Charleston school board candidates debate

MOUNT PLEASANT — Cameras in classrooms, consolidating constituent districts and creating more vocational opportunities were some of Charleston County School Board candidates' ideas for the initiatives they would implement if elected.

Candidates offered their suggestions tonight during the last in a series of debates hosted by the South Carolina Coalition of Black Voter participation. The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, was attended by a handful of area residents.

County residents, regardless of where they live, can vote for five of the nine candidates to fill the open school board seats. Candidates, however, are required to live in certain areas.

Two candidates — incumbent and attorney Toya Hampton Green and library manager Marvin Stewart — are vying for one downtown seat.

In North Charleston, voters will choose among three candidates — business owner Chris Collins, former teacher Elizabeth Kandrac and college instructor Mattese Lecque — for two seats.

In West Ashley, four candidates — attorney John Graham Altman, incumbent and management analyst David Engelman, commercial real estate broker Chris Fraser and former principal Ann Oplinger — are competing for two seats. Altman, Engelman and Oplinger were not at the Tuesday debate.

Candidates were asked a number of questions on topics such as high school dropouts, diversity training for school employees and year-round school, and their answers often were as diverse as their backgrounds. They seemed to share similar perspectives on some issues, including support for public education and more choice options within the district as well as the need for more vocational opportunities.

One of the questions that elicited a range of responses centered on what initiatives candidates would like the board to put in place and the way they would achieve those.

Green said she didn't know that she'd call her idea a new one, but she would like to see the school district fully fund classes for pre-kindergarten students so every child would be ready for school. The board has funded more early childhood education classes, but that has not been fully implemented, she said.

Collins said he'd like to offer incentive pay to teachers across the district, specifically in areas where students aren't performing well, to help students become more successful. Teachers who don't make those improvements would not see pay increases, he said.

Fraser said he'd like to see more vocational and trade opportunities offered to students. Not everyone is going to go to college, and students need to have skills so they can be successful, he said. The state's Education and Economic Development Act could be used to help fund those programs, he said.

Kandrac said she'd like to see cameras in classrooms. When she taught several years ago, she said administrators removed cameras from schools because they didn't want evidence of what was happening. Cameras are in malls and movie theaters, so why not in classrooms, she said.

Lecque said she'd like to see the board adopt performance ratings for itself. The board should have a tool or instrument to measure its performance and make itself more accountable, she said.

Stewart said that he would advocate for a condensed or consolidated school district that would use its constituent school boards more. The school district is too large to manage, and if constituent districts were consolidated with superintendents running those areas, that would help, he said.

Reach Diette Courrege at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.