J.V. Martin Junior High in Dillon, S.C., has finally been receiving the coverage it properly deserves as being one of the schools in the "Corridor of Shame" of South Carolina.
President Obama visited the school during his campaign and had J.V. Martin student Ty'Sheoma Bethea attend a joint session of Congress as he asked lawmakers to join the administration in doing what needs to be done to prevent such conditions these children face.
Last week, a businessman located in Chicago provided some assistance.
Darryl Rosser, CEO of classroom furniture supplier Sagus International, sent four tractor-trailer loads of school furniture worth an estimated $250,000 to the school in hopes of providing better conditions for children to learn in.
The school's cafeteria was also painted, along with inspirational quotes from leaders such as Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr. and President Obama himself.
A school assembly was held as well. S.C. School Superintendant Jim Rex, U.S. Rep. John Spratt, state Rep Jackie Hayes and state Sen. Kent Williams -- all Democrats -- attended the assembly where Rosser got a standing ovation.
Sounds like a happy ending, doesn't it?
Well, nothing could be further from the truth.
The fact is J.V. Martin and others like it in the Corridor of Shame, and realistically, all S.C. schools need proper attention now from its states' leaders.
Specifically? Governor Mark Sanford.
Recently, I held a screening for the Bud Ferillo documentary about this dire situation in South Carolina.
Unfortunately, no press were there to see it.
It's appalling that people in such desperate need have to go so high just to get heard. It's also appalling that it's not being given its proper coverage in this state.
Our esteemed governor proudly boasts on national news programs about his reluctance to request the $700 million in stimulus funds directed towards public education and public safety.
Also, we have proud people who attend his rallies across the state to garner support for his stance where they hold up signs saying public education destroys our children and it needs to be killed off. How encouraging.
The desks replaced at J.V. Martin were tagged with their age circa 1940 to 1980.
Is this acceptable in the state of South Carolina? Are we led to believe that the Republicans in power for decades O.K.'d this and we sat by mordantly? What has the people of this state become? Where's our integrity? Why do we shun our own children?
Have the people forgotten what public education has produced? Instead of revealing it, I encourage you all to find out for yourselves.
In sharing from N. Ray Hiner, Ph.D. - Budig Teaching Professor at the University of Kansas School of Education, let's go back in time:
"The campaign for public education in America was long and difficult. Although Massachusetts passed a compulsory school attendance law in 1852, Mississippi did not enact similar legislation until 1918, almost one hundred years after the movement for public education began. We may take most of this public education system for granted today, but this program was not easy to sell to most Americans in the 1840's and 1850's, in part because the campaign for common schools included two very coercive elements: the power to tax and the power to compel attendance.
"Not surprisingly, some parents and political conservatives resisted the intrusion of the state into what was viewed as private matters and feared a more powerful centralized government. Others did not want to lose the benefits of children's labor, while some simply resented paying for the education of other people's children."
With the actions of today, and the demise of the Republican Party, it seems we're stuck in a time warp -- back to a time where people could care less about education, attendance and the funding of a system that has inspired great minds of our beautiful country
Are we to put our children back on the fields while the rest of the nation looks upon us? This regression isn't acceptable.
Somebody told me that our governor made the comment he's an American first and a South Carolinian second.
If it's true, then why does he sell the American system of public education down the drain? Surely, if he's an American first, he'd preserve the American way of life. I don't get it.
The children of the Corridor Shame don't get it. The people of South Carolina don't understand it. Our children's future is being dismantled by it.
Does it take people from outside this state to support us? Are we to be perceived as a charity case by others? Remind you, our GOP leadership of this state goes decades. Who's at fault for painting the picture?
The color of blood is also the color of the GOP. As the bloodletting continues, I guess we will continue to think it's positive leadership.
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