Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Jonathan Rush, we are at the intersection of democracy and.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Autocracy, Kelly Nash. I rise to announce I.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Believe that the President of the United States has committed
an impeachable act, and I will call for a vote.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The Jonathan and Kelly Show w DOOC And.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
There were a lot of Democrats talking yesterday, lots of
talk from the whale of the House floor all the
way over to the House Subcommittee hearings. We got to
hear from Al Green. He didn't bring his he didn't
raise his cane.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
He when he spoke, though you could tell he imagined
in the future they would be showing this video in
classroom because this was a historic moment. I rise because
I believe that the President of the United States has
committed in impeachable events, and I demand the vote. Well,
you got your vote, Al and a hun'red in twenty
(01:00):
eight Democrats said you're flipping wrong.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Oh and the Democrat Party, well, at least a lot
of the ex us is very upset with one hundred
and twenty eight Democrats and went a primary them all.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Three hundred and forty four to seventy nine. Was the vote,
So there's seventy nine complete loans left in the Democrat Party.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
And then I didn't realize until yesterday. Maybe you knew this.
James Comber wears hearing aids.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You know, it's interesting. I met James Comber when I
was in DC, and I noticed it when I was
getting my picture with him, and I almost said something like,
can you hear me?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I had never noticed that about him when he was hearing.
I guess it was AOC and Mark excuse me and
Crockett that were yelling yesterday because they both wanted the
point of order. They both wanted this, they both wanted
that somebody was already on the clock. They were trying
to reclaim their time. And James Comer's like, look y'all,
hot stop, I have I have bad hearing, and I'm
(02:02):
wearing hearing aids and I cannot hear all of this.
It's just I guess it's just like crowd noise once
everybody starts yelling at you.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's kind of the way it is. Watching the view,
and what was that?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
God never watched the view?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Invariably, I'll see the most implosive moment from Joy Behar
or whoopee but apparently they now admitted that the appearance
by Kamala Harris or their show sank her campaign.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I just read that in the headline.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
I did not hear the actual words come out of
any of their mouths. I don't know if that was
on the show or behind the scenes or reported from producers.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I think that that's like one of those things where
you have to admit it because it was so shocking
that when they stay teed it up for her, and
she and said, you know a lot of Americans are
upset with Joe Biden's policies. What would you do you
differently than Joe Biden?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Nothing? No, I think it's great she did search out
her memory. Ummm, nothing comes to mind. Yeah, if I remember,
that's a paraphrase, but pretty close to what she said.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Nothing comes to mind.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
No, No, I love the disastrous.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Disastrous, nothing comes to mind. You hadn't thought about this
when you hit the campaign trail. You got to differentiate
yourself because you got to show the year that gonna
be the woman in charge. You have not one conversation
with at least your handlers, not even yourself to come
up with a list of things that you could offer
to do differently as the commander in chief, the leader
(03:42):
of the free world.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, Trump ran an ad I think literally the same day,
I think, because that show airs at like nine or
ten in the morning or something like that. Yeah, by
like four or five in the afternoon, the Trump campaign
had a ad running that said, it just showed the
withdrawal from Afghanistan, dead Americans, everything's in chaos, and they said,
(04:04):
would you do this differently? Nothing comes to mind. She
loved it. She loved the fact that Americans were murdered.
She thinks that was perfect. So, I mean that had
to have sung. I mean, not that she was gonna
win anyway, but that really distanced her from the vast
majority of Americans.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
And you would have thought, you're right, that one at
least would have been because at that point, that's when
he went under order and never came back up. That's
when the Biden administration was drowning.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Well, yeah, he was already out at that point.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
He was, oh you talking about Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, that's when the polling went down and they never
got above order again.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
He I mean, look what Joe Biden's administration did. Because
it's almost I almost feel like Trump is right. You
can't even blame Joe Biden anymore, because Joe Biden, the
Joe Biden that Donald Trump knew would not have been
for men and women's sports. That Joe Biden that Donald
Trump knew was for open borders. I mean, so this
(05:02):
was just done in his name. It was auto penned
in his name, and he doesn't even know what they
said or did while he was holding the office that
was illegally stolen for him.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Is going to be interesting to hear whenever we get
a leak. Surprisingly, we haven't Handy Mini or any of that.
I'm aware of of any information that came out of
the first hearings about the autopen scandal. As it was
described by Combra.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yesterday, the only people who really leak are Democrats. So
if anything comes out, that's damning. I mean, it's damning
to a Republican. And so that's the one were they're
going to leak him as Democrats.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
All right, Hang on a second, here's the double secret
probationary hotlines ringing Kelly Nash. Welcome on the phone, our
Superintendent of Education, Missselle and Weaver.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Good morning, Hey there, Good.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Morning, Jonathan Kelly. Great to be with you.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I was just thinking the other day about when I
was a kid always got the Weekly Reader. Did you
get one of those when you were a kid in
the summertime?
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Oh? Absolutely, I was a voracious reader in the summertime.
