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Mother concerned after learning special needs son will move schools

BERKELEY COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - A Moncks Corner mother is concerned after learning the students in her child's special needs class may all be moving schools.

Karen Crawford said she got a call Tuesday afternoon saying her third grade special needs son would be moving schools within the Berkeley County School District, from Berkeley Intermediate to Whitesville Elementary.

Officials with the Berkeley County School District said all decisions are made with the best interests of the students as the priority.

Crawford said her son, Garrison, has a language delay and after some testing was moved to a mild special needs class.

Crawford said since joining the class he's been on the honor roll and made improvements, but Crafowrd said she's now worried that moving schools could have an effect on him.

"Even his therapist is proud of his progress. It's just today I felt like I had a shock to my system when they called and said that he would have to go to Whitesville Elementary," said Crawford.

Crawford said that Tuesday was the first she learned her son would be moving schools.

Crawford said the lack of communication, and not knowing her son could be moving schools until now, is what has her upset.

"It wasn't so much that as it was the lack of communication that was given," said Crawford. "I felt they could have either given us a letter or met with all the parents that would be effected by this."

Officials with the district said the decision came from the special services team that's working to transition students back to their home schools, rather than be bused in to a school outside of the area they live.

Crawford said moving her son from Berkeley Intermediate to Whiteville Elementary would actually be further from her home.

"I felt like it was more targeted to the special needs children at Berkeley intermediate, a specific group of students specially children in Garrison's class, the special needs kids there," said Crawford.

District officials also said Whitesville is a K-5 school which will allow students to stay there without having transitioning to middle school.

Crawford said that is already the case for her child's current school.

Officials also said they encourage parents who are concerned to reach out to school and district staff, saying this is not intended to be a hard-lined stance.

Officials said they are always willing to work with parents to determining how to reach each's student's needs.

Crawford said she reached out to her school board member and was waiting to hear back.

Copyright 2018 WCSC. All rights reserved.

MONCKS CORNER — Whitesville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Tim Stephenson investigated a house fire last year in rural Berkeley County and came to this conclusion: “Sometimes, stuff burns down.”

The many issues that surrounded the blaze — which occurred just before 9 p.m. on a Saturday in January 2017 — underscore problems with much of the fire service in unincorporated Berkeley County, where many say homeowners pay high rates for inadequate service that leaves them vulnerable.

The Skyrocket Lane house was less than half a mile from the volunteer Pineville-Russellville Fire Department, but it still took about 14 minutes for the department to respond, Stephenson said. Crews from St. Stephen and Bonneau were also on scene.

“Understand that this is a volunteer fire service,” Stephenson said in his report to council in March. “There aren’t just people standing around at the fire house. Those guys come from home, get their gear on and grab the apparatus and then respond to the scene. ”

The initial call reported a car on fire in the garage. When firefighters arrived, the house was ablaze.

Complicating the issue, poor radio transmissions in the rural upper county made communication difficult.

Jerome Smalls, former chief of the department, was the first firefighter on the scene.

He responded in a brush truck instead of his vehicle, which was broken down. His vehicle couldn’t be repaired due to a lack of funding because of an ongoing investigation into the department. It turned out to be a good thing that Smalls was not in his Crown Victoria because the brush truck carried about 300 gallons of water that he used to fight the flames.

Stephenson concluded in his investigation that such a fire could have happened in the jurisdiction of any of Berkeley’s 25 volunteer fire departments.

“The guys did everything they needed to do to put the fire out,” he said at the time.

The incident occurred about four months before County Council voted to pay New York-based Manitou Inc. $54,175 to prepare a new report on improving the county’s fire service. Some Berkeley officials had talked for years about studying these departments, which act as independent contractors.

“The county is growing, and rural is no longer rural in some areas,” said Councilman Ken Gunn. “The point of the study is to better prepare Berkeley County. People are moving in, and they expect better services.”

For instance, residents in the Cane Bay Plantation mega-development off U.S. Highway 176, weary of high insurance rates and worried about their distance from the Whitesville department, have taken matters into their own hands to build a station in their neighborhood.

Residents have circulated a petition to create a special tax district, helped secure a $3 million rural development loan from U.S. Department of Agriculture and spearheaded several fundraising efforts.

They hope to break ground in the spring on the new station, which will be manned around the clock.

On Monday, Manitou representatives presented their findings to council’s Justice and Public Safety Committee. It said the county’s rural fire departments are plagued by bad record keeping, lack of training, antiquated equipment, deteriorating fire stations, lack of volunteers and poor funding.

