News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 14, 2008

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                                                                                City of Sumter (803) 436-2578

Let’s Make Consolidation Work

Mayor Joe McElveen

            I am proud to be a Sumterite.  Serving as mayor of my hometown has been a highlight of my life.  I don’t believe there is any better place to live than right here in Sumter.

            I’m sixty-one years old now, so I have seen our citizens accomplish some remarkable things.  Not the least of our accomplishments was overcoming the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.  During the days after Hugo hit, I saw folks from all over our community pulling together and helping each other, motivated only by kind hearts and the knowledge that all of us were hurting.  We could have waited for outside help.  We could have grumbled.  But instead, men and women were on the streets clearing trees and limbs and helping neighbors before City or County trucks were on the scene.  What was in fact a tragedy became a triumph for our community.

            Today we are facing another challenge.  This challenge is not a natural disaster, but it can blow us away if we do not act wisely.  That challenge is the consolidation of our two public school districts.

            Over the last year, I have read many good letters and heard many persuasive arguments on both sides of the consolidation issue.  Having been in public life in Sumter in one form or another for my entire adult life, I know that each district has programs and practices it worked hard to develop, often against difficult obstacles.  On the other hand, the trend in our state has been moving towards legislatively mandated district consolidation for a long time; it is inevitable.  The point now is that our two districts have been consolidated by a statute of the South Carolina General Assembly which has been ratified by the governor.  It is the law.

            So let’s put behind us the debate about whether our districts should be consolidated and not look back.  Let’s work together as a community—regardless of where we live or what schools we have supported in the past—to build the best public school district anywhere.  If we look forward and plan our future, the sky is the limit for public education in Sumter.  If we decide to look back and long for the past, we will be short-changing our children, our grandchildren, and ourselves.

            To move forward each entity and each person involved must respect the other’s opinions and ideas.  The fact that a position is strongly held does not mean that it is the only positive solution.  With open minds and sharing of ideas, we can often take good features from several ideas to come up with the best solution.  This is the attitude I encourage our school district leaders and the transition committee to adopt.

            As we evolve from two districts to one, I strongly suggest that every long-range plan of each district be evaluated in the context of the upcoming consolidation.  Our two districts must continue educating children despite the change in the law; but they should not continue with construction plans and operational changes which may be contrary to the concept of consolidation. 

Specifically, the public is very concerned about the intention of School District No. 17 to build a new administration building.  I encourage the Board of District 17 to exercise its authority as the policy-maker for the District and at the very least put this project on hold until it can get input from the soon-to-be-appointed consolidation transition committee.  Moving forward with construction of the administration building at this time has the potential to destroy the progress that has been made to date.  More importantly, such a move can create an atmosphere of resentment and distrust among citizens which will be hard to overcome.

We Sumterites should be very proud of our community.  Sumter led the State in creation of industrial jobs in the 1990’s and no other community in the world has two Caterpillar plants.  Shaw Air Force Base grew in the most recent phase of Base Relocation and Closing Committee (BRAC), when many other communities lost a base or had it shrink.  Our Palmetto Tennis Center is recognized as one of the best facilities in the country and Swan Lake Iris Gardens has been listed as one of the top 100 places to visit.  I can give other examples where our community has succeeded, often against the odds.  We have proved in the past that we can be the best. 

            Let’s prove it again.