Hannah-Pamplico High Principal placed on Administrative Leave
A long, long time ago in a town far, far away…I graduated from Hannah-Pamplico High School. Hannah-Pamplico is a very small school in a very small town in Florence County. Throughout the year I have been getting updates from secondary sources about Hannah-Pamplico’s current principal being placed on administrative leave. This struck me as slightly odd.
Principal Bernard McDaniel was named the 2002 Secondary Principal of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators. According to most people in Pamplico, he turned Hannah-Pamplico Middle and High schools into a model for Florence County.
This afternoon I was informed that the Morning News had printed a front page story about Bernard McDaniel’s suspension. I have reprinted the story below. Shireese Bell was the reporter.
PAMPLICO — The Pamplico community still is searching for answers concerning Hannah-Pamplico High School’s principal.
Hannah-Pamplico High School Principal Bernard McDaniel was placed on administrative leave pending a recommendation from Florence School District 2 Superintendent Dr. Steve Quick. McDaniel has been on leave since July.
McDaniel has served as the high school principal for seven years. During that time, he was named the 2002 Secondary Principal of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators. He also has served as principal of Hannah-Pamplico Middle School.
McDaniel requested an appeal hearing, but during a special board meeting Sept. 18, the Florence 2 Board of Trustees voted 5-2 to uphold Quick’s recommendation to not hear McDaniel’s appeal.
Board members Robert Carter, Dr. William Coleman, James Jones, David Poston and Elleveen Poston voted in favor of Quick’s recommendation. Board members Thadis Calcutt Jr. and Johnny Jenkins voted against it.
Quick said McDaniel still is earning his salary and still is employed by the district. But Quick said he couldn’t disclose any other information because it’s a personnel matter.
McDaniel said he was advised by his attorney, Melissa Burnett, not to comment on his suspension or his request for an appeal because of possible litigation. He said he should be able to make a statement soon, though.
Calcutt said he voted the way he did because he thought McDaniel should have been allowed to speak. Calcutt said McDaniel deserves a chance to comment on different situations and what’s put before him.
“I feel like he should have been able to speak at the meeting, because that’s all he was requesting,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate situation for our community. It’s something that’s not beneficial to any community, especially since we’ve worked so hard to obtain that level of excellence in our schools.”
Calcutt said there has been overwhelming support for McDaniel in the community.
“I would’ve never believe that people would’ve supported him the way they have,” Calcutt said. ” It’s unbelievable.”
Kay Packet, who has worked with McDaniel, said he is respected and loved in the Pamplico community. She said people are outraged by the way he’s being treated by the board.
“We have no voice. We have a rubber stamp board majority and a superintendent who’s accountable to no one,” Packet said. “I feel very strongly that we need some people on the board who have some independence and some gumption.”
Terry McAllister-Timmons, who has children who attend Florence 2 schools, said Mc-
Daniel was the reason she transferred her children from a private school to a public one. She said the parents and the faculty deserve to hear McDaniel’s side of the story.
While McAllister-Timmons said she realizes McDaniel’s case is a personnel issue, she would still like to know something because it concerns the children in the district.
McAllister-Timmons said students don’t have any leadership at the high school because no permanent principal is serving there. She said she would feel better if the board had sent a letter notifying parents about McDaniel’s leave.
Board members Carter, Coleman, Jenkins, David Poston and Elleveen Poston did not return phone calls seeking comment by press time. Jones declined to comment.
why isn’t the persons name from that is far far
away posted to this story? WHO is KAY PUCKET
anyway?
i think that Mr. McDaniel should be able to say what he needs to say and that the board should give him an appeal.
There are always two sides to every story. I attended Hannah-Pamplico Middle and High School while Mr. McDaniels was Principal and my brothers and I made his job hard but Mr. McDaniels would always give us lil pep talks to keep us focused while informing my mom on our good and bad behavior. He is and has been a very positive man for that entire town and deserves respect and to have his voice heard. He is human just like any other man or woman and no one should look at this situation with a closed mind. No one knows what the outcome of this will be. I believe everything happens for a reason and God makes one person an example to show a town of people the light and to open their eyes. The picture is bigger than Mr. McDaniels and what you believe he did. Only God knows what happened behind closed doors and in due time the truth will be revealed. Stay up Mr. McDaniels and trust in your father “Jesus Christ”
I’m a graduate with the class of 2007 of Hannah-Pamplico High School and I had Mr. McDaniel as a prinicpal for three years and I never had a problem with him. I could walk down the halls of HPH or sit in one of the classes and hear people bad talking him and it always used to bother me. I could tell you honestly why people always bad talked him. Because he didn’t let the students get away with stuff whenever they did something to get written up, suspended, or whatever. I could pass him in the halls and he always made me put a smile on my face whenever I wasn’t smiling. He was an easy person to talk to. I always talked to him instead of Mrs. Porter. He always said things to make me feel better. His words were always better than Mrs. Porter’s words. Nothing pisses me off more than people bad talking him. I don’t think people should be bad talking him now, especially since nobody knows the real deal about it. From what I hear, it has something to do with Ms. Hunter. All four years that I attended HPH, I’ve heard something different about Ms. Hunter. But, I won’t post it all over the internet, but I will say that she does not deserve to be a teacher. Or at least not in a high school. Maybe elementary school. But, Mr. McDaniel, I do [and always will] support you 100%, no matter what. Thanks, everyone, for reading what I had to say about the whole situation.