Left Behind Act.
On Tuesday, Jan. 3, four members of the SCDE held a community stakeholder meeting at Manning High School to discuss the various provisions of the proposed waiver and to ask local educators for input into the specific policies and procedures that would be implemented with the waiver.
The representatives from the SCDE outlined the four principles of the waiver and how the changes would conform to the meet certain requirements of the federally mandated program.
Throughout the two hour-long presentation, Dr. Nancy W. Busbee, deputy superintendent for the Division of Accountability with the SCDE, repeatedly told those attending the meeting that the proposed waiver would have to be tweaked several times to meet the federal standards and that input from those on the front lines of education would be greatly appreciated.
In the Manning audience were the superintendents from all three Clarendon County school districts including, Dr. Rose Wilder from Clarendon School District 1, John Tindal from Clarendon School District 2 and Dr. Connie Dennis from Clarendon School District 3. Principals from schools throughout the county were also on hand along with a number of teachers from Pre-K through high school. Ferdinand Burns, president of the Sumter NAACP, was also in the audience along with a handful of interested county residents and parents.
As the meeting progressed, teachers, administrators and superintendents offered input to the various principles suggested by the SCDE.
After the meeting was over, the consensus from several of those attending the meeting was that the SCDE had already made up its mind on the wording of the waiver and the stakeholder meetings were being held simply to satisfy a requirement of the proposed waiver.
“I think this was great,” said Tindal. “I just hope that they will do as they say they are going to do and use the input from these meetings in putting together the waiver. But, I’m under the impression that the waiver has already been finished and these meetings are being held after the fact.”
Wilder had the same impression.
“This should not be just about going through the motion to satisfy a requirement of the plan,” she said. “I would caution our state to make certain that the input gathered concerning the waiver for flexibility from the meetings around the state is utilized in the plan.”
On Thursday, Dennis outlined seven concerns she has with the waiver. They include:
- Computer-based assessment of tests
- provision of the curriculum
- rewarding and grading of schools (subgroups)
- measures of student growth in schools (i.e. Pre-K, art, music and PE)
- loss of school improvement dollars
- higher expectations for special education services providers
- higher expectations of teacher evaluations
“We appreciate the time period for public comments and hope that the input provided will be utilized,” Dennis said. “The information presented by the SCDE was informative. We are thankful that an opportunity was provided for districts to hear the SCDE plan of ESEA flexibility at this point and be given a chance to offer input regarding forthcoming changes.”
Wilder said that having 100 percent of students performing at the proficient level by the year 2014 as required by the NCLB Act was “admirable but unrealistic.”
“There are some components of NCLB that should have never been implemented,” Wilder said. “But, there are some components of NCLB that were needed. With that said, I am not certain if the effort and the amount of money that will be spent in developing the required plan for the waiver are worth it.”
Wilder also asked the “powers that be” if “the proposed plan to address the waiver is better than what is in place now.”
All three superintendents questioned the funding of various items within the waiver and asked the representatives from the SCDE how a plan could be formulated in such a short time.
Busbee told the attendees that the “NCLB 100 percent proficiency level by 2014 goal was unrealistic.” And she added that the waiver would give the districts the option “for meeting the requirements or making improvements to reach the 2013 level or 90 percent proficiency.”
Busbee also told those in attendance that the state had $250 million to use more effectively with more flexibility if the waiver were approved.
At the end of the program, Burns asked for the SCDE representatives to take a message back to State Superintendent of Education Mick Zais.
“Resources, funding, whatever the resources are from the federal government, we don’t need to be turning them down,” Burns told the SCDE representatives. “We are not in any position to be rejecting any money especially money for education.”
For a complete copy of the proposed waiver, log onto www.ed.sc.gov. On line comments will be accepted until Jan. 23.
The waiver request for flexibility must be submitted by Feb. 21.
