Editorials from across South Carolina: New teacher discipline appeals process, ethics priorities, highway safety

Teacher appeals

A Charleston County School Board policy change is saving tax dollars.… It’s likely that the board would have made the change years ago were it not for a state law that didn’t allow it. Teacher appeals had to be heard by the board in a process that was supposed to take less than a month.

Time is money: Delays in teacher appeals costing taxpayers

The travesty of teacher tenure

But that meant five of the board’s nine members had to attend those hearings, in addition to their regular school board and committee meetings. And coordinating the board’s schedule with teachers’ schedules and lawyers’ schedules sometimes took a long time. In one case, the board heard a teacher’s appeal nine months after she requested it.

During that time, she continued to receive what she had been getting in salary — and could only guess whether she would be re-hired or have to find other work.

The law was changed last year to allow school boards to use lawyers as hearing officers for the appeals, which are much like court hearings with witnesses, evidence and multiple lawyers.

As hearing officers, they compile the information and recommend to the board whether or not to reinstate the teacher.…

The difference is that the process goes more quickly so the district spends less money paying teachers who aren’t working. Even though it is paying for the lawyers’ time, the board still saves money.

The process is well informed by legal counsel with knowledge of pertinent laws, and teachers aren’t kept waiting months and months for their appeals to be resolved. They may, however, opt to appeal the board’s decision to district court.

Often lawmakers and school board members are criticized for how much they spend and how much red tape their constituents have to deal with.

But in this case both the General Assembly and the Charleston County School Board found a way to reduce costs and increase productivity. Good for them.

Ethics perspective

Maybe the Legislature will gain more ethics ground next year.

However, its focus should be on something more substantial than nitpicking USC’s practice of giving governors use of season football tickets and Williams-Brice Stadium executive suites at the Gamecocks’ home games. …

Haley can use luxury box only for business, ethics panel says

Chaney Adams, a spokeswoman for the governor, said that as in previous gubernatorial administrations, Haley has strictly used the suite “for state-related purposes, including economic development and business recruitment, because there’s no better way to showcase the great things going on in our state.”

Haley, a Clemson graduate, also has a Death Valley suite, provided by that university’s board members and others, for the Tigers’ home games.

And as long as those tickets and suites for either school’s games aren’t being sold to benefit Haley or anybody else, this gubernatorial perk hardly seems excessive or corrupting.

Instead, it seems like a home-field advantage for the state’s top elected official in the big game of bringing more business investment — and good jobs — to South Carolina.

Pedestrian deaths

Drivers, take note: Pedestrians have the right of way in crosswalks.

Pedestrians, take note: Auto-pedestrian accidents are on the rise.

South Carolina has lost 61 people to auto-pedestrian incidents so far this year, putting us on pace to nearly double last year’s auto-pedestrian fatalities of 60 for the whole year.

Walking gets deadlier, even as roads get safer for people in cars

S.C. roads twice as fatal as nationwide

Increased traffic congestion, distracted driving and more pedestrians have combined to make walking risky behavior.

Drivers must be more attentive, especially in urban areas where people may be walking nearby. …

Auto-pedestrian deaths are so tragic because many are ruled accidental. And in many cases drivers pay only nominal fines or face no citation at all.

In fact, South Carolina law says that drivers who hit a person outside of a crosswalk may be cited with a minor traffic infraction.

In crosswalks the punishments can be severe, but pedestrians should understand that fines are issued after there is accident that often lead to the pedestrian, not the driver, paying with their life.