WIS News 10 - Columbia, South Carolina | Questions still surround Fairfield Co. school board, tax increase

Questions still surround Fairfield Co. school board, tax increase

By Susan-Elizabeth Littlefield - bio | email
By Jordan Sandler - bio | email

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, SC (WIS) - While questions continue to surround why the Fairfield County School Board denied access to a group that gives accreditations to interview school and district officials, now the taxpayers are stepping in to ask questions of their own.

Recently, the Fairfield County Council voted to approve a millage increase.

Don Quick will be paying an extra $40 on his property come tax time. "Where's my money going?" he asks.

It seems the county council doesn't know either. Councilmembers say the school board would not let them know why they needed the money.

Council Chairman David Brown says the school board has been uncooperative in providing them information about their finances. He says council and the school board did not discuss this year's budget, until after the school year started.

"This process should have taken place in June when we had more time to look into everything," said Brown.

Brown also claims the board threatened the county.

"They also sent word over here that they would sue us if we didn't fund it," said Brown.

Meanwhile, a school PTO president, two school board members and the head of the county Chamber of Commerce all want to know why the district did not talk to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools during a visit.

School Board of Trustees Chairwoman Catherine Kennedy says there's a perfectly logical explanation for everything.

"I would like for people of Fairfield County to know the Board of Trustees does not have anything to hide," said Kennedy.

SACS generally comes out every 5 years, but came early this time because of a series of complaints lodged at the district.

Kennedy says four out of the five complaints were from former employees who have lawsuits against the district. The fifth was from the Chamber of Commerce.

The chairwoman wrote a letter to SACS saying, "The apparent manipulation of your policies to launch an investigation appears to be unwarranted." She also requested a cancellation of the investigation per the advice of the board's attorney.

"He gave us good, sound legal advice, we adhered to it and we still stand behind it," said Kennedy. "We were not being uncooperative with SACS, we let them into the school district, we provided them the documents they asked for."

Dr. Mark A. Elgart with SACS disagrees.

"Each time they made the request, they changed the rationale for the request," said Dr. Elgart. "The latest was because they are in potential litigation. Our concerns were not regarding that litigation. Our concerns were to meet standards which apply to their schools."

SACS says they were given paperwork, but were denied interviews to teachers and staffers. Kennedy says SACS was only denied access to the superintendent and school board and she says it's only for the time being.

"We have litigation going here, hold off on coming in," said Kennedy. "After the litigation's over with, you're welcome to come into our district."

The district as a whole is not SACS certified. Six schools within the district are, and that's why Kennedy says she doesn't understand why SACS even wanted to talk to the board. SACS says they monitor achievement and things at the board level can effect how schools run. Eighty-six percent of schools in our state are SACS accredited.

Even with the accreditation and tax troubles, Council Chairman Brown hopes constituents will put pressure on their school board trustees.

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