WINNSBORO – Although a bill signed by Gov. Nikki Haley on March 4 successfully returned Fairfield County School Board member Bobby Cunningham to District 5, it was confirmed by The Voice last week that the legislation only applied to Cunningham’s school board districting – not his districting regarding County Council.
“I am in District 5 for the School Board,” Cunningham said after receiving his new voter registration card last week, “and District 6 for County Council.”
Following the 2010 census that showed a shift in racial demographics in areas of the county, County Council initiated a federally mandated redistricting process, which it completed in 2011. At that time, Cunningham, then in the middle of his four-year term on the Board, was inexplicably drawn out of District 5 and into District 6. That left the School Board without representation from District 5 and placed two representatives – Cunningham and William Frick – in District 6. Cunningham said he was not made aware of the change until he showed up to vote in the 2012 elections.
In February, State Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17) and State Rep. MaryGail Douglas (D-41) introduced legislation to put Cunningham back into District 5. When Gov. Haley signed the bill into law, Cunningham and the bill’s sponsors were confident the law applied to both the School Board and County districts, which since the passage of the Home Rule Act of 1975 have traditionally followed one another. But last week, that assumption was proven to be premature.
“County Council has exclusive jurisdiction over drawing their lines,” Coleman said, “so I could only change the School District lines, not the County Council lines.”
The main thrust of the legislation, to ensure the School Board didn’t later come under fire for actions taken without full representation, was successful Coleman said; but making the lines conform to one another would be up to County Council. Phone calls to David Ferguson (District 5), Chairman of County Council, were not returned at press time, so it was not known if Council would indeed be initiating such a change.
Cunningham, meanwhile, said the divergent lines make no sense.
“If I was in District 5 with County Council and the School Board before, why am I in two different districts now for two different offices?” Cunningham asked.
As the bill to return Cunningham to District 5 reached the governor’s desk last month, the entire process that led to him being drawn out came under scrutiny.
When redistricting becomes necessary, the State Budget and Control Board (BCB) provides county councils across the state with district maps for their consideration, according to Will Roberts of the BCB’s Office of Research. Residences of incumbents are clearly marked on the maps, Roberts said, “to make sure they don’t get drawn out.”
Last month, Ferguson said he was not aware Cunningham had been drawn out of the district the two men share, nor was he aware of the legislation to return Cunningham to District 5 until the bill had already made it through both houses of the General Assembly. Ferguson also said he was not certain if the homes of incumbents were marked on the map provided to Council by the BCB.
If he had known that Cunningham had been drawn out in the middle of his term, “I would have made every effort to get him back in his district,” Ferguson said last month.
It was not known at press time if Ferguson would now make that effort.
WINNSBORO – After a shaky start to their March 18 meeting, the Fairfield County School Board approved funding for a pair of student field trips, cut ties with a software company and took their first steps at preparing for an external, voluntary accreditation review.
The meeting stumbled out of the gate, however, as Board members could not come to a consensus over approval of minutes from last month’s meeting. At issue were comments made by Board member Paula Hartman (District 2) that were ruled out of order by Board Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) and were therefore not included in the minutes. Hartman insisted that her comments be included in the minutes for the record, but Reid was adamant.
“You were ruled out of order prior to it going on the record,” Reid said.
“How come other things other Board members say gets on the record and I can’t?” Hartman asked.
“I don’t know,” Reid said. “You were ruled out of order prior to it going on the record.”
“No I did not,” Hartman said.
“It’s time to call for the question,” Reid said. “This is the minutes. This is ridiculous.”
But Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) said if Hartman was requesting a statement be included for the record, the Board should accommodate her. McDaniel then moved to approve the minutes with the inclusion of Hartman’s statement. Hartman seconded the motion, which failed to carry 2-4 (District 1 Board member Andrea Harrison was absent). A motion to approve the minutes without corrections carried 4-2, with Hartman and McDaniel voting against.
“And I want it stated for the record that if we are going to work together as a board we need to make sure we are following rules and we’re following orders appropriately,” McDaniel added after the vote, “and that it is not the Chair’s discretion to call people out of order unless they are really out of order.”
