Date Published: October 30, 2005   

Delegation should take lead on career center

Rep. Murrell Smith came to the rescue of the Sumter community this week when he sought an opinion on which body has the authority to change the governance of the Sumter County Career Center.

Johnathan Bryan, attorney for the county, had offered his opinion, saying that under the law of home rule, Sumter County Council could re-align the center the way it wanted to. The opinion solicited by Smith from the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee contradicted Bryan’s, stating that the General Assembly is the only body with that authority.

The career center, once a thriving part of the local education system, has been the focus of local debate for the last month and a point of contention for many industrial leaders for well beyond that. Everyone agrees that the vocational center will never return to its former glory under its current setup, which includes a director and a board that consists of members of School Districts 2 and 17 and the community. There are several ex-officio members, including the superintendents from both districts and the president of Central Carolina Technical College.

The plans being debated are turning the governance over to Central Carolina, which operates the F.E. Dubose Center in Manning, or to the district superintendents. Turning it over to CCTC was originally brought before county council by Councilman Charles Edens. It was endorsed in an editorial by this paper two weeks ago and by the Greater Sumter Chamber of Commerce.

Giving the authority to the superintendents is an option apparently only supported by county council — by a slim margin.

Why does county council support this concept? In public meetings and in an article published in The Item on Oct. 29, the superintendents offered no real plan of action, only that they want to run it. You would think that if they wanted the chance, they would be standing on the roof tops and shouting out what they believe will work.

A reasonable assumption is they haven’t because they don’t know. And that’s OK because they’re not the only ones. But they should understand that it’s their responsibility to back away if they have no real plan.

Two members of county council made interesting comments at a recent meeting.

“I heard tonight that the superintendents’ plates are full,” Roland Robinson said. “How do you know?”

The answer to that question, Mr. Robinson, is we don’t, but Baker and Jefferson do. It an article published in The Item on March 13, Jefferson said she works 70-plus hours a week. Baker said he worked 70 to 80 a week. When will they have time to not just operate the career center but actually fix it? When it gets down to it, when do they eat and sleep?

Eugene Baten said, “It is their job and only their job to educate these kids.”

That comment hardly needs shooting down, but we’ll give it a try.

Superintendents play a vital role in the world of academia, but the world of vocation is altogether different. Training and educating a workforce is hardly their area of expertise.

And while Smith might have saved the day, the words of another legislator, Phil Leventis, leave something to be desired. He said he hopes that everyone can agree on a course of action, which will make all of this bickering moot.

In the real world, what are the chances that there will be a consensus on this issue?

Those in government should govern. We are speaking specifically about Sumter’s Legislative Delegation. Their leadership in this situation is sorely needed.

Again, that’s what they were elected to do.