Whether inside or outside of it, debate swirled around a meeting arranged by an African-American Barnwell 45 district employee and members and citizens of the African-American community.

About 50 people gathered Feb. 23 at Brown Chapel Baptist Church in Barnwell.

The meeting was billed on a flyer circulated by hand as "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child, Community Meeting" and "Let's take back our community!"

The meeting was also announced through e-mails that only went to black district employees.

The flyer's language and apparent exclusiveness of that meeting concerned some and became part of questions raised at a well-attended Barnwell 45 school board meeting two days later.

The Feb. 23 meeting was organized by Marcus Fields, the district bus transportation director. He is also the assistant administrator at Guinyard-Butler Middle School.

"I think it's important that we have these community meetings," Fields said at the beginning of the meeting. "The Bible says there needs to be a cooling off period. But I think the community has cooled off enough. We need to stir it up again."

Voter registration and problems in the district were the meeting's chief topics.

Fields said March 13 is the last day to register to vote to cast a ballot in the April 13 school board elections.

Voter registration forms were available at the meeting.

The Feb. 23 meeting was attended by several district employees and two school board members, Abraham Sexton and Catherine Geter.

Two school board candidates, Dewayne Eubanks and Renee Geter, attended the meeting and spoke, each calling for voter support.

"I want people to understand, there is not a tug-of-war between the candidates," said Preston Fields after the two spoke.

Fields is Marcus Fields' father and a Barnwell 45 bus driver too.

"Nobody is at odds," Marcus Fields said, adding to his father's comments.

However, Eubanks took exception to these remarks.

"I'm not running with anyone. I'm running on my own merit," he said later.

There are four candidates in the Barnwell 45 school board race: Eubanks and Geter, who are African-American, and Rhett Richardson and incumbent Chad Perry, who are white.

Another speaker drew debate within the meeting.

"What a community meeting does is gives everyone a voice. I don't speak for Kenneth Myers, I speak for the NAACP. I'm on its education committee," he said. "Black children are in a crisis."

By getting an African-American majority on the Barnwell 45 school board, it can better help black children, Myers said.

"A white majority board will not be interested in the achievement of black children," he said.

Although the schools are physically integrated, standardized tests create a form of segregation. Low-scoring black students are pushed into low performance classes with lackluster teachers, Myers said.

The test scores, not grades, are more important because it creates a "tracking" system and continues this in-house segregation, he said.

Also the district allows only the most capable students to take the SAT college admission for fear that if all took it, it would lower the district's performance rating, Myers said.

"We are going on a campaign so all students can take it," he said.

Myers said black children are not getting the education they deserve, and become discipline problems because they are not engaged enough mentally.

"You can't blame a child for being a child," he said of misbehaviors.

"A good teacher engages children. That's why coaches don't have problems (with discipline), because sports engage kids," Myers said.

Some of Myers' remarks drew rebuttals.

"We've got a big problem with discipline," said Joe Brown, a school custodian. "If you can't control a child, how can you get them to read? If parents won't discipline them, who will?"

Parents should be made more accountable for their children's education, said Essie Kemp.

"This needs to be taught at home," she said. "You don't have to be educated to teach your children. It's our responsibility to teach our children at home."

Richard Myers, a school maintenance supervisor, echoed similar views.

"My two sons started school in 1969 and both of them could read and write before they started school because my wife and I took the time to teach our children how to read, write, add and subtract," he said. "It's a known fact that if children aren't educated between one and five years of age, the road ahead could be rough."

Richard Myers is a third or fourth cousin to Kenneth Myers, he said.

Richard Myers also said that he sees many dedicated teachers -- black and white -- at work.

"I don't think the teachers discriminate against the students at my school," he said.

James Wallace had similar sentiments, but also noted another contributing problem.

"It begins at the house, but let's look at ourselves. We as blacks have dropped the ball. In 1972, prayer was taken out of the schools. That caused another problem," he said.

"From the sounds of it, it was very much needed. If prayer was taken out of the school, why can't we keep prayer in the home?" Marcus Fields said toward the end of the meeting.

The meeting closed with all joining hands and singing "We Shall Overcome."