Charleston County School District Superintendent Gerrita Postlewait resigned from her position after a closed-door school board meeting on Dec. 29.
The Charleston County School Board voted 6-1 to accept Postlewait's resignation after an hour-and-a-half executive session. The board rarely holds meetings during school breaks, when all district offices are closed. Charleston County students are expected to return to school on Jan. 4.
Postlewait's resignation is effective Jan. 2, but she will continue to work for the school district through June 30. The board did not specify what her position will be. The board named Chief Financial Officer Don Kennedy as interim superintendent.
In a provided statement, Postlewait said she "will do everything she can to ensure a smooth transition of leadership."
“I have enjoyed immensely the opportunity to serve Charleston County students, personnel, parents and the greater community over the past seven years,” Postlewait said. ”I am heartened by the many accomplishments and accolades CCSD has received and am especially proud of the selfless service teachers, staff and leaders have provided during the Covid-19 pandemic."
Postlewait, who earned $237,248 in the 2020-21 school year, received a "good" rating from the board in her annual evaluation on Sept. 13.
The 6-1 vote was made by a school board with the majority of its members in their first year of their terms. Board members Lauren Herterich, Kristen French, Helen Frazier, Erica Cokley and Courtney Waters were all elected in November 2020.
Frazier was the only board member to vote against the measure. Cokley abstained from the vote and board member Cindy Bohn Coats was not present at the meeting.
Chairman Eric Mack and board members Kate Darby and Joyce Green make up the rest of the board.
Coats, who said she was working and unable to attend the meeting, said Postlewait's resignation came as a surprise to her. The board and public were notified of the meeting on Dec. 28. Board members are typically notified about special-called meetings days in advance, she said.
"Thank goodness Mr. Kennedy was able to meet on only one-day notice and was able to agree upon a contract in less than 80 minutes," Coats said.
Coats added she wishes Postlewait well in her future endeavors.
Frazier, who was the only dissenting vote on the measure, said she didn't agree with the terms of the resignation contract in a news release sent after the meeting. She wasn't specific on which terms she disagreed with, but said she hopes the new superintendent will focus on closing achievement gaps between White and minority student in the district.
"The search for a new Superintendent must focus on finding someone with a proven track record in closing achievement gaps and implementing systems where equity and Inclusion are reflected in results instead of merely lofty rhetoric," Frazier said in her statement. "Charleston County School District has some of the best schools in the country, so it is unacceptable that we tolerate test scores for Black and minority students that are so much lower than their white peers."
Other board members did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In 2015, the Charleston County school board appointed the West Virginia University graduate to replace Nancy McGinley, who resigned in October 2014. Postlewait started her career in education administration as superintendent of Wetzel County Schools in West Virginia.
Prior to coming to the district, Postlewait served as superintendent of Horry County Schools from 1996 to 2006. She was the chief K-12 officer for the Stupski Foundation, a San Francisco-based education reform nonprofit from 2006 to 2013, and she later worked for ACT, the college-entrance exam developer, a role she left to become CCSD's superintendent.
She's also served as the president of the South Carolina Board of Education and a member of the governing board of the American Association of School Administrators. In 2006, she was named superintendent of the year for her work in Horry County.
For the past two years, Postlewait has been at the helm of the district's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Every other week, she's reported on COVID-19 numbers at board meetings as cases rose, fell and rose again. She's listened as parents and community members protested the school board's decision to require masks, some of whom were escorted out of the district offices for shouting and refusing to leave when their allotted public comment time had passed.
With the board's support, she made the decision to open schools to nearly all students over the 2020-21 year, implementing mask requirements, social distancing and quarantine protocols. She also had teachers participate in dual-instruction, teaching students both in person and virtually as they were sent home to quarantine, a decision that frustrated many teachers in the district.
In the 2021-22 school year, she and the board faced criticism from parents who were left confused after the board voted to require masks in August and later clarified that the requirement wouldn't be enforced because of an S.C. budget rule prohibiting mask mandates. The board eventually reinstated the mask requirement after a federal judge ruled the prohibition violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The experience has taken a toll on everyone involved, and Postlewait has been the face of it all.
In August, the Charleston Teacher Alliance released survey results which rated Postlewait and the school board as "minimally effective." Over 600 teachers responded to the survey, which gave Postlewait a score of 2.23. The score was higher than the board's score of 2.05 and the highest score the superintendent received in the past four years.
In the survey, teachers rated Postlewait and the board as "ineffective" at seeking teacher input before making decisions. In comments submitted as part of the survey, teachers said they were pleased with Postlewait's decision to give control to school principals, Charleston Teacher Alliance Director Jody Stallings said in an August interview with The Post and Courier.
Even though Postlewait's rating has risen over the past four years, the district's handling of the pandemic has elicited criticism from teachers, parents and community members. A second Charleston Teacher Alliance survey sent out from Sept. 30 to Oct. 15 collected responses from over 850 teachers. Over 80 percent of the teachers said they feel more exhausted in the 2021-22 school year than they did last year, 66 percent have considered quitting and 76 percent feel burned out.
The teachers said they felt a lack of appreciation from the community and the district. Only 20 percent reported feeling that "CCSD values its teachers" and 13 percent said they felt supported by the district's school board. Broken down, it showed the district's educators are struggling with packed schedules, new curriculums, discipline issues, excessive assessments and trainings.
"The people making decisions for our classrooms are too far removed from the trenches. I would love to see them pull off what they are requiring of us," one teacher wrote in the anonymous survey.
With the approval of the school board, Postlewait added three eLearning days to the second semester of the school year to allow teachers time to get caught up on grading and plan for future lessons. The district also eliminated one of its assessments for elementary school students to relieve some of the burden put on teachers.