Board member Henry Miller (District 3), however, pointed out that it was indeed the Chairwoman’s discretion on when to lower the gavel and call another member out of order.
After spending nearly half an hour approving the minutes, the Board finally got down to business.
A recommendation from Superintendent J.R. Green to use June 3 and 4 as makeup days for classes missed because of winter storms and to use June 5 as a teacher workday was tabled after McDaniel noted it was not listed as an action item on the agenda.
The Board also approved $14,200.50 to help fund a trip to Orlando, Fla. by the Fairfield Central Robotics Team to compete in a regional competition. In their first season in competition, the Robotics Team recently placed 14th in the state competition in Myrtle Beach. The team will travel to Orlando April 3-5 for the event. The motion to help fund the trip passed 6-0.
The Board also OK’d up to $20,000 to help fund a trip to Puerto Rico by students at Gordon Odyssey Academy on a 6-0 vote, and voted 6-0 to end the District’s relationship with Thinkgate, which Dr. Claudia Edwards said had proven “unreliable as an assessment delivery tool.”
Accreditation
Edwards previewed for the Board the process of self-examination that will be part of the upcoming review of the District by AdvancED (AE), a voluntary accreditation system. AE visits districts in their system every five years, Edwards said, and a review team would be arriving in Fairfield County in December. Step one, she said, was the completion of surveys by stakeholders, including members of the Board. McDaniel, however, appeared reluctant to participate.
“I don’t want to go through this so we can have another stamp,” McDaniel said. “For folks who don’t know, AdvancED is SACS. It’s just another name for SACS and I’ve already been through what they can do. So if we’re not going to use this to help make the district better, then I don’t want to go through with it. I want to be able to answer the questions in such a manner that whoever is reviewing us will come in and help us get where we need to be.”
McDaniel is one of two remaining Board members (Miller being the second) who served when the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) attempted to visit and review the District back in 2009. At that time, the SACS review team was barred by the Board from interviewing administration, staff and stakeholders and received a scathing review from the team. The stonewalling tactic very nearly cost the District its SACS accreditation at the time.
Policy Review
The District voted 4-2 to enter into a contract with the S.C. School Boards Association (SBA) to review the District’s policies, at a cost of $1,200 to the District. The review will center mainly on Section B of the Board’s Policy Manual, dealing with school board governance and operations. McDaniel said she would like other policies reviewed, including how class salutatorian and valedictorian are selected, the Board’s travel policy and the policy governing gratis use of District facilities. While Reid said that any Board member who had suggestions for policy reviews could submit them by email, she told The Voice this week that the selection of salutatorian and valedictorian were governed by state standards.
Dr. Arlene Bakutes, District Grants Coordinator, and the principals’ benefiting from a grant presented at Tuesday night’s Richland 2 School Board meeting the merits of a nearly $4.5 million grant over a three year period to Killian Elementary, Longleaf Middle and Westwood High schools. Called “Full STEAM Ahead!,” this program is a science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics focused curriculum designed to reduce minority isolation. A study by the National Endowment for the Arts shows that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who actively participated in the arts tended to score better in science and writing, and were more likely to aspire to college. A major purpose of the grant is to “provide the programs and resources to keep [students] at these magnet schools,” and to “slowly increase the diversity of the student body at Killian,” to “create a more diverse student body at Longleaf Middle School and Westwood High School,” the grant application states. At the end of the grant period, the district intends for schools to continue the programs with regular district funding.
Review Team Findings
Also on the docket Tuesday night was the Review Team of faculty and district staff that sifted through a district-wide survey to gather employee feedback on what should be funded in the district and concerns where funding is allowing them to reach optimum. Most notable was the impact of rising poverty rates severely curtailing field studies and purchasing of library books. Under the previous superintendent’s attempt to create equity in access to field trips, field trips are no longer funded by the parents. In the past, students who were unable to pay the fee were covered by a donation from another family, a PTO fundraiser or the principal’s discretionary budget. Currently, the school raises the funds or school’s discretionary fund is used. Discretionary funds do not have budgets to support multiple school field trips, so a school is currently in the position of selecting one class or one trip per year. Fundraisers can also contribute, but this has proven to be less successful in schools of high poverty. The Review Team asks that the way field studies are funded be uniform across the district and be recognized as a way to enrich the focus of hands on learning.