My mom would take my brother and I and then
when my sister was born too, to the library, and
that was always just a real highlight of the summer. Now,
the question is, did y'all get those personal pan pizzas
as your rewards for reading the books? Because that's what
I remember.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I do not remember getting that, No, but I do
remember my mom making me sit down and do today's
assignment on the Weekly Reader, which is one of the
things I wanted to ask you about because I know
your initiatives are always underlining with getting parents involved, and
in particular with third grade, because that's a pivotal point
for their reading process.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Yes, it really is, and y'all, I am so excited
to tell you that we have put a laser focus
on third grade reading and really early literacy in general,
because we know it doesn't start in third grade. It
starts all the way back in K four, K five
and builds throughout those early elementary grades and what we're
seeing here in South Carolina as a result of our
(06:54):
efforts to put the right tools in the hands of teachers,
meaning giving them professional to development and great curriculum, we
are seeing big gains in third grade reading. When you
look at the lowest category on our state assessment, it's
called does not meet. Last year, we had over sixteen
(07:15):
thousand third graders and that does not meet category. That's
about twenty eight percent of the third grade class. This
year it was down to just over nine thousand. Y'all,
that is a forty three percent drop and we're certainly
not done. We have a lot more work to do,
but oh my gosh, the hard work that that represents
on the part of our teachers, our parents, and our students.
(07:38):
I could not be more excited about the direction that
we're heading in as a state.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
We are talking with the superintendent Ellen Weaver for the
state and I'm surprised. I thought, y'all took the whole
summer off that.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Wow, you know what education does.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Shut it down?
Speaker 5 (07:53):
That is one of the worst myths that is out there.
Are teachers are still working hard. I was actually this
week up in Pickens County and then yesterday over in Clarendon,
meeting with some teachers that are doing summer camps, summer
reading camps. And there's a great program called Save the
Children that works in our rural communities that keep students
(08:14):
and their academic skills sharp throughout the summer so that
they don't see that summer slide. So I'm telling you,
the school year is busy, but the summer we're keeping
it real. So we're working hard. And you know, we
had a great year in the General Assembly too, and
so our new state budget will go into effect on
July the first. We're raising pay for teachers, and the
General Assembly gave me a whole long checklist of things
(08:36):
that I need to do. So I don't get much
of a summer break. But you know what, I love
it because this is the work that matters.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Well.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Speaking of keeping it real and summer break, I know
that at some point even teachers are quick to recognize
these are kids who got to let them be kids.
Talk to me about the let Grow initiatives.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Oh, thank you for asking me about this. I have
been so concerned and I know we've talked about it
in the past in the context of our phone free
school day policy here in South Carolina, that technology over
use is damaging our students. We have children coming to
school in you know, kindergarten that don't have the fine
(09:13):
motor skills, the growth motor skills, the conversational skills that
all of us just took for granted growing up because
we had a play based childhood instead of a phone
based childhood. And so the let Grow initiative is actually
something that was started by Jonathan Hyatt, Lenora Skenesi, and
a number of other people who have been involved in
(09:34):
the phone free Schools movement to take this a step
further and say we need to get kids outside playing.
So my admonition to our parents who are listening today
is to have your kids put down the phone, put
the phone away, and go outside and play. We have
got to have our kids learn those skills, that independence
that comes from just being outside and being with other kids.
(09:58):
There is nothing more important for their growth and development.
And just a story real quick. We have an amazing
teacher here in South Carolina whose name is Kevin Steinhardt.
He teaches fourth grade up at Central Academy of the
Arts and Pickens and he has been a national leader
in terms of bringing what we call play club to school.
(10:18):
And the only rule of play club is that you
can't hurt other people. And other than that, they give
them boxes, they give them a playground until the kids
go play, and the adults stand there and observe, don't interfere,
and the kids work it out amongst themselves, just like
we used to when we were growing up. And they
have seen better behavior at their school because of this,
they have seen better academic results. I mean, it's changed
(10:42):
the whole culture of the school. And so that's what
this let Growth partnership is about. They actually are naming
South Carolina as their first Lighthouse state, and we are
going to be piloting this work here in our state
to get kids back to the childhood that we know
is going to actually help them thrive and reach their
full potential.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
South Carolina Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver is on the
phone with us, and you mentioned some of the programs
that are going on already, and I think another one
is the free summer meals for South Carolina children. Is
that available right now?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Absolutely. We have what's called the Summer break Cafe and
people can go to ed dot SC dot gov, which
is our website to look up how to access those meals.
But we know that childhood hunger is a real thing,
especially during the summertime, and we want to ensure that
all of our students here in South Carolina have access
(11:37):
to nutritious, delicious meals that will help them continue to
grow and thrive even in these months when they're not
in school. And so that's a program that we work
in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture to provide
here in the state of South Carolina. And so again
people can learn more about that program at ed dot
SC dot gov.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
You know, I'm from Saluta County, Saluta in that area.
