ST. MATTHEWS – Pastor Michael Charley drove past the proposed site for a new K-8 school in Calhoun County. He glanced out of his window and saw the district’s superintendent with a group of men. They appeared to be surveying the land, he said.

He knows that the Calhoun County School District is going to build a new school. Despite the continued objections of the Concerned Citizens of Calhoun County to the closing of two schools that date back about 50 years to build it, and despite organizing a march against the measure a few weeks ago, he knows.

The school will be built.

In a county that has been tussling with a desegregation order that has been in place for more than 30 years and unpopular school closings, the school district is moving forward with plans to build a new K-8 school, close Guinyard Elementary and John Ford middle schools, add on to Sandy Run Elementary to accommodate middle school grades, and renovate Calhoun County High School.

Groups opposing the plan are not backing down. The building of the new school is blatant segregation, they say. District officials insist that they are looking out for the best interests of the children. And cries of separate but equal schools has some flashing back to when the desegregation order was first issued.

“Why are they trying to move something forward to a group of consumers who say they don’t need it and don’t want it?” asked Melvin Hart. Hart is a member of the Concerned Citizens of Calhoun County and advocate of keeping both Guinyard Elementary and John Ford Middle open.

“It don’t make sense,” he said.

Hart remembers the desegregation of schools well, after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown vs. Board of Education that separate but equal facilities are unconstitutional.

“I was at Guinyard for 7 1/2 years. Then they integrated the schools so I went to St. Matthews High. I never went to John Ford. St. Matthews High, an old school, was built before 1920. John Ford was built in the late 40s, early 50s. At the same time, they thought they could run away from the Brown decision. Separate but equal was the law of the land. The State of South Carolina said we will build some schools. They didn’t want to merge.”

Hart said he sees the same segregation happening all over again, when the focus should be on academics.

“It was a bad idea from the beginning,” he said. “Tell me what the academic plan is. It doesn’t do good to tear down a community to build a school just like it wouldn’t be good to tear down a school to build a community. We may get new facilities, but will definitely tear down a community. That’s never a good option.”

Segregation

in the background

The Calhoun County School District has been under a desegregation order for 37 years. Back then, there was a dual school system as blacks attended one school and whites attended another.

“The desegregation orders were ordered so we only have one public school system,” said Calhoun County School District Superintendent Ken Westbury. “You can’t run a white school and a black school by design.”

The order primarily deals with faculty, students, transportation and how to handle school construction. As time went on, and times changed, desegregating the school system was no longer in the forefront.

So, the district allowed students to transfer to whatever school they wished. They built a new school in Sandy Run. They closed St. John’s and Bethlehem elementary schools, all without considering the lingering desegregation order. But times had changed. Or had they?

In the midst of all of this, more and more white students transferred to the Sandy Run school while the black students stayed in St. Matthews at Guinyard Elementary. John Ford Middle also remained predominately black as students from Sandy Run didn’t come to the school after finishing elementary school

“So over the years, you have people acting outside of the order,” Westbury said. “Before you close schools, build a new school or sell property, you have to run it through the justice department. In 2001 or 2002 when the district decided to build the Sandy Run school, it was not run through the Justice Department. When they shut down Bethlehem and St John’s, it was not run through the Justice Department.

“Someone got in touch with the Justice Department. That primarily led to the Justice Department being reintroduced into the thing.”

The meat of the problem involved the district’s transfer policy. The district had attendance zones when it first built the school in Sandy Run. But the transfer policy allowed anyone who had their own transportation to transfer their child to whatever school they wanted.

“What happened was in Sandy Run, with the area, schools ended up more white,” Westbury said. “It looked like, and maybe it was, more whites in Sandy Run. Just like there’s a high percentage of blacks in the Guinyard area.”

One of the requirements for the United States to bring suit for discrimination or violation of desegregation orders is a signed written complaint.

“Any complaints received and their sources are treated as confidential,” the DOJ statute states. “The complaint need not provide any legal analysis or use particular language; it only needs to describe the conduct.”

With complaints of the district becoming more and more segregated and schools being built, and closed, in 2002, someone complained to the Justice Department about Calhoun County. And the court orders followed.

