NAACP, residents urge board not to lift DOJ desegregation oversight

Marvin Neal, president of the local NAACP, told the Georgetown County School District board that it would be premature to remove federal oversight under the district’s desegregation consent decree.

"Until we can confidently answer those questions with transparency and data, it would be premature to remove the safeguards that protect educational equity," Neal said, arguing that historically underserved communities in the district were not receiving equal investment.

Dr. Myrtle Brown Milching also urged the board to maintain the consent decree, saying "All the boxes have not been checked" and stressing that staffing and resource gaps must be addressed before oversight ends. She asked the board to prioritize classroom funding, teacher and classified-employee pay during the budget process.

Superintendent Dr. Gauss did not announce a decision but earlier had invited the board to review information and asked her staff to provide recruitment and retention data in response to concerns about staffing equity. The board later scheduled further discussion under the agenda item titled "The United States versus Georgetown County School District desegregation case" and received a human resources update on hiring strategies.

The public comments did not result in an immediate vote; the meeting proceeded to routine approvals and then to additional informational presentations before the board moved into executive session later in the agenda.

Next steps: the board will consider the information presented by district staff; no formal action to lift or continue federal oversight was taken during the meeting.