Very excited for Corey Beatball, who was the South Carolina
Teacher of the Year. Yes, somebody asked me, and I
was embarrassed to say, I have no idea. But they
were talking about how he's driving in his supplied South
Carolina may BMW and he's doing he's roving. Is he like,
(12:20):
what is his job? What is his job for the
next year, so to speak? What is it that he's
doing because I know he's traveling.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Yeah, No, he sure is. Well, he's an ambassador for
high quality teaching all over our states. So about how
about good old little Bitsburg Leesville providing us with the
state Teacher of the Year. I think it's just wonderful.
Corey is a middle school social studies teacher, just an
incredible and incredible young man and just has really not
(12:47):
only invested in his student's academic journey, but has created
a bow tie club and done mentorships with his students,
and so he's just an exceptional young man and really
I just think the pinnacle of what we want to
celebrate and hold up as the exemplar teacher here in
the state of South Carolina. So he'll be traveling all
over the state this next year talking to teacher forums,
(13:10):
really encouraging them, listening to them. He'll be talking to
college students and high school students who are considering teaching
as a career. He'll be actually traveling all over the
country too as part of the National Teacher of the
Year program, and he'll have a chance to compete for
that National Teacher of the Year. And then we also
have a fellowship that we're developing at the Department of
(13:32):
Education that is going to allow him to participate in
all of the many things that we do here at
the department to really build that background knowledge for him,
because many times, you know, teachers are just focused, rightly
so on what they're doing in the classroom. They don't
know how things work here in Columbia, and it can
be kind of a goat rodeo sometimes, if I'm being
(13:52):
totally honest with y'all. But we're going to give him
a first hand window into that process so that when
he hopefully goes back into the classroom at the end
of this year, he'll be even better equipped to teach
his students how our amazing American government works.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, we're talking with the superintendent, Ellen Weaver, and you
know you mentioned the free lunches are available for kids
and so many other things that are happening. But one
of the biggest concerns I think for most parents would
be the what you referenced earlier, the summer slide there.
I mean, is there any recommendations for parents to try
to help their kids not go backwards during this break?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Yeah? Absolutely, I think you know, the most important thing
is like, let's just keep it simple. Parents and families
have a lot on their plates, and so the most
the most important thing that you can do is get
your kid outside playing building those skills, but then give
them a book. It's where we started our conversation. We
have got to ensure that students have those books in
(14:50):
their hands and that they're reading them. And there's a
lot of great free resources online too. I would say,
if you know your student maybe is struggling with math,
con Academy has in incredible resources and that's spelled KHA
and con Academy has incredible resources online that can help
parents and students connect around basic math skills. So I
(15:12):
would say focus on the basics, the reading, get them books,
the math if they need help, and then just let
them be outside and play like kids.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
You know, we're talking to Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evath about
a week ago now, and she says, and I'm hoping
that you can tell me specifically some things that are
going on that not only are we encouraging corporations who
have expressed interest in getting involved with our not just
high school but middle school youngsters, but she says, we're
actually rolling out the welcome math already for companies and
(15:43):
corporations that are already initiating their own initiatives. Not to
be so redundantly redundant. Can you tell me about some
of the things that's going on in that regard, because
I'm very interested in seeing that younger South Carolinians are
actually seeing the big picture of what's possible for them.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Yes, absolutely well. One of our key pillars here of
our strategic plan at the department is all around introducing
students to potentials for their workforce path in the future.
And so that can look like registered apprenticeships, which are
very popular, it can look like dual enrollment, taking you know,
college credit while you're still in high school. We have
(16:24):
some just absolutely phenomenal career and technical education centers around
the state, several of them here in Lexington, a number
of them in the upstate that I've been pleased to see.
And these are where students are learning really practical skills.
They can get h VAC certifications, welding certifications, they can
get their CDL. I was at the Daniel Morgan Career
(16:45):
Center up in Spartanburg, and you know, they're not only
helping them get their CDL, but they're helping them get
the security clearances that they have to have in order
to drive that big rig stay down in a secure
location like the Port of Charleston. And so there are
so many incredible partnerships that are happening in districts all
over our state between our employers and our school districts,
(17:10):
and I see that that's only going to continue to
grow going forward. We actually as a state just announced
what we call the stackable Credential system here in South Carolina.
And that's just a fancy way of saying that we
aren't trying to give our students just any certificate just
to say that they have some kind of credential or certificate.
(17:33):
These are meaningful credentials that stack on each other towards
an ultimate outcome that an employer will recognize. And so
we've partnered with all of our business and industry across
the state to help create those stackable career credential pathways
so that we're being responsive to what we know the
current needs of our workforce are and what the future
(17:54):
needs that they predict will be. And so I'm really
excited about that. Lieutenant Governor Evat has done real champion
in this space, and so I'm excited to know she's
out there out there talking about all the great things
we have going on in education too.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
All right, we're talking with the superintendent for South Carolina,
Ellen Weaver. Has there you know, it's been like not
even quite a full year. Has there been any I
don't know, is there any data on any successes regarding
or maybe it's not going as we had hope where
the kids have to now put their phones in like
a bag or something when they go to the schools.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeah, no, I'm glad you brought that up. Our phone
free school Day we called it free to Focus because
we want our students to be free to focus on
their friends, their safety, and their education. And we have
gotten just amazing anecdotal feedback from our teachers who say
that these are some of the best months that they
have ever had in the classroom because they haven't had
(18:50):
to be cell phoned police. When there is a high
expectation that everybody in the school is expected to enforce,
it completely informs the culture and it also shows what
our students are capable of. They can meet high expectations.