Desegregation ordered

The school district went through a series of consent orders dating back to 2002.

St. John’s and Bethlehem elementary schools were closed and those students went to Guinyard Elementary and Sandy Run. Once the Department of Justice stepped in, it ordered that beginning the 2003-2004 school year, all middle school students would attend John Ford Middle School “unless, following a comprehensive student assignment and facilities assessment conducted during the 2002-03 school year, an alternative plan is proposed by the district which is agreeable to the United States.”

The district requested more time to develop a plan of action for middle school attendance and facilities improvement. The Justice Department consented to that request. It required the district to develop a plan, including a timetable for the implementation of its goals concerning middle school attendance and capital improvement at each school. The plan was to include proposed attendance zones, projected enrollment and racial composition of each school, the basis for those projections, a detailed list of each school’s renovations including cost estimates and a timetable for plan implementation.

The Calhoun County School District then proposed a $38 million plan. It would have built two new high schools and one new middle school; completely renovated the current high school to be used as a middle school, converted the current middle school to become the district offices and an alternative school. and razed and replaced all but the most recent additions to Guinyard Elementary School.

The Department of Justice rejected the proposal, saying it did not further desegregate the school district. Calhoun County was ordered to run four schools – one high school, one middle school (John Ford Middle) and the two elementary schools at Guinyard and Sandy Run.

There were more unsettled feelings as the Sandy Run community fought for a middle school, and groups like the Concerned Citizens of Calhoun County cried unfair practices and inequality.

“Over the period of three years we went through three consent orders with the Justice Department,” Westbury explained. “We ended up with two K-5 schools, one 6-8 and one high school. We had to have definite attendance zones and strict rules of how a person transfers from one attendance zone to another. If we allowed them to transfer, we’ve got to tell a reason why students are transferring into a district from another district, and transferring out of the district to another, and why students transfer from one attendance zone to another. It’s very restrictive.”

Now the district must follow strict rules when allowing transfers. For example, if a parent teaches or is an administrator in another district, they can transfer a child. Parents who cite extreme hardship must be very specific. All transfers have to be approved.

However, the transfer of a majority to a minority attendance zone is almost always allowed. In other words, if a black student wants to transfer to Sandy Run, or a white student wants to transfer to Guinyard, they would be approved.

“It raises Guinyard’s percentage of whites and lowers Sandy Run’s,” Westbury said. “It bridges us closer to the district average. If it moves further away from the district average, we can’t allow it. What is hard for me is that I have to make these decisions.”

What were loose attendance lines are now firmly in place. Westbury said the stricter rules can really be felt in the area around Elloree, Kennerly Road which runs into Orangeburg County and near Swansea.

“In some of these areas, the county line is in the middle of the road. We had a case on Racetrack Road. We were using the bus to go through there and our bus picked up students . We found out it was in the Orangeburg area. Then you have to say, ’Oh, policy says we can’t allow you to attend in Calhoun County. You’ve got to enroll in Orangeburg 3.’ Some people have been in our schools ever since they’ve been in school.”

So, the school district is moving forward with another building plan. Guinyard and John Ford will be closed. Sandy Run will get a middle school addition and Calhoun County High School will get some much-needed renovations. Charley knows the new school will be built and admits that the concerned citizens may not be able to stop it. But, he said, they will continue to meet and not back down until they have some say in the school system their children attend.

“They are going through with the plan,” he said with a smile. “I saw Westbury out there the other day with the surveyors. But just bet we’re not going to stand back and say nothing and do nothing. Businesses will pay for this plan. We’ll stop spending money in Calhoun County. Those who do need black votes will be hurt. That will come to a stop. We will stop spending money in a county and have no say in our schools. We have a lot of questions, nobody has any answers. We’ll stop spending money and they will not get our votes. We decided we’ll take both of them away.

“They figure there’s nothing we can do. They (the school board) have the votes, he’s the superintendent. We’re going to continue to rally and build steam; more people are seeing our way. We’re angry. They can’t depend on the black vote. We are going to use it to our benefit this time. ... People are waking up now.”

Charlene Slaughter can be reached by e-mail at cslaughter@timesanddemocrat .com or by phone at 803-533-5529. Discuss this and other stories online at TheT&D.com.

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