Also, the Review Team noted that funding for the media centers was removed from the general budget several years ago. Again, the principals fund the purchase of books. As in the field trips, funding is inconsistent across the district. High poverty schools have a difficult time raising the funds to purchase supplies. Board Member Susan Brill mentioned that she had spoken with Media Specialists and has this request on her priority spending list when the Board meets to discuss budget.
The Review Team also said that the work of Family Interventionists should continue to focus on the whole child and address the issues within the family – usually meeting outside of school setting as a family unit. This work has proven to be particularly effective with middle and high school students and their family units. The positive spillover has been improvements in behavior and academic performance.
Prior to the next School Board meeting, Wednesday (new day), April 9 at Polo Road Elementary School, there will be the first of two hearings on the General Budget for the coming school year. The public is invited to attend at 5 p.m.
WINNSBORO – Midland’s STEM Charter School (MSCS), which met with some uncertainty from County Council’s Presentation Committee last month, officially withdrew its request Monday for Council’s assistance in acquiring a bond to help kick-start the school.
Interim County Administrator Milton Pope told the full Council Monday night that Steve Cox, attorney for MSCS, had informed him that MSCS would instead “move forward with a state-level hearing” in order to obtain a bond for renovations and construction of the proposed school.
Late last month, Cox told the Presentation Committee that the County’s approval, in the form of a resolution, for the $39,261,000 bond would be nothing more than a technicality, required by the Internal Revenue Service for the school to meet its tax-exempt status. There would have been no risk to the County and the County would not be liable should the school default, County attorney John James told the committee in February.
MSCS had been slated for a second meeting with the committee Monday night just 30 minutes prior to the meeting of the full Council. That meeting was scrubbed, however, after Pope received notice from Cox that the school had indeed opted to take their case to the state.
Bobby Cunningham, once again District 5 representative on the Fairfield County School Board.
WINNSBORO – After nearly three years of disenfranchisement, District 5 once again has representation on the Fairfield County School Board of Trustees, thanks to a piece of special legislation signed by Gov. Nikki Haley on March 4. The bill (S1002), introduced by Sen. Creighton Coleman (D-17) in the State Senate on Feb. 5 and Rep. MaryGail Douglas (D-41) in the House on Feb. 18, was designed to return School Board member Bobby Cunningham to District 5 after he was drawn out of his district and into District 6 in 2011. The redistricting followed the 2010 census information that showed a shift in racial demographics in areas of the county and was required by federal law.
The process that led to an incumbent being drawn out of his district, however, has come under scrutiny. The State Budget and Control Board (BCB) provides county councils across the state with district maps for their consideration, according to Will Roberts of the BCB’s Office of Research. Residences of incumbents are clearly marked on the maps, Roberts said, “To make sure they don’t get drawn out.”
But Cunningham did get drawn out, leaving District 5 without representation on the School Board and piling two representatives – Cunningham and William Frick – into District 6.
County Council reconfigured the district lines, Roberts said, to meet federal demographic requirements. The new map was then approved by a county ordinance and submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval (approval by the D.O.J. may not be required in future redistricting, since the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act, Roberts noted).
Council Chairman David Ferguson (District 5) said he was not aware Cunningham had been drawn out of the district the two men share, nor was he aware of the legislation to return Cunningham to District 5 until the bill had already made it through both houses of the General Assembly. Ferguson also said he was not certain if the homes of incumbents were marked on the map provided to Council by the BCB.
“I’m not sure that they were,” Ferguson said. “That’s not our job. That’s the responsibility of the people who make the decisions in Columbia. They send the maps up here.
“That Board member (Cunningham) did not call me, Creighton Coleman did not call me, MaryGail Douglas did not call me,” Ferguson said. “If they had, I would have gone back to the Budget and Control Board to see what the deal was. They are the professionals who know where the lines go.”
Cunningham said he only found out he was no longer in District 5 when he went to vote in the 2012 elections.
“I knew they had redrawn some lines,” Cunningham said, “but I had no idea it could affect someone in the middle of their term. Why was a sitting official zoned out of their district? Who signed off on it? Was my residence marked on the map? My biggest concern was an incumbent was redistricted and received no notice until they went to vote.”
