Marion County Schools...

[bigfish]

Is it true that Marion County has three Public School Administrators?
If this is true then why does a county of Marion's size need so many school administrators?

[schoolteacher4change]

Let's mention a ugly word, here. The word is "consolidate."

[UnregisteredMarionNative]

I am a graduate of Marion School District 1.
I now live in Florence and teach in Florence School District 1.
We have three high schools in our district- two of them are 4A and one is 3A (in the past 10 years all three high schools were 4A) so the fear of consolidation is everywhere!

[bigfish]

All I am saying here is that three Administrators in a county the size of Marion makes no sense.
What you have, I assume, is three people making salaries in the six-digit range.
My opinion is that money could be better served going to the students or (BRIGHT IDEA) the teachers that are in the "front lines" with their students....or both.
From a fiscal (monetary) standpoint the way things are set up now makes no sense, at all. Especially since the Marion County school systems are failing miserably.....
What say you?

[swampfox]

Could it be a coincidence that the two best-performing school districts in the state, Horry and Greenville, each have one district for the whole county?

I know that these counties also have more money than most, but I promise you, money is not the answer. Charleston County schools also have a lot of money and they are nationally known for being among the worst in the country.

What it takes is a community that refuses to give up on its children. If my kid was seriously assaulted by some high school thug and serious charges did not follow, I promise you that principal and that district would spend considerable time in court.

Screw the administrators. The kids come first.

[joesbar]

I'm not sure you'd save as much as you think. In fact, imo, I think the schools around here would loose money. There are several grants that districts receive each year. Right now, each of the districts receive this money. I'm not sure which ones that each district gets but say for instance...

There's a grant for $200,000 for a district for reading. Say all three districts are awarded the grant. Imagine if there was only one district, instead of $600,000 coming into the county, there would only be $200,000. I'm not saying consolidation would be good or bad, just there are always two sides.

[bigfish]

I'm not sure you'd save as much as you think. In fact, imo, I think the schools around here would loose money. There are several grants that districts receive each year. Right now, each of the districts receive this money. I'm not sure which ones that each district gets but say for instance...

There's a grant for $200,000 for a district for reading. Say all three districts are awarded the grant. Imagine if there was only one district, instead of $600,000 coming into the county, there would only be $200,000. I'm not saying consolidation would be good or bad, just there are always two sides.


I believe, like Reagan, that throwing money at a problem will not solve that problem. I totally agree with you from the standpoint of income for the district. Even though your example looks more promising with regard to monetary income let's also look at the worst case scenario of your example. What if not one of the three districts received the grant due to inefficiency?

Now isn't efficiency the solution to an overgrown issue? Think about it, reducing the number of administrators may bring money to the schools quickly. With only one six-digit salary to pay versus three, the schools may be able to financially benefit immediately. The trick then would be spending the money wisely in the best interest of the students.

Efficiency also works for the ability to recieve grants, as well. A more efficient school system will always recieve more awards and recognition (money) than a school systems that just exists. It is my belief that the Marion County school systems just exists and has forgotten how to achieve. For the sake of the children, the Marion County school sytems must learn how to achieve once more. The solution to this issue is efficiency.

[swampfox]

Take it from me, money is not the answer. Just forget the money and fix everything else.

[TAZ]

Kinda off subject but, Tim McGraw is being ridiculed for throwing a fan out of his show. Tim claims that he witnessed the fan attack a woman during the show and called for security and took matters into his own hands. Now I’ve seen the video and Tim didn’t do anything out of the way. He and some of the stagehands pulled the guy up on stage and turned him over to the police. Southern people are known for the being polite and respectful but these days not so much. This country has lost its morals and values. God and discipline have been removed from the schools and home. If we put these things back into our lives, things will turn around. Things aren’t working like we want them to now, so what would it hurt?

[Papa Grizz]

107 If this is who I think it is, this would be the first time in a lomg time that we have agreed on something. If we were to let God come back into the schools, I think that there would be a complete and utter turn around overall. As far as the discipline goes, bring back corporal punishment. The comment spare the rod, spoil the child is not true. However to love a child, and correct thier ways in a God centered state of mind is the way to do it. These problems are not going to fix themselves. But God can if we will give them to Him, and leave them (Problems) in his hands.

[protector]

God in all things we do!

[CAROLINA OUTLOOKER]

I totally agree w/you Papa Grizz! Alot of this world has lost touch w/the ways of our ancestor's religious upbringing! Until people relize everything begins w/God and ends w/God we will see our youth travel down a road w/out hope! We are not doing our part to help because,someone is always waiting on the next person! And so many people are counting on humans instead of our glorious creator God!!! We simply need to get back to the basics!

