Back in the spring, my news outlet filed several reports on Charleston Day – one of the state of South Carolina’s most exclusive private schools. According to those reports, the Lowcountry institution was facing scrutiny over its disbursement of various federal funds provided the Covid-19 pandemic.

Specifically, federal investigators had reportedly been provided information related to Charleston Day’s 2021 application for federal funding via the Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) program.

According to records provided by the S.C. Department of Education (SCDE) – which administered this program in the Palmetto State – Charleston Day requested $103,185.29 in EANS funding last spring, of which it received $79,777.82.

What’s the big deal?

(Click to view)

(Via: FITSNews/ YouTube)

On its initial EANS application, Charleston Day reported a total student enrollment of 258 – of which 131 were purportedly “students from low-income families enrolled in the private school in the 2019-2020 school year.”

Wait … more than half of students at one of the Palmetto State’s costliest, most prestigious institutions are impoverished?

As I wrote back in March, the notion that 50.78 percent of students at one of the most exclusive private academies in the wealthiest city in South Carolina hailed from “low-income families” was greeted with derision from our audience.

“It is such an incredulous assertion that many of our readers – including Charleston Day parents – doubted the veracity of our original reporting regarding the school’s application,” I noted.

They aren’t doubting it now, though …

(Via: S.C. Department of Education)

In addition to alleged irregularities on the school’s EANS application, questions were raised about various Charleston Day disbursements tied to the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) – which doled out an estimated $953 billion to businesses, self-employed workers, sole proprietorships and select nonprofits across the nation in response to the Covid-19 economic downturn.

Charleston Day received an estimated $570,200 in PPP loans, money which ostensibly went to the school’s payroll.

School officials have told me they “worked diligently to ensure we complied with both the letter and the spirit” of various federal aid programs Charleston Day benefited from – however the veracity of that assertion is very much up for discussion.

Just this week, in fact, my news outlet obtained a copy of a report prepared earlier this year related to Charleston Day’s various alleged financial irregularities. Not only did this document delve into the school’s “possible misrepresentations” on the EANS application – it addressed rumored “invalid” PPP expenditures. Furthermore, it cited “outsized and immediate retaliatory conduct in (the) wake of questions regarding (the) valid use of PPP funds.”

Wait … retaliatory conduct? What is this about?

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DON’T MISS A STORY …

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Prior to my reporting on Charleston Day’s finances, I filed a story on how school leaders removed a trustee (and kicked his three children out of school) after he and his wife raised questions about the Charleston Day’s shifting Covid-19 policies.

The trustee in question – Charleston, S.C. attorney Matt Austin – formerly worked for the office of the U.S. attorney in South Carolina. His wife, Francie Austin, is the deputy city attorney for North Charleston, S.C.

To read my exclusive report on Austin’s unceremonious dismissal from the school’s board (and Charleston Day’s decision to visit the alleged “sins of the father” on his three children), click here.

“They essentially stole money,” one infuriated Charleston Day parent who perused the report told me. “Then they ousted the person who wanted to make it right. And kicked his children out of the school.”

According to the report, the fraudulent spending allegations leveled against the school have merit – especially as it relates to the inflated low-income student count.

“Very few students qualify for financial aid for tuition, let alone a majority of students as represented by CDS in its application,” the report noted. “This metric is easily quantifiable since low-income families seeking financial aid must submit tax and supporting documentation demonstrating need before receiving aid or assistance.”

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Nearby private schools Porter-Gaud and Mason Prep listed only four percent and one percent of their student populations as low-income on EANS applications, the report claimed.

The report further alleged that unspent federal funds were improperly “moved to the (school’s) endowment” even though federal law required that “any unspent funds … must be returned.”

Founded in 1937, Charleston Day caters to the Holy City’s elite – with wealthy parents shelling out nearly $20,000 per year, per child on its kindergarten programs and nearly $28,000 per year, per child for students attending first through eighth grade, according to its tuition page.

Is that expensive? Yes. Although in fairness, South Carolina’s government-run schools are spending nearly $18,000 per child in the current fiscal year to produce vastly inferior outcomes – and not just compared to the state’s elite private academies.