Debbie Stidham, Director of the Fairfield County Voter Registration Office, said her office mailed out new voter registration cards and notifications to voters whose districts had changed after the 2011 redistricting, even though her office was not required by law to do so, she said. She said she could not explain why Cunningham either failed to receive or overlooked notification.
Coleman said the legislation effects nine people including Cunningham, who now all return to District 5.
“It’s something I wish we didn’t have to do,” Coleman said. “He shouldn’t have been taken out of his district and we shouldn’t have had to go through the hassle of drawing up (the legislation), shepherding it through the General Assembly and having the governor review it and sign it.”
Ferguson said rumors that he intentionally drew out Cunningham were untrue. Kirk Chappell, Ferguson’s opponent in 2000, also saw his district change from 5 to 3 in 2011. Ferguson said that change came at the request of Councilman Mikel Trapp (District 3), who needed to gain minority population in his district and therefore asked to absorb Jackson Creek Road, where Chappell lives, into District 3. Minutes from the Sept. 26, 2011 meeting confirm Ferguson’s recollection of the events and show where Trapp requested the change. Meetings from meetings leading up to the final redistricting ordinance also show where Council had been given clear guidelines by the BCB for redrawing the lines, including a presentation by the BCB’s Wayne Gilbert on Aug. 29, 2011 that included the directive “locate incumbents.” First reading of the ordinance (591) passed that same night, and after a work session on Sept. 7 where it was determined that districts 1 and 7 required the most corrections, second reading then passed on Sept. 12, 2011.
Final reading passed on Sept. 26, 2011 after attorney John Moylan told Council that all the BCB’s guidelines had been met, including “not to pit incumbents against each other – whether they be County Council or School Board members,” minutes from the meeting state.
“Am I sorry it got done like that? I certainly am,” Ferguson said. “Had Mr. Cunningham or anyone called me, I would have made every effort to get him back in his district.”
Now firmly back in District 5 and nearing the end of his four-year term on School Board, Cunningham said he is considering a continuation of his political career.
The past week has been a whirlwind of activity for the Richland 2 School District. The long awaited Student Education Center – the project that started as a District Office renovation in 2011 and expanded to include a free standing vocational training center in 2012 – was the first design-build project in the district. Delays in securing a site have pushed the project out by at least 18 months. When plans to build on the Clemson Extension site did not materialize, the District and Design/Build team of Kahn Construction started reviewing sites anew. A site was found in the Village of Sandhills. Director of Planning Fred McDaniel presented an overview to the Blythewood Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. The $41 million dollar building project will also receive program funding from business and industry interested in helping to train students for our local workforce. Specific courses and industry partnerships are forthcoming.
Perhaps most interesting to parents making vacation plans for the coming months was the discussion of missed school days due to snow and ice. Pending approval from the state legislature, the Board approved to forgive two of the four recent snow days and to use the two scheduled make up days of March 28 and April 21 for the remaining two days. Superintendent Dr. Hamm polled teachers and parents in suggesting a solution to the inclement weather days. It was suggested the adding of the two days – one of which included removing Memorial Weekend – would create more havoc for families and large absences that would not be conducive for overall learning.
School #20
Elementary School #20, near Trenholm Extension and Decker Boulevard, will be the second construction project using the design-build format. A consortium of architects, engineers, builders and designers put forth a proposal to take the school from concept to completion working as team from the onset. While commonly used in private construction for decades and even public universities, the state only in very recent years authorized school district to engage in such contracts. The advantages are cost savings and a reduced timeframe. The realized savings are put back into the district for further projects.
The site incorporates surrounding wetlands as an opportunity for outdoor learning and observations. The three finalist teams (Kahn-Brownstone; Contract-Quackenbush; and Thompson-Turner) made their presentation. Each focused heavily on the uniqueness of a school surround by wetlands, forest and creek. Environmental consultants and civil engineers from all teams offered methods for protecting the natural habitat. After being graded in a rubric fashion, the School Board was presented with the highest scoring team and voted to accept the score and award the contract. The announcement as to the specific team will be saved pending notification and acceptance from that team. The elementary school is slated to open for the 2016-2017 school year.
