February 24th, 2021 – Today state legislators introduced H.3976, a partisan private school voucher bill that will redirect public funds toward private and religious schools. Despite the South Carolina Supreme Court’s two-time rejection of a similar program last fall, the state’s leadership remains intent on advancing its ideology of “educational freedom.” The real “freedom” vouchers […]
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For 35 years, we have collaborated with community partners to strengthen public education for the 77,000 students and 7,000 teachers in Greenville County Schools – and right now we’re looking for a Director of Development to help us continue our work! The Director of Development will be an experienced and passionate fundraising leader who is […]
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February 17th, 2021 – by Dr. Shaniece Criss I smile every time I ride past the eight-story mural in downtown Greenville. It shows educator Pearlie Harris who served as the first black teacher at an all-white elementary school, which helped integrate Greenville County Schools over 50 years ago. On the mural, she is embracing children […]
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February 5th, 2021 – by P. Sloan Joseph If you search the internet or any social media platform, you will find equity is a hot topic. It is included in almost every keynote message at every conference in every state. On Amazon.com, there are currently 783 books about educational equity available for purchase. With access […]
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Proponents of privatizing education – that is, using taxpayer dollars that would otherwise fund our public schools – often state their case in the language of “freedom” and “choice.” Sounds great, right? But the truth is the freedom to choose where a child receives their education is often exclusive or non-existent, and comes at the […]
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I am feeling…uncertain, anxious, lonely, exhausted, overwhelmed. These are the responses I’ve received from all levels of educators over the past nine months. We are experiencing a collective erosion of our mental and physical health and a toll on personal relationships in a way we’ve never experienced. Poor mental health among educators was not born […]
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Join us in welcoming Charnise Mangle and Jason Richards to the Public Education Partners Board of Directors! Charnise Mangle is a social studies teacher, and a certified literacy teacher and coach. A Greenville native, Charnise attended Clemson University, where she earned her BS in Secondary History of the Social Sciences in 2012. When she […]
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The return to school in 2020 brought a mixed bag of emotions for most educators I know. For me personally, I began to experience feelings and emotions that weren’t normally equated with the start of school in August. Typically, I would be full of excitement, eagerness, and anticipation about what the new year will hold. […]
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Fellow advocates, To state the obvious, 2020 was a very difficult year for public education. I once heard the former long-time Executive Director of Spartanburg Academic Movement, John Stockwell, describe public schools as “the centers of gravity in our communities.” If I had doubted John’s words then – and I didn’t – the Covid-19 pandemic […]
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Public Education Partners is launching a new Elevating Teachers Blog. We are excited to welcome you to this space designed to share messages that uplift, encourage, and inspire educators. Consider it a virtual wellness room – a place where we can help cultivate resilience and empower each other in the midst of challenges and uncertainty. […]
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Pictured above: Projects and tools funded by PEP’s Micro Grant program. To help meet the needs of early career teachers during the 2020-2021 school year, Public Education Partners (PEP) offered micro grants to help offset teaching costs for classroom projects, supplies, and virtual learning tools. PEP initially pledged $5,000 to cover 25 micro grants […]
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Introducing Cohort 5 of the Greenville Alternative Teacher Education (GATE) program! This cohort of 23 first-year teachers – the program’s largest cohort yet – is teaching math, science, English, social studies, and world languages across middle and secondary schools in Greenville County. We recognize their commitment to public education in a year of so much […]
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