They can do hard things like putting their phone away
if we believe they can do it as adults, and
(19:12):
then hold them to account and lead the way by example.
So we have seen just incredible stories across the state.
But we have data now too, So we surveyed our
teachers and our administrators in late April early May. The
policy went into full effect in January. And what is
really interesting is that the cell phone free school Day
(19:34):
actually is impacting teachers' perceptions of other student behaviors. It's
not just about the phone. So in schools where teachers
reported that the cell phone policy was being enforced, they
saw dramatic decreases in bullying and cheating, in skipping class,
(19:54):
in classroom disruptions, and I could go on down the
list of all these other behaviors. So you know, like
it's cause and effect, right, Like these cell phones really
are doing so much harm to our students when they
just have unregulated access to them. And you and I know,
I mean, we couldn't sit on our phones all day
(20:15):
at our job and expect our employers to keep giving
us a paycheck. And so, to tie this back to
the last conversation, what we're doing by creating the phone
free school Day is also helping children learn how to
regulate themselves to be productive adults in the future.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
That is a life skill, because even adults get caught
up in that.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Being I'm trying to imagine sitting on my phone in
school back in the day I had the rotary phone
out or whatever.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
One of the funniest videos I've ever seen is them
putting a rotary phone in front of a teenager today
and seeing if they could figure out how to make
a phone call. They never did.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Super Intendative Education. ELLM.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Weaver, I'm glad to know you're having a busy summer.
That means it's going to be an exciting fall for
South Carolina.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
It sure is. We're looking forward, our ready to the
next school year. It's going to be another great year
progress here in our Palmetto State.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Thank you for your time, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
We'll talk to y'all soon.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
And speaking of education, one of the things we want
to talk about today we spoke of in our rash
thought today visitors to Charleston's historical sites. As we educate
Americans on their family vacations possibly showing up down to Charleston,
many people want to go to the National Park Services
maintained Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. Certainly those of those
(21:30):
forts have pivotal roles in the Revolutionary and the Civil War,
but the visitors at Charleston Historical sites are being asked
to report negative stories about America. That was the headline
of today's Posting Courier.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
That sounds so bad.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I mean, look, I'm a Trump supporter, but why are
you asking me to drop a dime on somebody? Is
that what's happening here, Jonathan?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
And you know in the picture in the Posting Courier too.
I can't remember now where those they were recreating. It
was it Revolutionary War or Civil War? I think it
was Revolutionary War, according just remembering from their picture of
their uniforms, but I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I guess that would seem.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Certainly if they were recreating Civil War battles on either
Moultrie or Someter, that would have been something that you'd
need to report immediately. The troops are still roaming about
down in South Carolina trying to oppress people.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Well, look, the reality of what the situation is, surprise,
not what the headline would lead you to believe. It's
not that they're asking you to drop a dime on
people who are spreading any negative stories about the United
States of America so the Trump administration can have them
sent to an l Salvadoran prison. The signs if you
(22:50):
look in the story and you have to blow up
the photo in order to actually read it. Fort Sumter
and Fort Moultrie belongs to the American people. In the
National Park Service wants your feedback. Please let us know
if you have identified one any areas that need repair,
two any services that need improvement, or three any signs
(23:11):
or other information that are negative about either past or
living Americans, or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur,
and abundance of the landscapes and other natural features. So
we just want to maximize your experience here. This is
not we're going to change the narrative on slavery. We're
(23:31):
not going to suddenly say that they all volunteered because
they wanted to build a better land too, and so
they said, get me on that boat. I got to
go and help the white folk. That is, this is
just the way they like to write stories is so
insane and it's so infuriating.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So it's certainly they want to know if the restrooms
are need cleaning. Yes, there's a toilet that's constantly flowing.
Of course, we want to know those things. Or as
one of the trails that you're on. Is it dangerous
because it's it might have become washed out in a
storm or something. We don't know until you let us know.
Do we have reason to believe that some of the
(24:08):
park rangers may actually try to rewrite history there as
they describe what happened at those sites.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
That's what the posting Courier, what have you believe that
Doug Burgham probably under threat of being fired by Donald Trump,
Doug Burgham ordered ordered the National Park Service to place
these signs. You're ordered, You're hence ordered. I want signs up,
Doug Bergham, you tell you know, you know better than
(24:36):
I'm trying to think of. Like Hitler's right hand man,
whoever Hitler's right hand man was, That's that's who you are.
