District Administration - December 2012 - (Page 28)

AdministratorProfile NaNcy J. McGiNley, SuperiNteNdeNt, charleStoN couNty (S.c.) public SchoolS A Challenging Start Makes Way for Smooth Run eople run into me at the grocery store...and say, ‘Thank you for what you do. I don’t have kids in school, but I’m glad you’re here. I know you have a really tough job.’ ” Those are the kind words Nancy J. McGinley hears from strangers, today, in what she calls the “big, small town” of Charleston, S.C. But they’re a far cry from the frigid reception she felt starting in 2007, during her first few years as superintendent of the expansive, racially and socio-economically diverse Charleston County (S.C.) School District (CCSD). “Charleston has had a notoriously difficult school board that has made [things] very contentious,” says McGinley. She’s talking in particular about a 2008 incident splattered across the front page of the Charleston Post and Courier and other local media. Five school board members told the Courier that another member—angry that an item of his might not make the next meeting’s agenda—told a district office employee that he had “gotten rid of one bitch and would get rid of another,” referring to Charleston’s previous superintendent By Jen Chase A South Carolina chief focuses on better principals, restructured management and community input. “P Nancy McGinley participates in an elementary reading activity last school year. NaNCy J. MCKiNley Superintendent, Charleston County School District Age: 57 Salary: $214,000 Tenure: Since 2007 Students: 46,000 Staff and faculty: 5,700 District size: 1,000 square miles Per-child expenditure: $9,279 Students receiving free and reduced-price lunch: 49 percent District dropout rate: 3 percent Web: www.ccsdschools.com 28 December 2012 Maria Goodloe-Johnson, and McGinley. “I’m the longest-running superintendent they have had because Charleston is a place where superintendents haven’t lasted,” says McGinley, adding that some previous board members bullied the school chiefs. “The previous superintendent would get emails from board members written at 2 a.m., directing her to do things. That’s the kind of nonsense that drives people away.” The rogue board member’s nasty comments (to which he admitted in a followup newspaper article) did the opposite of what he might have wanted: McGinley says that it galvanized her relationship with several members who believed in her and wanted to work with her, not against her. “We went on to make significant progress,” she says. Report Card Now, the school board, with a few new members, is more cohesive and has come to have a greater intolerance of bullying others. And she praises the new board cohesion and community support for new initiatives that she spearheaded that led to improvements such as the district’s recent best-ever South Carolina State Department of Education Report Card ratings two years ago. In 2010-2011 school year, the district received a “Good” Absolute Rating for its school performance exceeding the standards for progress according to the state’s “2020 SC Performance Vision,” and an “Excellent” Growth Rating for the district’s substantial improvement in the achievement of historically underachieving groups of students. But others found that McGinley was leading the way and behind the successes, and that she was just being modest. “At the onset, it was clear that [McGinley’s] work to create consistent curriculum standards and high expectations were one of her great strengths, which she has District Administration http://www.ccsdschools.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - December 2012

District Administration - December 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Special Education
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Fab Lab: Using Technology to Make (Almost) Anything!
Neuroscience in Schools
Three Squares at School
Top 100 DA Readers Choose Innovative Products of the Year
CIO News
Problem Solution
Crisis Response
Online Edge
Going Mobile

District Administration - December 2012