The 141-page report lists about 35 recommendations, including merging some smaller departments and more oversight from the county.

But the committee tabled any action, noting that only 11 of the county’s 25 departments provided all of the records Manitou sought.

Macedonia, Forty-One and Pineville-Russellville departments did not respond to the survey at all, and 11 others either did not respond or provided insufficient details about their training programs and Insurance Service Office ratings, which determine homeowners’ fire insurance rates.

“Until the county receives a complete fire study, we cannot act on any recommendations,” said Councilman Tommy Newell, chairman of the committee. “If a fire department chose not to assist in releasing data for the study, they are in breach of contract with the county. I hope those fire departments will supply the data. It’s not to their benefit to withhold data critical for the study.”

The study also does not include how much debt the departments are carrying, council members said.

“We asked for specific things,” said Gunn, who chaired the Justice and Public Safety committee before Newell. “Five years ago, the combined rural fire departments were over $10 million in debt. I don’t know if that number has gone up, down, or stayed the same since then, and I specifically asked for that information.”

Stephenson said Tuesday he was disappointed at council’s response to the study.

“I understand that some of the data was missing, but I don’t think that it takes away from the overall meaning of the study itself,” he said. “The basis for moving forward is there, and I hope we don’t put this plan off too long.”

He said there was “100 percent buy-in” from the fire chiefs, and he believes that they turned over what information they had. But he noted that the study found a deficiency in record-keeping.

“A lot of this stuff is still done on legal pads,” he said. “Some of the departments don’t even have computers.”

At issue is what the county might do to provide them further support. The departments currently are funded largely by a $75 fire fee paid by property owners in unincorporated areas. The fee, which generates $4.2 million annually, was increased by $5 in 2015.

That sum is not enough to fund all of the departments’ needs in the rapidly growing county, leading Supervisor Bill Peagler to suggest a property tax charge instead of a flat fee.

“We are all looking for better fire protection,” Stephenson said. “It has to come with a cost, so hopefully community residents are willing to pay.”

Reach Brenda Rindge at 843-937-5713. Follow her on Twitter @brindge.

BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – A Berkeley County man who filed a lawsuit against the South Carolina Department of Transportation plans to donate some of the money from that settlement to the Whitesville Rural Fire Department.

The lawsuit was filed after the plaintiff, Tom Fernandez, said the state agency blocked him from commenting on their Facebook posts.

“The SCDOT made a video on Facebook talking about how they repair potholes, and I disagreed with the content of their video. I told them so in a post,” said Fernandez.

He said the agency deleted his comment and banned him from their Facebook page.

Fernandez is a lawyer. “You know, one: why did you ban it? It was not inflammatory and you’re a government agency silencing me for disagreeing with your conduct. I was unconstitutional,” he said.

When the SCDOT would not remove their ban, he filed a lawsuit claiming his 1^st amendment rights were violated.

The case went to trial on Monday of this week.

“Our first day of trial went really well for us,” he said. “That evening, SCDOT called requesting a settlement.”

They agreed to pay him $315,000 to settle the case. He said after paying his lawyer, he will donate the rest of the money to the Whitesville Rural Fire Department.

The SCDOT’s Secretary of Transportation, Christy Hall, sent us a statement regarding the lawsuit and settlement:

“The legal landscape around the use and management of social media platforms is constantly evolving as well as the technology itself. As stated recently by the US Supreme Court, today’s digital social media platforms provide avenues for historically unprecedented amounts of speech.

SCDOT engages in the use of social media to provide information to the public and in 2018, SCDOT was involved in a first amendment dispute involving social media comments. After recent negotiations, a settlement was agreed to by both parties in this particular case acknowledging no liability, no wrongdoing or otherwise by the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

The South Carolina Department of Transportation supports a person’s first amendment right to free speech in our Country. It is a fundamental component of our democracy and is core to our values.”

Fernandez says he is not keeping any of the settlement money, since it is taxpayer dollars. “It’s a clear warning to every state and local government agency, and every politician to not retaliate against citizens when they disagree with their conduct,” he said.

Whitesville Rural Fire Department Chief Stephenson said they plan to take the money and convert one of their fire engines into a paramedic engine, adding capabilities that you would normally find on an ambulance. The only exception is that it won’t be used to transport patients.

Whitesville Elementary in Moncks Corner encourages creativity and creates an atmosphere that promotes pride and academic excellence. We’re in Berkeley county for our Cool School of the week.