Still, the allegations against Charleston Day – and the acrimony over the ouster of the Austins’ children – is having a ripple effect on the institution. According to my sources, at least three families have withdrawn their children from the school since the beginning of the current school year – with several more families considering such a move.

“The campus is falling down around them,” one source told me this week, referring to head of school Judith Foley Arnstein and her allies. “Students are dropping like flies.”

Things are likely to get worse before they get better, too. In addition to the growing investigative scrutiny, sources close to this case say multiple civil lawsuits against Charleston Day are imminent.

Stay tuned …

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(Via: FITSNews)

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.

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SOUTH CAROLINA’S LATEST NEWS IN YOUR INBOX …

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Charleston, Sept. 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Charleston, South Carolina -

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No. 8 ETSU drops SoCon opener to The Citadel, 20-17

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Missed opportunities and penalties plagued the ETSU football team in Saturday’s Southern Conference opener, as the eighth-ranked Buccaneers suffered a 20-17 setback to The Citadel on Colby Kinter’s walk-off 39-yard field inside Johnson Hagood Stadium.

The Bucs, who went 2-for-4 in red zone chances, had their first possession stopped at the Bulldog one-yard line, while Tyler Riddell (Tampa, Fla.) was then picked off on a 2nd-and-7 play at The Citadel 10-yard line with ETSU trailing 17-14 at the 13:03 mark of the fourth quarter. The final dagger came when Trace Kelley (Gallatin, Tenn.) pinned The Citadel at its three-yard line with 3:05 remaining in the game, but just when it felt like the Bucs were prime to force a three-and-out situation, the Bulldogs ripped consecutive runs of 31 and 32-yards to eventually set up the game-winning field goal by Colby Kinter as time expired.

To go with the missed chances, ETSU committed eight penalties for 80 yards – four of which were 15-yard flags.

After opening the season with a 37-point win over Mars Hill, the Bucs now dropped to 1-1 overall and 0-1 in conference play. The Citadel, who suffered a 19-point loss last week at Campbell, improved to 1-1 overall and 1-0 in league play.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Citadel 3, ETSU 0: On the first possession of the game, The Citadel drove 59 yards on seven plays and took an early 3-0 lead on a 36-yard field goal by Colby Kinter.

The Citadel 10, ETSU 0: After the Bucs drove to The Citadel one-yard line on their opening possession and came away empty, ETSU was unable to gain momentum on offense, and the Bulldogs extended their lead. Peyton Derrick hit Tyler Cherry for a 17-yard pass play, capping a 15-play, 82-yard drive that covered nearly nine minutes and The Citadel led 10-0 with 3:50 left before halftime.

The Citadel 10, ETSU 7: The Bucs finally broke through on their final possession of the first half when Tyler Riddell hit Will Huzzie (Duluth, Ga.) for a 2-yard score, making it a 10-7 game with 1:03 remaining before intermission. The drive saw the Bucs go 75 yards on 10 plays in just under three minutes with Riddell completing six of his seven passes for 70 yards, including a 26-yard strike to Huzzie to move the ball inside the Bulldog 2-yard line.

The Citadel 17, ETSU 7: Following a 50-yard punt return that set the Bulldogs up inside the ETSU 20-yard line, The Citadel scored seven plays later on a 5-yard run via 3rd-and-goal, putting the hosts up by 10.

The Citadel 17, ETSU 14: ETSU wasted little time responding to the Bulldogs’ score as a 34-yard kickoff return by Ton’Quez Ball (Knoxville, Tenn.) started the drive at the Bucs’ 39-yard line. Following a five-yard run by Jacob Saylors (Jasper, Tenn.), the SoCon Preseason Offensive Player of the Year broke through for a 56-yard score to cap off a 2-play, 61-yard drive in only 43 seconds.

Fourth Quarter

ETSU 17, The Citadel 17: After missing out on a golden opportunity early in the fourth quarter where ETSU had the ball inside the Bulldog 15-yard line and threw an interception in the end zone, the Bucs finally pulled even when Tyler Keltner (Tallahassee, Fla.) connected on a 28-yard field goal, making it 17-17 with 7:39 remaining.

