Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Witten By MIKE HEMBREE As Charles Witten so aptly puts it, he is an educator, not a politician. Much the same can be said for those who are running with Witten for seats on the Richland County School District One School Board. Among the hopefuls are businessmen, farmers, an orthopedic surgeon, and two 1972 high school graduates. Potential politicians all, and politicians the victors will likely become after they swim into the confusion, hatred and turmoil that District One has unfortunately spawned in the past few years. Witten, who is incidentally USC's vice president for student affairs and an associate education professor, has had a small and ap parently rather pleasant taste of the school board-ing business. He was appointed to the board in December 1971 and is seeking re election as a Democrat in this year's primary, an election which is itself seeking something--a date. Most of the successes and mistakes of'the present school board were registered for history before Witten joined its ranks. He is OLE FREETo FREE F00D*FREE NIGHT CLUB ENTERTAI ~ BUSES LEAVING RUSSELL HOUSE EVER YHAL,F tOUR F BEGINNING AT1 Z:3u *~FRF0D*FREE NIGHT CLUB ENTER1 CASH $ fi? ADMISSION BY U FIREWORKS FIRE compe4ine quick to point out that he "wasn't on the board" when a certain decision was made. At any rate, Witten the educator will face two other Democrats in the primary: E.F. Tolley the sales manager and Richard Gergel the peppy high school graduate. All are seeking seat No. 4 under a new state law which requires candidates to run for a particular seat rather than against the entire field. Tolley, sales manager at Tapp's downtown, is co-chairman of the publicity committee of "Deadline '72," the recently formed group which blames much of the district's trouble on the school board and is seeking to replace some of the present members with its own chosen few. Tolley is not one of Deadline's officially endorsed candidates, but he follows the group's directives across the board. Gergel, who graduated from Keenan High School recently, is 17 years old, but will be 18 before the November election and thus will be eligible for election. Predictably, he is calling for more student involvement on the board. But Witten, the 53-year-old educator deluxe, appears to be the favorite in most circles. He was not in on the board decisions that rattle the brains of the Deadliners, and he seems just progressive enough to please those who want some type of change. Witten is pushing such programs as the Walk In School, a school which provides a learning atmosphere for uninvolved, "turned-off students," Individually Guided Education, which specializes in teaching one-on-one; and the Individualized Mathematics System, which allows slower math students to progress only when they are able. "We have to see that each kid is able to reach his maximum potential," Witten said in his best educator voice. "We can't reach this objective by expelling those who are bored. We must FASHUN - U' All Faculty * Students * NMENT*FREE TRANSPORTATION*FREE MO n ~ SPECIAL GAM THE GUNS OF, OLE FASHUN NAVARONE" MARSHMELLOW SI NMENT*FREE TRANSPORTAT ION*FREE C I.D. OR BELL CAMP MEMBERSHIP Ci A SPECIAL P WOR$S FIREWORKS FIREWO.RKS Fl Eor school provide programs to take care of these as well as the bright students. "This district had a helluva rough time last year," he continued, "but we learned a lot, the teachers learned a lot, and the students learned a lot." The apparent breakdown of discipline in the district has infuriated the Deadline '72 corps, and Witten sees a new discipline code as the answer to the problem. "We ought to have a revamped discipline system," he said. "We need a streamlined code . which everybody can understand and will follow. That includes teachers, administrators and students." Busing? Witten quickly mentions that he wasn't a board member when the redistricting lines were drawn in Richland County, but he says the board was following federal govern ment directives when it transferred pupils. "Bussing has affected me, too," he said. "I bought a house nine years ago just so my kids could walk to junior to junior high school. Now they have to walk further to catch the bus to go to another school than they would have just to walk to the first school. If we had moved across the street, we would have been in the first district." VIE*FREE BAND* ES FOR KIDS ICE CREAM. ROASTBA/' ,JULY 4TH 1:00 - 10:00 \RD ROJECT OF muija UNIVERSITY UNION REWORKS FIREWORKS FIREWORKS