Joy Brown: Public Education Advocate

CCSD will be on a 2 hour delay tomorrow morning, Wednesday, January 10th.

Be safe out there.

Due to impending inclement weather, CCSD schools will be on an eLearning day tomorrow, Tuesday, January 9th.

What an exciting visit to C.E. Williams North Middle School! Dr. Joe Williams presented a staff member and student with a CCSD MSLC Rockstar Award. It was an honor to be there to celebrate with them! 🤩

The board FINALLY did the right thing and approved the appointment of
Michelle Simmons as Chief Academic Officer of CCSD!!!
🎉🎉🎉

Calling all CCSD parents, apply to join our Parent & Community Advisory Council!

Application Link: https://bit.ly/CCSDPAC

CCSD Department of School Support

For the past three years, the Charleston Area League of Women Voters has held a book drive around the holidays to get books in the hands of K-5 scholars at different Title I schools in CCSD. This year the books will go to students at Oakland Elementary!

Below is a list curated by myself and the Avery. Please consider donating a book from the list or another K-5th grade appropriate book.

Thank you!!

Check out my list on Amazon

Thank you to Michal Higdon - Live 5 News for covering this story.

The board needs to stop wasting tax dollars, hire Michelle Simmons for the job she’s been doing for almost a year and a half, and FOCUS ON OUR STUDENTS!!

Hundreds of thousands spent on Charleston Co. superintendent search, contracts The Charleston County School District, the state’s second-largest district, has been without a consistent leader for nearly two years and has shelled out hundreds of thousands for contracts and searches.

I can’t even begin to unpack the mess that was the CCSD Board Meeting tonight. 🤦🏻‍♀️

There is a new HAC committee, I will post the members in the comments.

We have ANOTHER last minute special called meeting, this one posted 24 hours and 8 minutes prior.

Pam McKinney seems to have one goal in life and that is to remove Dr. Gallien from CCSD. What happened in the barely three months to make her go from going to the mat to hire him to a weekly witchhunt to get rid of him?

Apparently she cannot wait one more day to get this man out.

There has been such nonsense, we deserve an interim superintendent who actually has the qualifications and has not been complicit in this mess. I have a feeling it is going to be difficult for us to get an outside superintendent to voluntarily come to the CCSD Circus.

Thank you to Misty Walsh for upgrading me from Robert’s Rules for Dummies to the big girl 12th Edition!!!

I also voted today! It was a good day.

Public Comments sign up for the Monday October 23rd meeting opens at Noon today!!!

Keep in mind the board only hears 30 minutes of public comments, so expect to have 1 minute to speak.

I will include the link for written public comments below.

October 23, 2023 | Guaranteed 30 Person CCSD Board of Trustees Regular Meeting In-Person Public Comments Sign-Up This is the guaranteed first 30 public comment speaker sign-up form. Individuals signed up using this form are guaranteed the opportunity to address the Board. Only the first 30 individuals pre-registered to provide in-person public comment are guaranteed the opportunity to address the Board per Pol...

Another last minute CCSD Special Called meeting has just come in…24 hours and 5 minutes before the meeting.

Looks like they are getting rid of another Superintendent, the third in less than 2 years. I wonder how much money this will cost us.

The CCSD Special Called Board meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow morning (10/12) at 8am at 75 Calhoun.

*It’s important to note: this is the FIRST legally properly noticed meeting this board has had. There is clear background information and documents attached. They have the legal mandated 24 hour notice (even though 8am??)

Because of the proper notice, we know the meeting is about a letter from the Attorney General’s office (signed by the Solicitor General) regarding the confirmation of what we have been screaming…there have been numerous FOIA violations from this board. Thank you to State Representative Marvin Pendarvis - District 113 for moving this up for us.

I’ll do a live later this morning to go into more detail!

The last minute Special Called meeting for Tuesday, October 10 has been cancelled. It will be rescheduled for a later date.

Thank you E.B. Ellington community!!!

This is what school community looks like! Teachers, staff, parents/grandparents, PTA leaders all came together to voice their support of Michelle Simmons, Dr. Gallien, the Health Advisory Committee, AND to ask for the focus to be on our students!!

We appreciate and support you!!♥️

Thank you to the staff of North Charleston Elementary School!!!!

They had 46 signatures from faculty and staff sign a copy sent to the board but wanted to keep names out of the public to protect themselves. Please give them love for going out on a limb to support public education.

The letters keep coming and I am here for it!!! The ones from our educators and administrators are by far the most powerful. We see you and appreciate you! ♥️

This is a riveting read, highly suggest, 10 out of 10.

I will go live in a little while to go over the highlights.

cdn.fbsbx.com

🚨Monday, October 9 at 11:30am, North Charleston City Hall🚨

Share your concerns regarding the CCSD Board of Trustees violations of state law with the House Delegation.

***Edited to add:
Please sign up for testimony or submit your testimony by email using this address:

[email protected]

Share far and wide, hope to see you there! We’ll be wearing green to represent courage💚

There have been egregious FOIA violations from this board. The most glaring examples:

‼️July 17th Special Called meeting- improperly noticed and 4 board members were not given information. When they asked questions during the meeting, they were denied information or the ability to ask questions.

‼️September 11th Committee of the Whole- improperly noticed executive session items, no public background information, and some board members were denied information.

‼️September 25th Board of Trustees meeting- improperly noticed executive session items, no public background information, and some board members were denied information.

Please call and write the Governor and legislators and let them know this is unacceptable.

Governor, mayor weigh in on Charleston School Board questions Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg weighed in Tuesday on the outcry involving the Charleston County School Board’s decision to place its new superintendent on administrative leave.

The CCSD D10 Constituent School Board issued this response to the Board of Trustee’s meeting on September 25:

Thank you teachers and staff at Stono Park Elementary!!!

This one has me very emotional. There are four pages of teachers and staff who signed this letter. It important to know just how much it means to have teachers speak out and we should give them love and support for their thoughtful words.

Fun fact: Michelle Simmons was once principal of this very school so if anyone knows what an effective leader she is, it’s Stono Park.

Listen to our principals, educators, and staff and lift their voices. ♥️

Thank you CCSD Middle School Principals!!!

This unprecedented outcry from our public education leaders is so inspiring! They have taken time from their heavy loads to speak up for our scholars.

The community as a whole are all asking 5 elected officials to FOCUS ON OUR STUDENTS!!!

Please sign and share!!

We Support Education Excellence in Charleston County School District Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?