WINNSBORO – A vote by the Fairfield County School Board to approve the construction method for the new career and technology center raised questions from one Board member about the hire of a manager to oversee the project.
The Board voted 5-1-1 during their Feb. 18 meeting to approve the Construction Manager at-Risk method for building the new career center, which calls for the District to employ a project manager to oversee the endeavor. The manager position is a classified position, whose hire is at the discretion of the Superintendent, J.R. Green. Andrea Harrison (District 1), who voted against the method, said she was under the impression that the Board, and not the Superintendent, would be selecting a manager for the project.
“We already discussed this, and maybe it was a misunderstanding on my part,” Harrison said on Feb. 18. “I thought we were informed during the Board retreat (in January) that we (the Board) would have the opportunity to choose the construction manager. . . . That authority was taken out of the hands of the Board and that person will be a District employee, not a contracted worker selected by the Board to oversee the funds of this project.”
The project manager, Green said, would be a permanent position, up for renewal each year. Once the project is completed, the Board may then elect not to renew the position for the following year. The manager would act as an intermediary between the District and the builder, Green said, to ensure that the project was progressing in accordance with the District’s wishes. Board Chairwoman Beth Reid (District 7) said the method also opens up the project to local vendors.
“This is a method in which the contractor will be able to use local vendors to handle some of these projects, rather than sending out large bids where we have to take the (lowest) bid,” Reid said. “So the local vendors can get some of the jobs created by this project.”
Green said Tuesday that the position, which carries a salary range of $49,000 – $77,000 a year, was filled late last week. Rick Stottlemyer will assume the duties for the District on Monday. Board member Annie McDaniel (District 4) abstained from the vote.
WINNSBORO – The Fairfield County School Board officially accepted the resignation Tuesday night of a Fairfield Middle School math teacher and defensive coordinator for the Fairfield Central High School Griffins football team who was arrested on drug charges Dec. 6. David Nathaniel Toney’s resignation was effective Jan. 17, sources told The Voice.
“He understands that this is an unfortunate situation and he did what he felt was in the best interest of everyone involved,” J.R. Green, Superintendent of Fairfield County Schools, said.
Toney, who is facing his third charge of simple possession of marijuana since 2006, was scheduled to stand before a Magistrate’s Court judge on Jan. 9. That trial was postponed when Toney’s lawyer, Doward Keith Harvin, requested a jury trial. A new trial date had not been set at press time.
Toney was stopped by the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP) on Highway 34 near I-77 on Dec. 6 while en route to the state championship football game between Fairfield Central and Dillon. According to the Highway Patrol, Toney was clocked traveling 67 in the 55 MPH zone. The arresting Trooper in the case reported a “strong odor of marijuana” emanating from Toney’s 2008 Chrysler Aspen. The trooper asked Toney if there was any marijuana in the vehicle, to which Toney replied that he “hoped not,” the report states.
When the trooper asked a second time about the marijuana, Toney reportedly said that he had “a little bag,” and retrieved a clear plastic bag of marijuana from the center console of the vehicle and handed it over to the patrolman.
A search of the car turned up a marijuana cigarette inside a cup that was sitting in the center console, as well as “numerous burnt marijuana cigarettes inside the same cup,” the report states. Toney was arrested and transported to the Fairfield County Detention Center where he sat out the championship game.
During a traffic stop in Columbia on Dec. 21, 2006, a Richland County Sheriff’s deputy found a partially burned marijuana cigarette and a small bag of marijuana in Toney’s car. On May 17, 2007, Toney was stopped in Calhoun County, where a deputy also found marijuana in the car. Toney was convicted in both cases (see the Jan. 10 edition of The Voice).
“We wish Mr. Toney well in the rest of his career,” Board Chairwoman Beth Reid said Tuesday night.
WINNSBORO – An assistant coach with the Fairfield Central High School football staff who was arrested and charged with simple possession of marijuana while on his way to the state championship game on Dec. 6 had a history of similar convictions, according to documents acquired recently by The Voice. In addition to two prior convictions for simple possession, David Nathaniel Toney, 36, also had two incidents of passing fraudulent checks and numerous driving-related offenses, including driving under suspension, attempting to use someone else’s driver’s license and failure to pay traffic tickets – all of which the School District said its previous administration was aware at the time of Toney’s hire in August of 2008.