The Citadel 20, ETSU 17: Starting the final drive from its 16-yard line, ETSU was unable to break through for the go-ahead score as the Bucs’ stalled at their 46-yard line. Despite Kelley’s punt pinning the Bulldogs at the 3-yard line, The Citadel used the final three minutes and five seconds to go 75 yards on nine plays, setting up the 39-yard game-winning field goal. Logan Billings, who rushed for 102 yards on 15 carries, had back-to-back runs over 30 yards to put The Citadel into field goal range.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

ETSU totaled 351 yards of offense (183 rushing/168 passing), compared to The Citadel finishing with 327 yards (246 rushing/81 passing)

The Citadel won the time of possession, 39:16 to 20:44 … In the second half, the Bulldogs had the ball for 20:57

ETSU’s average field position was its own 38-yard line, compared to The Citadel starting at its own 23

Chandler Martin (Lithonia, Ga.) set the single-game program record for tackles as he notched 23 hits and one tackle for loss … The previous record was held by Nakia Thomas who had 22 tackles against Appalachian State in 1993

Jacob Saylors rushed for 187 yards and one touchdown, while he was tackled behind the line of scrimmage once … Saylors registered his eighth career 100-yard rushing game, while the 187 yards marked his second highest output behind last year’s record-setting 266-yard performance at Western Carolina … Saylors finished with 233 all-purpose yards as he added one catch for 46 yards … For his career, Saylors now has 4,682 all-purpose yards and 2,794 rushing yards

Will Huzzie registered a touchdown reception for the second straight game as he finished with five catches (nine targets) for 51 yards and one score

Timmy Dorsey (Oakland, Calif.) finished with a career-high 10 tackles, while Rodney Wright (Athens, Ga.) and Stephen Scott (Greensboro, N.C.) each finished with nine hits

After completing 74 percent of his passes in the season opener, Tyler Riddell finished 13-of-24 for 168 yards with one touchdown and one interception

Ton’Quez Ball had two kickoff returns for 62 yards, including the long of 34 yards

With the loss, ETSU – who had won the last two games in the series – moves to 18-13 all-time against The Citadel

The Bucs moved to 16-16 all-time in SoCon openers and are now 4-3 in league openers since returning to the conference in 2016

UP NEXT

ETSU returns home to take on Furman next Saturday, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. inside Greene Stadium.

More News Main

Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer, and while June, July and August are always hot and humid, we’re pleased that temperatures here during the past few months were actually a bit below average. That’s good news because extreme heat can be more than uncomfortable, costly and destructive; it can be lethal.

We are fortunate that we dodged the kind of brutal heat waves that battered other parts of the U.S. – such as Minnesota, where triple-digit temperatures caused pavement to buckle and car windows to shatter – but we’d be foolish to expect that summer weather in the future will be as relatively kind to us.

That’s why we need to continue to look at all sorts of changes, big and small, we can make in our communities to adapt them to a hotter climate – and to safeguard the health of our elderly, infirm and young, all of whom are more vulnerable to extreme heat.

One good example of that work is the Charleston County Public Works Department’s successful experiment to add a special ingredient, titanium dioxide, to the sealant applied to recently paved streets to prolong their longevity. This began last year and included the neighborhood streets in Charleston’s Rosemont community and also Bennett Street downtown.

The county got the results this year, and it found those resurfaces were four times more reflective than untreated roads, making them cooler. Testing from Texas A&M University also found the coating helped reduce harmful vehicle emissions by 39% because, as vehicular exhaust travels across the road, it is oxidized and its harmful emissions are broken down. It also eliminated 94% of microplastic debris that otherwise might have entered local waters.

As a result, this fall the county will soon add titanium dioxide to the sealant on 31 additional streets, including some downtown and near the interstate in North Charleston, says county pavement manager Mackenzie Kelley. “The benefit is determined by the location, population density and the amount of traffic,” she tells us. Titanium dioxide can be harmful if inhaled, but it’s used here as part of a wet mix applied on top of a road; since it’s not airborne, no one breathes it in.