You're Gebels, the Gebels.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Bitches.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
The Yankees came across over that Ridge
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Tried to violate the state rights
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Jonathan Rush, we are at the intersection of democracy and.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Autocracy, Kelly Nash. I rise to announce I.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Believe that the President of the United States has committed
an impeachable act, and I will call for a vote.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
The Jonathan and Kelly Show w DOOC And.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
There were a lot of Democrats talking yesterday, lots of
talk from the whale of the House floor all the
way over to the House Subcommittee hearings. We got to
hear from Al Green. He didn't bring his he didn't
raise his cane.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
He when he spoke, though you could tell he imagined
in the future they would be showing this video in
classroom because this was a historic moment. I rise because
I believe that the President of the United States has
committed in impeachable events, and I demand the vote. Well,
you got your vote, Al and a hun'red in twenty
(01:00):
eight Democrats said you're flipping wrong.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
Oh and the Democrat Party, well, at least a lot
of the ex us is very upset with one hundred
and twenty eight Democrats and went a primary them all.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Three hundred and forty four to seventy nine. Was the vote,
So there's seventy nine complete loans left in the Democrat Party.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
And then I didn't realize until yesterday. Maybe you knew this.
James Comber wears hearing aids.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You know, it's interesting. I met James Comber when I
was in DC, and I noticed it when I was
getting my picture with him, and I almost said something like,
can you hear me?
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I had never noticed that about him when he was hearing.
I guess it was AOC and Mark excuse me and
Crockett that were yelling yesterday because they both wanted the
point of order. They both wanted this, they both wanted
that somebody was already on the clock. They were trying
to reclaim their time. And James Comer's like, look y'all,
hot stop, I have I have bad hearing, and I'm
(02:02):
wearing hearing aids and I cannot hear all of this.
It's just I guess it's just like crowd noise once
everybody starts yelling at you.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
It's kind of the way it is. Watching the view,
and what was that?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
God never watched the view?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Invariably, I'll see the most implosive moment from Joy Behar
or whoopee but apparently they now admitted that the appearance
by Kamala Harris or their show sank her campaign.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
I just read that in the headline.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
I did not hear the actual words come out of
any of their mouths. I don't know if that was
on the show or behind the scenes or reported from producers.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I think that that's like one of those things where
you have to admit it because it was so shocking
that when they stay teed it up for her, and
she and said, you know a lot of Americans are
upset with Joe Biden's policies. What would you do you
differently than Joe Biden?
Speaker 4 (03:03):
Nothing? No, I think it's great she did search out
her memory. Ummm, nothing comes to mind. Yeah, if I remember,
that's a paraphrase, but pretty close to what she said.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Nothing comes to mind.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
No, No, I love the disastrous.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
Disastrous, nothing comes to mind. You hadn't thought about this
when you hit the campaign trail. You got to differentiate
yourself because you got to show the year that gonna
be the woman in charge. You have not one conversation
with at least your handlers, not even yourself to come
up with a list of things that you could offer
to do differently as the commander in chief, the leader
(03:42):
of the free world.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
Well, Trump ran an ad I think literally the same day,
I think, because that show airs at like nine or
ten in the morning or something like that. Yeah, by
like four or five in the afternoon, the Trump campaign
had a ad running that said, it just showed the
withdrawal from Afghanistan, dead Americans, everything's in chaos, and they said,
(04:04):
would you do this differently? Nothing comes to mind. She
loved it. She loved the fact that Americans were murdered.
She thinks that was perfect. So, I mean that had
to have sung. I mean, not that she was gonna
win anyway, but that really distanced her from the vast
majority of Americans.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
And you would have thought, you're right, that one at
least would have been because at that point, that's when
he went under order and never came back up. That's
when the Biden administration was drowning.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Well, yeah, he was already out at that point.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
He was, oh you talking about Yeah.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
Yeah, that's when the polling went down and they never
got above order again.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
He I mean, look what Joe Biden's administration did. Because
it's almost I almost feel like Trump is right. You
can't even blame Joe Biden anymore, because Joe Biden, the
Joe Biden that Donald Trump knew would not have been
for men and women's sports. That Joe Biden that Donald
Trump knew was for open borders. I mean, so this
(05:02):
was just done in his name. It was auto penned
in his name, and he doesn't even know what they
said or did while he was holding the office that
was illegally stolen for him.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Is going to be interesting to hear whenever we get
a leak. Surprisingly, we haven't Handy Mini or any of that.
I'm aware of of any information that came out of
the first hearings about the autopen scandal. As it was
described by Combra.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
Yesterday, the only people who really leak are Democrats. So
if anything comes out, that's damning. I mean, it's damning
to a Republican. And so that's the one were they're
going to leak him as Democrats.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
All right, Hang on a second, here's the double secret
probationary hotlines ringing Kelly Nash. Welcome on the phone, our
Superintendent of Education, Missselle and Weaver.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Good morning, Hey there, Good.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Morning, Jonathan Kelly. Great to be with you.
Speaker 4 (05:50):
I was just thinking the other day about when I
was a kid always got the Weekly Reader. Did you
get one of those when you were a kid in
the summertime?
Speaker 5 (05:57):
Oh? Absolutely, I was a voracious reader in the summertime.