[Papa Grizz]

Well put Outlooker. I saw a tee shirt @ the beach that read

Concerned Student: God, why do you let bad things happen in schools?

God: Dear concerned student, I am not allowed in schools.

That shirt brought this big man to his knees, and I had to say a prayer right then and there. I know there is power in prayer, I am aliving testiment to that!! To the Christian teachers that may read this, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the job you do. For those who don't believe, I pray that you will be touched by the hand of my Living God, but none the less, thank you for the job you are doing as well. I hope this will be a blessing and offer encouragment to all.
God Bless.:cool:

[Papa Grizz]

B-Basic
I-Instructions
B-Before
L-Leaving
E-Earth

[LE53]

Does anyone have any comment on some of the things that have been going on at Mullins Junior High this year? There have been a lot of problems that I have heard of. I will agree with others that God not being in school is the biggest problem, but apparently the administration at this school has major issues also. Rumor is a few people have pulled their children out.

[swampfox]

I know the rules about prayer in schools, etc. I don't necessarily agree with them, but I understand the reasons.

But how can anyone think that an almighty God can be kept out of anything? When I was teaching I can tell you that God was there every day. I don't need a formal group prayer myself. Even at my last school we had people from a local church that came during lunch period to meet with whichever students wanted to participate.

I think it's weird when people think that THEY are needed to do God's work when God is perfectly capable of doing it directly.

[LE53]

That's definately places a new view on things. I would have to agree though. Thanks for shedding new light on a touchy issue.

[Papa Grizz]

I think it's weird when people think that THEY are needed to do God's work when God is perfectly capable of doing it directlyI

I agree, that God almighty is fully capable in doing everything himself, but, we were told to go and be deciples, and spread the good news. Like I said before, I am a firm beliver in the power of prayer. As far as groups coming to schools to pray w/ whomever, I think that is a wonderful witnessing opportunity. I wish I were able to do something like that, and if the Good Lord sees it fit, I will. About the group prayer, that is not needed. It can be a few words, or it could be as long and as in depth as the human language. As long as it is for the right reasons, God will hear it.
God Bless:cool:

[swampfox]

Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with a group prayer. Nobody would be required to participate.

But you know how people are. If somebody chose not to participate they would become a target. In college, where it didn't make nearly as much difference, I was invited to join a campus religious organization, chose not to, and I was harrassed by one of their nut members that lived on my hall in the dorm. I could just tell him to get lost, but in high school, especially these days, there is such a popular demand for conformity, enforced by peer pressure, that bad things could happen. Don't think that all of these "religious" kids are above violence either.

So I would be in favor of school prayer IF the people in charge would go to whatever lengths necessary to make sure that nobody got harrassed. I would respond VERY harshly to anybody who did such harrassing.

Of course if we could, as communities, talk each other out of making enemies out of those with whom we disagree that would go a long way towards solving the problems that make this a difficult issue. Just look at politics.

It has not always been this way.

[swampfox]

BTW, I don't think that schools can legally stop the kind of meetings like I was describing at my last school, as long, of course, as they don't interfere with class time.

I'll tell you a secret though. The big majority of the kids that came to those meetings, most of which I was there for, came mostly because they gave free pizza. The youth minister who was doing the meetings, who I became friends with, told me that pizza was the most effective tool for youth ministering that he knew of.

It's good to know what you're getting into, but I think you could do meetings like this at your school. Worth a try.

[TAZ]

I received this email today and thought I would share it with everyone.

Written by a 15 yr old school kid in Ohio: Since the Pledge of Allegiance & the Lord's Prayer are not allowed in schools anymore, Because the word "God" is mentioned...



NEW School prayer :


Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And anytime my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange or green,
That's no offense; it's a freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise..
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited by the state.
We're allowed to cuss and dress like freaks,
pierce our noses, tongues and cheeks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the 'unwed daddy,' our Senior King.
It's 'inappropriate' to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such 'judgments' do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles.
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess..
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen


<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[swampfox]

That's really very misleading.

For one thing, prayers can be said privately, either aloud or silently, as long as they do not disrupt instruction. There is no law that prevents it. Neither is there a law against discussing the Ten Commandments or anything in the Bible as long as it is not presented as a religious service and do not infringe on instruction time. But even religious services are not forbidden as long as they are not during class time.

When I was teaching biology I always started the chapter on evolution by comparing what the textbook presented with the first page of Genesis. My belief, and my contention, is that there is no conflict. They both tell the same story in different ways. I have never understood how some people believe that God could create the heavens and the earth and everything in and on them, but that he could not have set in motion the processes described by scientists, which, by the way, are altogether beautiful once you understand them. There is in fact a major movement right now, unreported by regular journalists, to reconcile scientific and spiritual matters. The movement includes Nobel Prize winners and the Dalai Lama, as well as many many Christians. But these are the Christians that do not call themselves the "religious right", so the "religious right" does not count them. I can recommend some very good writing on this subject if you're interested.

