The Garnet Spy

In intelligence parlance, “term analysis” refers to analytic efforts that look further than the immediate future. It can be months or years ahead, but it represents ideas on what may happen beyond the current or tactical period.

Several Spy posts written earlier this year - and viewed by far too few (shame on you) - were forebears to events now unfolding. Call it “term analysis.

So, to keep you from having to dig back through The Spy’s File Cabinet, the following are offered. Take a look.

• Stuck In The Middle With You February 28

Middle names are tricky things.

Radio talk show host Bill Cunningham has been slammed for using Barack Hussein Obama’s middle name. In fact, it was called a “smear!” For whatever reason he did it, it’s stupid to vilify him for doing so.

• Melting Pot? March 4

I’ve become tired of the term “melting pot” to describe the American population and societal make-up. “Melting pot” is supposed to define diversity and a rich cultural stew of human interaction. At one time, it was relevant. Immigrants came here and actually assimilated into the American cultural landscape. They melded without sacrificing their own historical roots.

• The Politics of Race, The Race of Politics March 18

It should be clear by now that The Spy does not agree with Obama’s politics. Check that, political philosophy. But I think he did a superb job in describing the racial landscape in the United States.

Bravo.

However… (c’mon… you knew there had to be a “however.”)

• Who? April 23

We really don’t know [much] about Barack Obama. The Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko controversies, along with the comments the senator made in San Francisco about Pennsylvania should make voters stop and think very hard about who this man might bring with him to the White House, the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom, Justice, Treasury, etc.

• Is Obama A Setup? June 9

Something about Barack Obama’s rise to the top of the Democratic Party heap isn’t passing the smell test. How is it that a 45-year-old with just two years of federal legislative experience has been able to sweep through the primary process and defeat the top name in the party?

A recent article by ABC outlines Obama’s campaign, and in reading it, the Spy’s BS radar went into acquisition mode.

If you want to comment, please do. The Spy is listening….

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who took offense to the use of the term “black hole” when a white commissioner used it to refer to a situation wherein money was being wasted, further showed his ignorance in a subsequent interview. In that interview, Price tried to justify his outrage by parsing colloquial speech and likened the use of “black hole” to “jewing” people out of their money.

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In the last post, “Do Public Educator’s Hate South Carolina’s Children,” The Spy was responding to Paul Hyde’s article (which isn’t accessible for some reason) in which he seemed to think Governor Mark Sanford hates Palmetto school children because he appointed folks who don’t necessarily believe the public school system is serving its intended purpose. The Spy cited a state report in which salary information on South Carolina’s nearly 9,000 school administrators is listed. There is more interesting data in that report that further indicates that maybe, just maybe, it’s not Mark Sanford’s agenda that is hurting public education in the state.

Sanford became governor in January 2003 - five and half years ago. Consider the tenure of the states main public school administrators.

There are 82 District Superintendents of which 64 (78%) have between 25 and 40 years of experience. Eighty one (98%) have more than 10 years of experience.

• 77 Asst Superintendents/Instruction
  • 58 (75%) 25-40 years
  • 100% with 10 or more
• 65 Asst Superintendents/Non-Instruction
  • 36 (55%) 25-40 years
  • 48 (74%) 10 or more
  • “Missing data” on 17 (26/%)
• 203 Secondary Head Principals
  • 96 (47%) 25-40 years
  • 194 (96%) 10 or more
• 480 Secondary Asst Head Principals
  • 95 (20%) 25-40 years
  • 366 (76%) 10 or more
• 227 Mid/Jr High Head Principals
  • 93 (41%) 25-40 years
  • 216 (95%) 10 or more
• 347 Mid/Jr High Asst Head Principals
  • 93 (41%) 25-40 years
  • 262 (76%) 10 or more
• 635 Elementary Head Principals
  • 302 (48%) 25-40
  • 604 (95%) 10 or more
• 425 Elementary Asst Head Principals
  • 94 (22%) 25-40
  • 332 (78%) 10 or more

Of the 2,541 people in these 9 administrative positions state-wide, 38% of them (970) have 25 to 40 years of experience. Eighty-six percent have more than 10 years of experience. That’s 2,180 key school administrators with minimum tenure and/or experience TWICE that of Governor Mark Sanford.