My mom would take my brother and I and then
when my sister was born too, to the library, and
that was always just a real highlight of the summer. Now,
the question is, did y'all get those personal pan pizzas
as your rewards for reading the books? Because that's what
I remember.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I do not remember getting that, No, but I do
remember my mom making me sit down and do today's
assignment on the Weekly Reader, which is one of the
things I wanted to ask you about because I know
your initiatives are always underlining with getting parents involved, and
in particular with third grade, because that's a pivotal point
for their reading process.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Yes, it really is, and y'all, I am so excited
to tell you that we have put a laser focus
on third grade reading and really early literacy in general,
because we know it doesn't start in third grade. It
starts all the way back in K four, K five
and builds throughout those early elementary grades and what we're
seeing here in South Carolina as a result of our
(06:54):
efforts to put the right tools in the hands of teachers,
meaning giving them professional to development and great curriculum, we
are seeing big gains in third grade reading. When you
look at the lowest category on our state assessment, it's
called does not meet. Last year, we had over sixteen
(07:15):
thousand third graders and that does not meet category. That's
about twenty eight percent of the third grade class. This
year it was down to just over nine thousand. Y'all,
that is a forty three percent drop and we're certainly
not done. We have a lot more work to do,
but oh my gosh, the hard work that that represents
on the part of our teachers, our parents, and our students.
(07:38):
I could not be more excited about the direction that
we're heading in as a state.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
We are talking with the superintendent Ellen Weaver for the
state and I'm surprised. I thought, y'all took the whole
summer off that.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Wow, you know what education does.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Shut it down?
Speaker 5 (07:53):
That is one of the worst myths that is out there.
Are teachers are still working hard. I was actually this
week up in Pickens County and then yesterday over in Clarendon,
meeting with some teachers that are doing summer camps, summer
reading camps. And there's a great program called Save the
Children that works in our rural communities that keep students
(08:14):
and their academic skills sharp throughout the summer so that
they don't see that summer slide. So I'm telling you,
the school year is busy, but the summer we're keeping
it real. So we're working hard. And you know, we
had a great year in the General Assembly too, and
so our new state budget will go into effect on
July the first. We're raising pay for teachers, and the
General Assembly gave me a whole long checklist of things
(08:36):
that I need to do. So I don't get much
of a summer break. But you know what, I love
it because this is the work that matters.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Well.
Speaker 4 (08:41):
Speaking of keeping it real and summer break, I know
that at some point even teachers are quick to recognize
these are kids who got to let them be kids.
Talk to me about the let Grow initiatives.
Speaker 5 (08:51):
Oh, thank you for asking me about this. I have
been so concerned and I know we've talked about it
in the past in the context of our phone free
school day policy here in South Carolina, that technology over
use is damaging our students. We have children coming to
school in you know, kindergarten that don't have the fine
(09:13):
motor skills, the growth motor skills, the conversational skills that
all of us just took for granted growing up because
we had a play based childhood instead of a phone
based childhood. And so the let Grow initiative is actually
something that was started by Jonathan Hyatt, Lenora Skenesi, and
a number of other people who have been involved in
(09:34):
the phone free Schools movement to take this a step
further and say we need to get kids outside playing.
So my admonition to our parents who are listening today
is to have your kids put down the phone, put
the phone away, and go outside and play. We have
got to have our kids learn those skills, that independence
that comes from just being outside and being with other kids.
(09:58):
There is nothing more important for their growth and development.
And just a story real quick. We have an amazing
teacher here in South Carolina whose name is Kevin Steinhardt.
He teaches fourth grade up at Central Academy of the
Arts and Pickens and he has been a national leader
in terms of bringing what we call play club to school.
(10:18):
And the only rule of play club is that you
can't hurt other people. And other than that, they give
them boxes, they give them a playground until the kids
go play, and the adults stand there and observe, don't interfere,
and the kids work it out amongst themselves, just like
we used to when we were growing up. And they
have seen better behavior at their school because of this,
they have seen better academic results. I mean, it's changed
(10:42):
the whole culture of the school. And so that's what
this let Growth partnership is about. They actually are naming
South Carolina as their first Lighthouse state, and we are
going to be piloting this work here in our state
to get kids back to the childhood that we know
is going to actually help them thrive and reach their
full potential.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
South Carolina Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver is on the
phone with us, and you mentioned some of the programs
that are going on already, and I think another one
is the free summer meals for South Carolina children. Is
that available right now?
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (11:17):
Absolutely. We have what's called the Summer break Cafe and
people can go to ed dot SC dot gov, which
is our website to look up how to access those meals.
But we know that childhood hunger is a real thing,
especially during the summertime, and we want to ensure that
all of our students here in South Carolina have access
(11:37):
to nutritious, delicious meals that will help them continue to
grow and thrive even in these months when they're not
in school. And so that's a program that we work
in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture to provide
here in the state of South Carolina. And so again
people can learn more about that program at ed dot
SC dot gov.
Speaker 4 (11:57):
You know, I'm from Saluta County, Saluta in that area.