Charleston County is among the leaders in South Carolina in exploring innovative technologies to keep streets and neighborhoods cooler. Nationally, several other cities are getting into the game as well. Phoenix is working on a cool pavement pilot program and has found that it can reduce the average surface temperature by about 11 degrees at noon and in the afternoon and by more than 2 degrees at sunrise. We urge other local governments to consider how they can keep their streets cooler, whether by tweaking the recipe for their pavement or planting additional street trees to provide both beauty and shade.

We also are encouraged by new research underway in downtown Charleston’s Gadsden Green public housing complex. Previous research showed that this area, which has a relative lack of mature trees, is one of downtown’s heat islands – a section of the city that gets relatively hotter and therefore poses a greater health risk to residents and others passing through.

Last month, Gadsden Green residents began learning how they can measure the temperature, humidity, wind speeds and more at specific points within their community. The project is supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is being led by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium, the city of Charleston, The Citadel and Climate Adaptation Partners, along with the Charleston Housing Authority, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina.

The data will show how different landscape and building materials can store and radiate different amounts of heat. The temperatures will be recorded by Kestrel Wet Bulb Globe Temperature devices and FLIR Infrared devices – new technologies that give us more information than traditional thermometers.

A latter phase this year will summarize the results and detail the effect of extreme heat on the environment and personal health. Residents will learn more about the risks and steps they can take to protect themselves. Those interested in learning more can visit scseagrant.org/chhrp.

We’re lucky that our temperatures never escalated this summer to the point where we made international (or even national) news.

And we’re lucky to have a relatively new, broad-based effort to learn more about how heat affects our environment, our community and our neighbors. And we’re lucky to see some early initiatives that will translate what we’re learning into meaningful action as we build and rebuild.

But to continue to adapt successfully to the hotter summers that are expected in the future, we need to continue to create our own luck. Making ourselves and our neighbors more resilient to extreme heat is cool, in every sense of the word.

CHARLESTON, S.C. - JJ Goss spun six quality innings on the mound and Junior Caminero went 4-4 with three runs batted in as the Charleston RiverDogs took game one of the Carolina League South Division Championship Series at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park on Tuesday night. The game was played in front of a boisterous crowd of 4,004 fans. The series will resume in Myrtle Beach on Thursday with the RiverDogs needing one more victory to advance to the championship series.

Ryan Spikes opened the RiverDogs scoring in the second inning with a solo home run to left field that just evaded the glove of outfielder Ezequiel Pagan. Caminero added to the lead in his next two at-bats. The designated hitter drove in Shane Sasaki with a two-out single through the right side in the third and then brought in Carson Williams with another two-out single in the fifth for a 3-0 lead.

Goss kept Myrtle Beach hitters off balance all night long, working 6.0 innings and scattering seven hits with three strikeouts. The only damage against him came on a solo home run by Kevin Alcantara in the sixth inning. Goss earned the win. for his efforts.

The remainder of the offense for Charleston came in a multi-run seventh inning against Johzan Oquendo. Two walks and a single loaded the bases with no outs for Caminero. This time, the hitter fell behind 0-2 in the count. He made an adjustment and collected another RBI single with a base hit right back up the middle into center field. Following a pitching change, Willy Vasquez drove in the final two runs with a groundball single to right field that increased the margin to 6-1.

Antonio Jimenez stranded a pair of base runners in each of his two innings on the mound to get the game to the final inning. At that point, Roel Garcia slammed the door by striking out the side around a pair of walks.

Caminero went 4-4 with three RBI and a double to lead all players. Sasaki and Spikes also collected multiple hits in the win. Myrtle Beach finished with seven hits, two each from Josue Huma and Alcantara.

Ballpark Fun

The RiverDogs opened the postseason with a festive atmosphere at The Joe. Director of Fun Bill Murray was in attendance and surprised the crowd by sending a first pitch all the way to the backstop and then throwing the ball into the crowd. Fans were handed playoff T-shirts as they entered the ballpark and enjoyed $1 beers throughout the game.

Game two of the series is set for Myrtle Beach on Thursday night at 7:05 p.m. It will be a battle of southpaws as LHP Alex Ayala Jr. gets the call for the RiverDogs and Myrtle Beach will counter with LHP Didier Vargas.

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