Beth Reid (District 7), Chairwoman of the Fairfield County School Board, said the Board was made aware of Toney’s priors during a briefing by Superintendent J.R. Green at the Dec. 17 Board meeting. Reid said it is District policy to run background checks on all prospective employees through the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), but it was not clear to her if one had been run on Toney – or if it had been, why it was apparently ignored.
“(Background checks) are supposed to be done,” Reid said. “It certainly is distressing that, if in fact one was done, (the convictions were) not discovered.”
Green, while he could not confirm if such a check was run on Toney, said the information regarding his criminal history was in Toney’s file. Green said he did not look into Toney’s file until after Toney’s arrest on Dec. 6.
“My guess is it was done,” Green said.
Green said Toney would likely have been tapped for his position on the coaching staff under then head coach Reggie Kennedy, but the interviewing process would have been conducted at the school level. In Toney’s case, this would have meant Fairfield Middle School, with the initial recommendation for hire made by the principal. Following the principal’s recommendation, the District’s Human Resources department, at that time headed by Dr. Jeffrey Long, would have conducted the necessary background checks. The final recommendation for hire would then have been made to the Board by then superintendent Samantha Ingram.
Long was hired by the District in July 2008. Phone calls to the District Office to determine when Long left the District were not returned at press time. The Voice was also unable to reach Long, who now serves as Director of Operation for the Lee County School District. Ingram served as Superintendent from June 2007 to 2009.
Green, who was hired in July 2012, said a bad SLED report, while a factor in the vetting process, would not necessarily eliminate someone from employment. References, he said, play a large part in the hiring process.
“It’s a judgment call,” Green said. “I’m never going to tell someone who has had a brush with the law that I would not hire that person. You have to make an evaluation. That doesn’t mean you don’t take those other things into consideration – you do – but references are a big influence on your decision.”
In fact, Green said, Toney’s references from his previous employment in Orangeburg County were outstanding, and his performance as a math teacher earned him Teacher of the Year honors for the District in 2012-2013.
“In terms of his performance as a teacher, he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen,” Green said. “That’s not to say what he did doesn’t matter, but an evaluation of him at the professional level was excellent.”
And while Toney’s criminal history was on file with the District, Green said records of any conversations that might have taken place between Long and Ingram about that history – and their decision to hire him in spite of that history – are not.
A SLED background check on Toney, obtained by The Voice through the S.C. Press Association, lists three prior misdemeanors – a marijuana charge on Dec. 21, 2006 and two counts of issuing fraudulent checks, one on Aug. 3, 2000 and another on June 1, 2005.
According to an incident report from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, Toney was pulled over in Columbia at Read and Harden streets at 1 p.m. on Dec. 21, 2006 after a deputy noticed a faulty brake light on Toney’s 2003 Dodge. The deputy noted a strong odor of marijuana coming from inside the car and Toney directed the deputy to a partially burned marijuana cigarette tucked inside the driver’s side door handle. Toney then consented to a search of the vehicle, and a K-9 Unit discovered a small bag (approximately .5 grams) of marijuana hidden inside a shoe behind the passenger seat, as well as another marijuana cigarette on the passenger seat. Toney was arrested and charged with simple possession of marijuana. According to court documents, Toney was convicted on Jan. 23, 2007, receiving 30 days and a fine of $581.95. The documents also indicate that Toney has only paid $377 of that fine.
Toney received a 30-day suspended sentence and a $60 fine on June 13, 2001 for his fraudulent check charges.
A second marijuana charge, which does not appear on Toney’s SLED check, was revealed by an examination of Toney’s 10-year driving record, obtained by The Voice through a Freedom of Information Act request last week. That record indicates Toney was pulled over in Calhoun County on May 17, 2007 and found to be in possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Toney was also charged with driving under suspension at the time. The Calhoun County Magistrate’s Court confirmed that Toney was found guilty of both charges on June 25, 2007 and issued a fine of $647 for driving under suspension and a fine of $300 for simple possession. Toney did not pay those fines until October 10, 2012, the Magistrate’s Court said, and until that time was without a legal S.C. driver’s license.
