Socastee High teacher lobs charges at Horry County school officials

A teacher from Socastee High is accusing the Horry County Schools superintendent, as well as the county school board of falsifying an application for a federal grant, according to records obtained by the Herald.

Bobby Chandler, who is a social studies teacher says in e-mails to school officials that county teachers were by Superintendent Cindy Elsberry coerced into declaring their support for an application to the federal Race to the Top program, even though they knew nothing about the contents of the application.

Chandler for years has been one of the the district’s most vocal critics said in the emails that Elsberry’s actions may constitute federal fraud and is calling for the state Department of Education to strip Elsberry of her professional superintendent’s certification.

Chandler also claims that the district, with the approval of the school board, submitted submitted false information to the U.S. Department of Education to try to qualify for Race to the Top money.

Teal Harding, a spokeswoman for Horry County Schools says that the district was district was a finalist last year in the Race to the Top competition, but this year did not qualify for the $2.5 million award.

Chandler alleges that even though money was not exchanged, federal fraud still occurred due to the fact that false information knowingly submitted on the application.

Chandler's beef with Elsberry began on Sept. 12 when the from the district office were sent an email and were told to watch a video of the superintendent

Hop on over to My Horry News to read the entire story and you can read Chandler's blog called Teachers Are Citizens Too, which talks more about the accusations here