The Other Side Of The Story About Accreditation In Pickens County ...

Conservatives,

I want to warn all of you about believing anything that comes out of the Concerned Citizens of Pickens County (CCPC).

They have been circulating lies about the accreditation of Pickens County Schools.

1. We have been guaranteed by Superintendent Kelly Pew (news release) and by the School Board (release) that the Pickens County Schools have been approved for accreditation.

There were several items for us to straighten out before the next five year / Phase II part of the process which will come in 2019. So you see the untruths that this group is capable of.

The situation reminds me of the information that was put out by Upstate Forever and the City of Easley concerning the Doodle Railroad trail.

2. The petition (found here) that is on change.org and the page on facebook (found here) requires you to "LIKE" the propaganda they are pushing in order for you to see who is supporting this, voting, and making comments.

Yesterday, when I looked at the site they had 1540 "likes" on their "site". In this figure were people who said they liked it just to get a look at the people who said they liked it.

There are people all over the upstate; not just from Pickens County on these pages. Also, take into account that one can place ANY location they wish on the change.org petition.

What they are not telling you is that this is not about accreditation, but about another new middle school in Easley. They want to spend another $35 million on a school they don't need and one they could have had if they had not crammed the old Easley High School down the throats of the School Board.

What's even worse is that their representative at the School Board meeting this week stated they had 10,000 people signed up, then gave a significantly lower number (+/- 5000) to the press (see here). As it turns out, there appears to be somewhere around 900 including people outside Pickens County. But note that most are from Easley!

The truth never entered into the equation.

3. From the beginning of the fiasco, to get a second Easley Middle School, former at large school board member Kevin Kay stated that he was going to do "whatever it took" to get a second middle school.

Whatever it took?

The spendthrifts in Easley are trying to get the old board back. A board where they had at large members from Easley and Clemson controlling the Board.

So I ask you. Is this fair to the people in Pickens, Six Mile, and Liberty?

I say not!

In years past, I remember when school board member Alex Saitta could not even get his recommendations to the old board seconded. I

If these folks railroad their way in and on to the board, prepare for your taxes to skyrocket!

There are now 40 mils that you pay in Pickens County for schools when the actual number should be zero according to Act 388 (see here) and South Carolina Constitution Article XI Section 3 (see here).

I ask you another question …

Why won't Pickens Senator Martin, and Reps. Davey Hiott, and B.R. Skelton not jump in and help their constituents?

Junius Smith
President, COTU