During the last few years that I taught we had lunchtime meetings, in a classroom, led by youth ministers from a local church and by teachers. We did provide pizza, and I know that some students came just for that, but the majority of them were sincere in their searching and the practicing of their faith. There was nothing illegal about it. The people who say that things like this don't happen or can't happen are simply not telling the truth and I suspect that many of them know that they are not telling the truth.

What there is not anymore is the formal prayer that once started off the school day, led by somebody over the school speaker system. And I'm sure that not all schools are the same, that some are more accepting than others. But in my experience the crackdown on religion that some people would have you believe simply did not exist.

It's just that it cannot take up class time. I don't know about you, but I can say a prayer without anybody even knowing it. I don't need anybody's approval or permission. I can do it in ten seconds between classes. When I have more time I can devote more time to it if I choose. This is just another hate tactic being put out by the haters who seem to hate anything that there is any possibility of hating. I would hope that not many Christians are among the haters, but unfortunately I know that there are many who see no conflict between hating and being a Christian, and THAT is perverted.

The "religious right" is a contradiction in terms.

[bigfish]

When I was teaching biology I always started the chapter on evolution by comparing what the textbook presented with the first page of Genesis. My belief, and my contention, is that there is no conflict. They both tell the same story in different ways. I have never understood how some people believe that God could create the heavens and the earth and everything in and on them, but that he could not have set in motion the processes described by scientists, which, by the way, are altogether beautiful once you understand them.

This is why I always scratched my head when the religious right fussed about evolution. It seems many people expect too much "supernatural" from a "natural" God. A person can still believe scientific principle while also believing that God set everything in motion in the beginning.

[bigfish]

I don't know about you, but I can say a prayer without anybody even knowing it. I don't need anybody's approval or permission. I can do it in ten seconds between classes. When I have more time I can devote more time to it if I choose. This is just another hate tactic being put out by the haters who seem to hate anything that there is any possibility of hating. I would hope that not many Christians are among the haters, but unfortunately I know that there are many who see no conflict between hating and being a Christian, and THAT is perverted.

The "religious right" is a contradiction in terms.


How true!

[swampfox]

It seems many people expect too much "supernatural" from a "natural" God.

Now THAT is well said.

[ditto]

yes it is

[bigfish]

According to WPDE: Dr. Nathaniel Miller, Superintendent of Marion School District 2, was put on paid leave for suspicion of embezzlement.....like he wasn't being paid enough to do nothing!!!

My question: If he is under investigation for embezzlement, then why the PAID leave? Doesn't make sense from where I am standing!

[anopinion]

According to WPDE: Dr. Nathaniel Miller, Superintendent of Marion School District 2, was put on paid leave for suspicion of embezzlement.....like he wasn't being paid enough to do nothing!!!

My question: If he is under investigation for embezzlement, then why the PAID leave? Doesn't make sense from where I am standing!


This morning's Florence Morning News featured a front page story on Dr. Miller. He was arrested for embezzeling half of a million dollars from the school system. I am sure there are others in on this at the school system and they will be found out too. I hate it for the children!

[Unregisteredcrook]

wmbf news said Miller used the money to pay his mortgage, rent for his children and college tuition. guess he thought the kids in school didnt need that money!

[????????]

wmbf news said Miller used the money to pay his mortgage, rent for his children and college tuition. guess he thought the kids in school didnt need that money!

how did he get that much money in his pocket without it noticed?
who else is involved?
did anybody else have any idea what he was doing?
who kept up with the school district checkbook while this was going on?
will the school district ever get that money back?
how stupid does the school district look now?

[unregisteredparent]

I cant answer those questions but the school board should answer some. My children are in that school district and this is ridiculous!!!

[Welcome]

how did he get that much money in his pocket without it noticed?
who else is involved?
did anybody else have any idea what he was doing?
who kept up with the school district checkbook while this was going on?
will the school district ever get that money back?
how stupid does the school district look now?

Welcome to Marion County, where they bend you over without the common courtesy of a reach around. Like the saying goes, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

[anopinion]

Welcome to Marion County, where they bend you over without the common courtesy of a reach around. Like the saying goes, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

You can't blame all of Marion County on the actions of one person. A group of people called the school board put that man in charge and they made a bad decision and you can't blame those people either. Miller made a choice and his choice was very bad for the school board, the county, and especially the children!