Very excited for Corey Beatball, who was the South Carolina
Teacher of the Year. Yes, somebody asked me, and I
was embarrassed to say, I have no idea. But they
were talking about how he's driving in his supplied South
Carolina may BMW and he's doing he's roving. Is he like,
(12:20):
what is his job? What is his job for the
next year, so to speak? What is it that he's
doing because I know he's traveling.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Yeah, No, he sure is. Well, he's an ambassador for
high quality teaching all over our states. So about how
about good old little Bitsburg Leesville providing us with the
state Teacher of the Year. I think it's just wonderful.
Corey is a middle school social studies teacher, just an
incredible and incredible young man and just has really not
(12:47):
only invested in his student's academic journey, but has created
a bow tie club and done mentorships with his students,
and so he's just an exceptional young man and really
I just think the pinnacle of what we want to
celebrate and hold up as the exemplar teacher here in
the state of South Carolina. So he'll be traveling all
over the state this next year talking to teacher forums,
(13:10):
really encouraging them, listening to them. He'll be talking to
college students and high school students who are considering teaching
as a career. He'll be actually traveling all over the
country too as part of the National Teacher of the
Year program, and he'll have a chance to compete for
that National Teacher of the Year. And then we also
have a fellowship that we're developing at the Department of
(13:32):
Education that is going to allow him to participate in
all of the many things that we do here at
the department to really build that background knowledge for him,
because many times, you know, teachers are just focused, rightly
so on what they're doing in the classroom. They don't
know how things work here in Columbia, and it can
be kind of a goat rodeo sometimes, if I'm being
(13:52):
totally honest with y'all. But we're going to give him
a first hand window into that process so that when
he hopefully goes back into the classroom at the end
of this year, he'll be even better equipped to teach
his students how our amazing American government works.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Well, we're talking with the superintendent, Ellen Weaver, and you
know you mentioned the free lunches are available for kids
and so many other things that are happening. But one
of the biggest concerns I think for most parents would
be the what you referenced earlier, the summer slide there.
I mean, is there any recommendations for parents to try
to help their kids not go backwards during this break?
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Yeah? Absolutely, I think you know, the most important thing
is like, let's just keep it simple. Parents and families
have a lot on their plates, and so the most
the most important thing that you can do is get
your kid outside playing building those skills, but then give
them a book. It's where we started our conversation. We
have got to ensure that students have those books in
(14:50):
their hands and that they're reading them. And there's a
lot of great free resources online too. I would say,
if you know your student maybe is struggling with math,
con Academy has in incredible resources and that's spelled KHA
and con Academy has incredible resources online that can help
parents and students connect around basic math skills. So I
(15:12):
would say focus on the basics, the reading, get them books,
the math if they need help, and then just let
them be outside and play like kids.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
You know, we're talking to Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evath about
a week ago now, and she says, and I'm hoping
that you can tell me specifically some things that are
going on that not only are we encouraging corporations who
have expressed interest in getting involved with our not just
high school but middle school youngsters, but she says, we're
actually rolling out the welcome math already for companies and
(15:43):
corporations that are already initiating their own initiatives. Not to
be so redundantly redundant. Can you tell me about some
of the things that's going on in that regard, because
I'm very interested in seeing that younger South Carolinians are
actually seeing the big picture of what's possible for them.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Yes, absolutely well. One of our key pillars here of
our strategic plan at the department is all around introducing
students to potentials for their workforce path in the future.
And so that can look like registered apprenticeships, which are
very popular, it can look like dual enrollment, taking you know,
college credit while you're still in high school. We have
(16:24):
some just absolutely phenomenal career and technical education centers around
the state, several of them here in Lexington, a number
of them in the upstate that I've been pleased to see.
And these are where students are learning really practical skills.
They can get h VAC certifications, welding certifications, they can
get their CDL. I was at the Daniel Morgan Career
(16:45):
Center up in Spartanburg, and you know, they're not only
helping them get their CDL, but they're helping them get
the security clearances that they have to have in order
to drive that big rig stay down in a secure
location like the Port of Charleston. And so there are
so many incredible partnerships that are happening in districts all
over our state between our employers and our school districts,
(17:10):
and I see that that's only going to continue to
grow going forward. We actually as a state just announced
what we call the stackable Credential system here in South Carolina.
And that's just a fancy way of saying that we
aren't trying to give our students just any certificate just
to say that they have some kind of credential or certificate.
(17:33):
These are meaningful credentials that stack on each other towards
an ultimate outcome that an employer will recognize. And so
we've partnered with all of our business and industry across
the state to help create those stackable career credential pathways
so that we're being responsive to what we know the
current needs of our workforce are and what the future
(17:54):
needs that they predict will be. And so I'm really
excited about that. Lieutenant Governor Evat has done real champion
in this space, and so I'm excited to know she's
out there out there talking about all the great things
we have going on in education too.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
All right, we're talking with the superintendent for South Carolina,
Ellen Weaver. Has there you know, it's been like not
even quite a full year. Has there been any I
don't know, is there any data on any successes regarding
or maybe it's not going as we had hope where
the kids have to now put their phones in like
a bag or something when they go to the schools.
Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeah, no, I'm glad you brought that up. Our phone
free school Day we called it free to Focus because
we want our students to be free to focus on
their friends, their safety, and their education. And we have
gotten just amazing anecdotal feedback from our teachers who say
that these are some of the best months that they
have ever had in the classroom because they haven't had
(18:50):
to be cell phoned police. When there is a high
expectation that everybody in the school is expected to enforce,
it completely informs the culture and it also shows what
our students are capable of. They can meet high expectations.
They can do hard things like putting their phone away
if we believe they can do it as adults, and
(19:12):
then hold them to account and lead the way by example.
So we have seen just incredible stories across the state.
But we have data now too, So we surveyed our
teachers and our administrators in late April early May. The
policy went into full effect in January. And what is
really interesting is that the cell phone free school Day
(19:34):
actually is impacting teachers' perceptions of other student behaviors. It's
not just about the phone. So in schools where teachers
reported that the cell phone policy was being enforced, they
saw dramatic decreases in bullying and cheating, in skipping class,
(19:54):
in classroom disruptions, and I could go on down the
list of all these other behaviors. So you know, like
it's cause and effect, right, Like these cell phones really
are doing so much harm to our students when they
just have unregulated access to them. And you and I know,
I mean, we couldn't sit on our phones all day
(20:15):
at our job and expect our employers to keep giving
us a paycheck. And so, to tie this back to
the last conversation, what we're doing by creating the phone
free school Day is also helping children learn how to
regulate themselves to be productive adults in the future.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
That is a life skill, because even adults get caught
up in that.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Being I'm trying to imagine sitting on my phone in
school back in the day I had the rotary phone
out or whatever.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
One of the funniest videos I've ever seen is them
putting a rotary phone in front of a teenager today
and seeing if they could figure out how to make
a phone call. They never did.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Super Intendative Education. ELLM.
Speaker 4 (20:53):
Weaver, I'm glad to know you're having a busy summer.
That means it's going to be an exciting fall for
South Carolina.
Speaker 5 (20:58):
It sure is. We're looking forward, our ready to the
next school year. It's going to be another great year
progress here in our Palmetto State.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Thank you for your time, my pleasure.
Speaker 5 (21:06):
We'll talk to y'all soon.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
And speaking of education, one of the things we want
to talk about today we spoke of in our rash
thought today visitors to Charleston's historical sites. As we educate
Americans on their family vacations possibly showing up down to Charleston,
many people want to go to the National Park Services
maintained Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. Certainly those of those
(21:30):
forts have pivotal roles in the Revolutionary and the Civil War,
but the visitors at Charleston Historical sites are being asked
to report negative stories about America. That was the headline
of today's Posting Courier.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
That sounds so bad.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
I mean, look, I'm a Trump supporter, but why are
you asking me to drop a dime on somebody? Is
that what's happening here, Jonathan?
Speaker 4 (21:54):
And you know in the picture in the Posting Courier too.
I can't remember now where those they were recreating. It
was it Revolutionary War or Civil War? I think it
was Revolutionary War, according just remembering from their picture of
their uniforms, but I can't imagine.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
I guess that would seem.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
Certainly if they were recreating Civil War battles on either
Moultrie or Someter, that would have been something that you'd
need to report immediately. The troops are still roaming about
down in South Carolina trying to oppress people.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Well, look, the reality of what the situation is, surprise,
not what the headline would lead you to believe. It's
not that they're asking you to drop a dime on
people who are spreading any negative stories about the United
States of America so the Trump administration can have them
sent to an l Salvadoran prison. The signs if you
(22:50):
look in the story and you have to blow up
the photo in order to actually read it. Fort Sumter
and Fort Moultrie belongs to the American people. In the
National Park Service wants your feedback. Please let us know
if you have identified one any areas that need repair,
two any services that need improvement, or three any signs
(23:11):
or other information that are negative about either past or
living Americans, or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur,
and abundance of the landscapes and other natural features. So
we just want to maximize your experience here. This is
not we're going to change the narrative on slavery. We're
(23:31):
not going to suddenly say that they all volunteered because
they wanted to build a better land too, and so
they said, get me on that boat. I got to
go and help the white folk. That is, this is
just the way they like to write stories is so
insane and it's so infuriating.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
So it's certainly they want to know if the restrooms
are need cleaning. Yes, there's a toilet that's constantly flowing.
Of course, we want to know those things. Or as
one of the trails that you're on. Is it dangerous
because it's it might have become washed out in a
storm or something. We don't know until you let us know.
Do we have reason to believe that some of the
(24:08):
park rangers may actually try to rewrite history there as
they describe what happened at those sites.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
That's what the posting Courier, what have you believe that
Doug Burgham probably under threat of being fired by Donald Trump,
Doug Burgham ordered ordered the National Park Service to place
these signs. You're ordered, You're hence ordered. I want signs up,
Doug Bergham, you tell you know, you know better than
(24:36):
I'm trying to think of. Like Hitler's right hand man,
whoever Hitler's right hand man was, That's that's who you are.
You're Gebels, the Gebels.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
Bitches.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
The Yankees came across over that Ridge
Speaker 3 (24:51):
Tried to violate the state rights
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