Taylors First Baptist Possible Site for New High School

Published: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - Greer Citizen

Greer Middle College's principal, its Planning Board, a good sampling of parents and a sprinkling of students who have been accepted at Greenville County's newest high school converged at Greenville Tech's Greer Campus on Tuesday night. Names on paper became faces mirroring hopeful anticipation as this group made its first steps walking together.

Greer Middle College (GMC) is a public charter high school which will ultimately be located in a new building on Greenville Tech's Greer campus. GMC will be a small school (400 students) with personalized learning and support for students who want to begin taking college classes for dual credit while in high school. It will open August 12, 2008 with 100 ninth graders.

The first order of business at Tuesday's meeting was to welcome the middle college's recently acquired principal, Ms. Jean Williams. Ms. Williams, a South Carolina native, traveled here from California where she has recently been honored as the 2007 Santa Ana Unified School District Administrator of the Year to spend her spring break filling faculty and staff positions. Ms. Williams announced that she had filled all but one teaching position for the new school. She also stated the school currently has 60 students enrolled and is continuing to take applications. Additional information can be found on the school's website at www.greermiddlecollege.org.

Planning Board members Fred Crawford, Darryl Cowan and Keith Jones shared progress on efforts to find a home for the school's first year of operation. Since Greenville Tech's Greer Campus is at capacity without the addition of the charter school's population, an alternate plan is underway to house the school's freshman class of 100. "Many charter schools begin without a defined site," stated Mr. Crawford, principal of Greenville Tech Charter High School, but it is established that Greer Middle College will be located on Greenville Tech's Greer Campus by 2009 and could be housed there next school year if the planning board determines that school district surplus portables are the best housing option. However, as Mr. Crawford stated, "We are trying to be good stewards of our funding," and since 9th graders would not need to be on campus the first year (the middle college concept of integrating high school students into tuition free college classes begins at the 10th grade level), another option would offer significant savings. A motion was made and unanimously passed to accept the Facility Committee's recommendation to forward with a plan to negotiate a lease and secure a certificate of occupancy to locate the school at Taylor's First Baptist Church for the 2008-2009 school year. This plan will give the board time to prepare the site on the Greer Tech Campus for the following year.

Mr. Crawford expressed concern that much of the community is still unaware of the opportunities available in the middle college setting and is somewhat confused about the term "charter school." He then explained that Greer Middle College is a public charter school. That is, it is a public school with local control. The present board was formed for the purpose of planning and implementing the charter. Every student's parent, along with the school's faculty and staff, will vote to elect a new 11 member school board in October. The school offers an intentionally small learning environment with project based learning, instruction at a mastery level of 80%, required academic assistance for scores below that level, required parental involvement, and tuition free college credit beginning at the 10th grade level while remaining true to South Carolina state standards for high school curriculum and state diploma. Greer Middle College is a public high school, funded by tax dollars as are other public schools except that there is no funding for facilities, transportation, or food service.

Many parents and some students participated in a lengthy question and answer period following adjournment of the meeting. Ms. Williams personally spoke with many of the parents and students after the Q&A. She is finishing her school year in California, but she will return to Greer in early June to host an open house for all students, parents and faculty. Ms. Williams will locate to the area by July 1 to begin this new phase of her career.

Greer Middle College will be a member of the Middle College National Consortium and the High School Initiative, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Board members Jill Rose and Mikelle Porter will make a site visit to a California middle college in late April.

The school is also part of the Coalition of Essential Schools Small schools Project. Newly hired English teacher Frankie Casey and board member Karen Kennedy will represent Greer Middle College in Memphis on the 19th of the month.

The next meeting of the board will be on the Greenville Tech Greer Campus on May 13.