These are the people - the front line commanders - who are and have been responsible for the performance of South Carolina’s public schools. For whatever argument might be made about legislative handcuffs or political interference, the fact remains that THESE are the people who make local school policies. So, what can be expected of THEM?

Apparently, very little.

The school system - the state education process - has failed and has failed for years. These are the people in charge.

A recent GreenvilleOnline.com article questions Governor Mark Sanford’s commitment to public education. “Does Sanford Hate Public Education” by Paul Hyde contends that Sanford is against public education because of an apparent propensity for those who prefer private and home schooling.

There is no question that South Carolina’s educational environment is dismal – a situation not unique to the Palmetto State. So, really, what’s not to hate?

As with anything run by government, efficiency and performance are usually sacrificed. Therein plenty of reason to abandon Social Security as it is now practiced and ban to Cuba anyone who seriously proposes government-run health care.

Educational systems are particular fiscal black holes (with faux apology to John Wiley Price and Judge Thomas Jones). For instance, according to the “Annual Salary Study of Selected School, District, and Personnel,” by the South Carolina Department of Education, the state spends – on an average - over a half a billion dollars ($516,685,102) just on administrator salaries.

Consider, in a state where the median HOUSEHOLD income is less than $40,000 and 12.5% of the families are below poverty level, those responsible for South Carolina’s lousy education system - the school administrators - are doing pretty well for themselves.

There are 8,868 people in 47 administrator job titles in the South Carolina school system, each averaging $67,000 per year. That’s about 168% of the median household – not individual – income.

The state invests funds and children’s futures into a system and with people who repeatedly fail to deliver. Taxpayers are fleeced annually by self-serving education “professionals” whose true motives - at this point in history - need to be carefully scrutinized.

But that’s true on the national level as well. Look at that organized crime group the National Education Association. A quick look at their organizational network tells one plenty about it’s agenda. In that network is the Democratic (but not Republican) Party, MoveOn.org, Emily’s List, the Sierra Club, Air America, the ACLU, Al Gore, the United Nations, ACORN, the Media Fund, NARAL … you get the idea. This is the national face of public education. It’s also a major force in the South Carolina Education system - not by government mandate or a politician’s appointment - but by the reality of the culture and mindset of educators.

Paul Hyde reminds us that:

It must be remembered that Sanford himself sends his own four boys to private school.

In addition, Sanford has been criticized for appointing the homeschooling Kristin Maguire to the state board of education.

Maguire home schools her four children. She’s set to become chair of the state board in 2009.

And, my pro-education friends argue, Sanford has a very thin record overall when it comes to public education.

His education agenda, for the past five years, has been aimed primarily at pushing taxpayer support for private education.

South Carolina’s consistently poor marks in virtually every educational category pretty much emphasizes the failure of those hired to do the job, not the Governor. Look at private, parochial and home schooling education. Students in those programs do considerably better than those in public schools.

Hyde concludes:

Public education is this state’s most important issue.

Our state’s prosperity — and the individual well-being of young South Carolinians — depends on the strength of our public schools.

Blather. Education is the most important issue. It doesn’t matter the source as long as it’s effective. The state’s public system as currently practiced is NOT effective. Equally, South Carolina’s prosperity “and the individual well-being of young South Carolinians” depends on education, not necessarily public education.

Governor Sanford should get credit for putting balance in a left-leaning, self-serving, poor-performing, incestuous, scandalous, ineffective, unproductive, top-heavy, lazy culture.

The unvarnished truth is that the South Carolina public education system apparently hates our children.

Maybe Governor Sanford does hate public education. If so, maybe it’s because he loves our children.

The “Black National Anthem” was recently sung at Denver’s “State of the City” event INSTEAD of the National Anthem of the United States. The mayor was unaware this was going to happen. It was perpetrated by the selected singer “to express how I feel about living in the United States, as a black woman, as a black person.“

Get ready for more of this kind of crap if Barack Obama is elected President.

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