Music teacher Mr. Stokes greets students at Whitesville Elementary every morning with a warm smile and serenade on his ukulele. Whitesville Elementary is a diverse school with nearly 12-hundred students in pre-k through fifth grade. I In addition to the traditional classroom setting, Whitesville also offers Montessori education. Students have an outdoor classroom, nature trail, and garden as well.

The Palmetto Silver Award winning school has a large number of students with special needs, and services in place to assist them.

WES is an award winning Title One school with a focus on family engagement. Students use technology throughout the school. Principal Katie Taie says, “We’ve got chrome books and iPads in the classroom to make it interactive, smartboards in every classrooms. We’ve got three computer labs. We’ve also have opportunities to attend and participate in after school activities, such as clubs, art club, chorus, running club, we have an outdoor classroom here and a nature trail. Whitesville Elementary is a Cool School because we’ve got hard working students. We’ve got dedicated teachers, and supportive parents.” First grade teacher Jessica Levine says, “Students can take their writing and take a picture of their writing and add words to it with their voice using apps such as chatter pics, or they can use adobe voice. I also like how the students in my class they upload they work on app where their parents can actually access all of the multi media samples that they produce in the classrooms.” “The teachers here they do so much to make learning fun. If there is anyway to make learning fun, they will do it,” says fourth grade student Jacob Litsair. Student Tia Ortiz says she likes the teachers. Mitzi Crawford s a special education teacher at Whitesville. Crawford says, “I’ve been here for 23 years. It is the coolest school ever. We have a high staff that stays here and works hard with the students. We teach students academically, but not only academically, but we also want them to be well rounded citizens in our community.”

Whitesville has a PBIS store to reward students for positive behavior. They have a nature trail located behind the school, which gives students the opportunity to explore in an outdoor classroom setting.

Coming up tonight on News 2 at 5pm, we’ll take a closer look at Whitesville’s community partnerships.

We want to hear about the good things that are going on at your school, just send an email to Octavia at omitchell@wcbd.com.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Dr. Emily England Clyburn, the wife of House Majority Whip and South Carolina sixth district representative Jim Clyburn, passed away Thursday morning at the age of 80.

She was born in Whitesville in Berkeley County and was preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Mattie England, as well as siblings Arthur England and Mattie Mae England Wadley.

She graduated from Berkeley Training High School in Moncks Corner and later earned a bachelor’s in library science from South Carolina State in 1961. In 1977, she received a Masters in Librarianship from the University of South Carolina.

My prayers are with @WhipClyburn and his family today as he mourns the loss of his wife Dr. Emily England Clyburn.

— Tim Scott (@SenatorTimScott) September 19, 2019

Her husband, Jim, was also a member of the SCSU class of 1961. The pair were married for 58 years after they met in jail when he was incarcerated for campus activism.

Jim Clyburn represents the South Carolina sixth district in the House, which includes most of North Charleston. He was elected to the seat in 1992 and has held it ever since.

Charleston Rep. Wendell Gilliard issued a statement saying he was saddened to learn of Clyburn’s passing.

“A strong and devoted woman, ‘Ms. Emily’ stood with her husband through good times and bad and helped many South Carolina students pursue their interests through education, hard work, and determination,” Gilliard said. “May we all strive to remember her and honor her by doing the same for others.”

Amanda and I are heartbroken by Ms. Emily’s passing. Our prayers are with @WhipClyburn + his family. She was a force of nature in our state - a champion for equality, opportunity, and education - who never stopped striving to make SC better. This is a tremendous loss for us all.

— Archived: Rep. Joe Cunningham (@RepCunningham) September 19, 2019

“I am deeply saddened to have learned of the passing of Emily England Clyburn," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said. “She was one of the most kind and dynamic people I had ever met and lived a consequential life changing South Carolina and the United States for the better.”

“Ms. Emily” was a member of the Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston and a life member of the NAACP. She was a public-school librarian in Columbia and Charleston before spending 29 years as a medical librarian at the Charleston Naval Base and Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia.

Funeral services will be held next Monday at Morris Brown AME at 11 a.m. She will then be buried at Crescent Hill Memorial in Columbia.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions be made to the Emily England Clyburn Honors College Endowment at South Carolina State University and the Emily E. Clyburn Huddle Room at the Cathy Novinger Girl Scout Leadership Center in Columbia.

Copyright 2019 WCSC. All rights reserved.