The Magistrate’s Court said that since Toney was only issued a citation for the offenses, and not arrested and fingerprinted, those convictions would not have appeared on a SLED background check.
On July 18, 2007, Toney was convicted in an Orangeburg court for attempting to use someone else’s driver’s license during a May 28, 2007 traffic stop. He was fined $250.
Toney’s latest encounter with the law, when he was pulled over by the S.C. Highway Patrol for driving 67 in a 55 on Highway 34 near I-77 on Dec. 6, and which turned up a bag of marijuana and several marijuana cigarettes, earned him a suspension from his duties as a coach and a math teacher at Fairfield Middle School, with pay, until his case has been heard. Toney was scheduled to appear before a Fairfield County Magistrate’s Court judge Thursday, after The Voice went to press.
Toney’s arrest on Dec. 6 caused him to miss the Griffins’ state title game against Dillon High School, a game the Griffins lost 41-3.
While Toney’s hire by the previous administration has raised question about the District’s vetting process – specifically, who else may also have slipped through the cracks and what may be in the background of other employees hired during the Ingram administration – Green said he was confident Toney’s situation was unique.
“I would guess that this is an isolated incident,” Green said, “an exceptional situation, that doesn’t lead us to look into anyone’s past to see if they had this kind of thing when we hired them.”
Bethel-Hanberry’s Sashay Sisters Club (back row): Ta’y Brown, Jordan Goings, Arianna Abraham, Ayden Stevens, Sydney Woodrow; (front row): Chloe Narboni, McKenna Brown, Ryan Shull, Dani Goings, Carla Finkel.
BLYTHEWOOD — When a Voice photographer arrived recently at Sheryl McHugh’s after-school program at Bethel-Hanberry Elementary School to snap pictures of a girls’ crochet group, she was surprised to discover, instead, The Sashay Sisters Club – an irrepressibly crafty group of girls more than ready for their close up. Flinging colorful hand-crocheted scarves over their shoulders and striking poses, they proudly showed off their fashionable creations.
“It started as a craft class – making homemade potpourri and painting pine cones,” McHugh said. “Then, one day, McKenna Brown, one of my third-graders, spotted my new crocheted Sashay scarf, and she immediately asked me how she could make one for herself.”
McHugh had recently learned how to make the scarf from one of the other teachers, and she showed McKenna the single-stitch technique.
“She learned it in 15 minutes,” McHugh said with a laugh, “and then crocheted herself a whole scarf. When the girls in our craft class saw it, they wanted to make one too.”
By the next day, 10 girls were clamoring to learn how to make the scarves, so McHugh went to Michaels that evening to buy materials.
“The girls are so smart – they learned how to do it in a matter of minutes,” she said. “They take the scarves home and work on them, and the next day after school we go over any mistakes or errors and work on technique.”
Just a week later, some of the girls had already made two or three scarves.
“The scarves are generally about 3-feet long,” McHugh said, “but the girls love that they can make them as long as they want! They like to wrap them around their necks, throw them over their shoulders or tie them in a neat little loop.”
The scarves are decorative and colorful, and McHugh said some of the girls even made them for Christmas gifts.
“They were excited about it, trying to hide them from their moms,” she said. “One of the girls said her grandmother was thrilled that she was learning to crochet.”
It wasn’t long before the girls decided that their group needed a name.
“They call themselves The Sashay Sisters Club because the brand of the crochet thread they use is Sashay,” McHugh said. “They have such fun together, laughing and talking even while they focus on their crochet. The whole project has been driven by the girls’ interest – they kept saying, ‘I want to learn, I want to learn to crochet!’”
McHugh said she doesn’t see the girls slowing down any time soon.
“They want to crochet every day,” she said, fawning exasperation. “I’m going to have to teach myself more so I can teach them more!”
After Christmas break, the girls plan to make more scarves and donate them to women at local nursing homes and shelters, McHugh said.
“I’m so proud of them,” McHugh said. “I cannot believe how quickly they learned this, and how much they enjoy it.”
