REALITY OF RACE: Are Charleston County schools separated by race?

Two years ago, we told you about how some schools in Charleston County were still separated by race.  A federal lawsuit against the district in 1981 over segregated schools prompted us to look into the problem.  A few years ago, of the district’s 83 schools, 22 were more than 90% African American.

Gregg Meyers, now a Charleston county school board member, came to Charleston as a U.S. Justice Department attorney on the civil rights case.  Meyers said, “We have many schools that are overwhelmingly black. We have very few schools that are overwhelmingly white. There were two conditions very common in Charleston schools in 1981. The schools to some extent still today, bore an even heavier racial imprint. So there were many more schools that were completely isolated racially.”

During our report, Charleston County Superintendent Dr. Nancy McGinley called the numbers disappointing, and said the district is working to overcome diversity obstacles.  News 2 talked to her about where things stand now. 

Dr. McGinley says diversity is an important issue for the district. She says, “I’m encouraged by the progress we’re making. I certainly think we have a long way to go, because I believe we need to recognize and value diversity. The district overall is more diverse than it has ever been. We have a pretty even split between African Americans and Caucasian students, but what we’ve seen in the last couple of years is a growing Hispanic population.”

Two years ago, there were 83 schools in Charleston County; 22 schools were more than 90% African Americans.  This year the district closed five predominately African American schools.  Today, the district has 77 schools; 18 are 90-percent or more African American.  Dr. McGinley says, “We are moving to have more racially diverse student bodies. We think that’s a good thing.  We do not support racially isolated schools, because our mission is to prepare children to live in the real world, get along with each other, learn from each other, and we think diversity within each building is an ideal learning environment.”

To improve diversity, McGinley says the district is opening up enrollment beyond neighborhoods, and creating partial magnet schools, like Haut Gap Middle School on Johns Island.  The school’s principal Paul Padron says this is the first year for the school’s new partial magnet program.  He says, “Diversity is such a key factor for these kids success.”

Last year, Haut Gap had a 73% African American student body, 12% Caucasian, and 13% Hispanic. The school is still predominately African American, but the numbers have changed.  This year, they have 66% African American students, 16% Caucasian, and 17% Hispanic students.  Padron says, “The numbers have shifted some, and it’s truly now representative of the community, and that’s what a school should be.”  Principal Padron says the school’s new partial magnet program helped to attract a more diverse student population. He says, “It was a matter of changing ideas about what this school is, and as more people came and started looking at our school, they realize this is really a good school, and so little by little, people started coming to the school and realizing, hey I can get a great education, and diversity is what makes us strong.”

Dr. McGinley says the district may always have some schools that are racially isolated.  She says, “In any school district, there are racially isolated schools. That’s what we call them because they really are not able to attract a diverse population, but we hope that becomes fewer over the years.  We think diversity is an asset and strength in a learning environment, because children learn from each other as well as the teachers.”

Rev. Joseph Darby is a former member of the racial and cultural advisory committee for the State Department of Education.  He is also vice president of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP.  Darby says, “I don’t see the progress. There’s a great tendency to throw out something cosmetic and available so we can all sing kumbaya and rejoice that we’ve done something good for the good colored folk and thrown it out there for them.  While Charleston does what Charleston wants to do.”  Darby says he also wants to see diversity among school staff.  He says, “You’ve got a new charter school for math and science that has a diverse student body, but has a lily white professional faculty. I haven’t seen the diversity in terms of bringing students together or making the faculty look more like the community.  I haven’t seen it.”

When asked what the district has in place to make sure the staff is also diverse, Dr. McGinley says, “That’s a great question. We recently formed a diversity council that is representative of our schools and central offices.  The purpose of the diversity council is to examine our practices and make recommendations. We know our teaching faculty as a whole is not quite reflective of our student population. We need more African American teachers.  We need more Hispanic teachers and administrators.”

Dr. McGinley admits the work continues.  She says, “I want to see us continue to have more racially balanced schools. I also want us to see diversity within our faculties. I would like to be able to say over the next couple of years, most of our schools are truly diverse, and right now, we still have schools that are racially isolated.”

The district formed the diversity council last spring.  McGinley says one of the committee’s recommendations is to make sure all hiring committees are diverse in race and gender.  Also, over the last couple of years, McGinley says they have focused on hiring and recruitment practices, and are targeting historically black colleges to recruit teachers.

If you would like to take a look at the racial breakdown of schools in Charleston County, click here.