1-on-1 with Charleston County School District’s new superintendent Anita Huggins

CHARLESTON COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) – After some controversy surrounding her hiring, the Charleston County School District’s (CCSD) new leader, Anita Huggins, plans to focus on improving student outcomes and rebuilding relationships with the community.

Huggins spoke with News 2’s Octavia Mitchell on Tuesday morning in her first one-on-one interview since assuming her new role as the district’s superintendent of education.

Now the top educator for the second-largest school district in South Carolina, Huggins has been serving the district in various ways for 26 years — first as a teacher and then working her way up to leadership at the district level.

“I am 200 percent committed to the work. I wake up thinking about the work. I go to bed thinking about the work. I’m committed to doing the work, the hard work,” Huggins said in her interview. “Our goals are focused on student outcomes, also we have goals centered around community engagement and building successful partnerships, developing a budget that is clearly aligned with our outcomes for students, and focused on capital programs, and what we need to do to support all of our communities.”

Huggins said she hopes to maintain the progress the district is making, especially with students of color.  

“We’ve seen significant gains, particularly as it relates to African American and Hispanic student performance, so my chief priority right now is focused on student outcome, and rebuilding some of the trust in some of the relationships in the community,” she said.

Huggins’ hiring as the district’s leader does not come without controversy. She was appointed acting superintendent last fall, after the former superintendent Dr. Eric Gallien was placed on administrative leave and later resigned.

This sparked an outcry from the African American community.  

When asked about her thoughts regarding some in the Black community and some board members seeing her promotion as a form of discrimination, Huggins responds, “I appreciate you acknowledging that. I acknowledge that. I want to be honest with the community. I want to be honest with our Board of Trustees — I believe I serve nine trustees who want the very best for children, and I’m blessed with this opportunity, and I acknowledge discriminatory processes, racism exists. It exists nationally. It exists locally. I lean into that. I think we have to talk about these things. We have to have conversations about these things, and I don’t want the community to think that I at all ignore those concerns,” she said.

Huggins went on to say, “I want us to work collaboratively. I want us to sit down, and I want to hear the concerns. We also have to act, and by act, we have to look at how racism has impacted our system, and we have to do better for kids. We have to get better outcomes for children, particularly black and brown children. Children who have been under-served, and I pledge during whatever time I serve this community, I will do just that.”  

Huggins says she understands she has been afforded certain privileges. “I do, I acknowledge that publicly. My promise to the community and African Americans and under-represented populations, I will use this work to make things better for all children, children who have been under-served, children who struggle every day to get up and go to school, for families who don’t have as much as others. I attend to use that of which I have been blessed, to do better for this system.”

Last week, Huggins signed a three-year contract with an annual salary of $275,000.  Now, some are questioning the legality of her contract.

“We have fielded concerns among community members and among board members who have expressed dismay over how the contract was handled,” Huggins said. “I certainly want to lean into that here and acknowledge that one reason I handled the contract negotiations the way I did was to acknowledge there are concerns, particularly among trustees about the manner in which the superintendent’s hiring occurred. I’ve asked the board members to meet with me and sit down and talk to me about goals I have for the districts and ask questions. Regardless, we have a signed contract, an executed contract. I’m hoping to move forward, and looking forward to doing the work in the community, rebuilding trust with the community,” she said.

Huggins wants next year’s budget cycle to include a focus on equitable distribution of resources. “I am determined that we will distribute resources equitably across our system to serve children, so we don’t lose academic momentum,”  Huggins says.

Superintendent Huggins became emotional when talking about her passion for doing the work to help children. “Take your eyes off the controversy and watch the work, be part of the work, be committed to systemic change that will approve the future for so many of our children. I am committed to all children. Despite what’s happened up until this point, I intend to look forward with a very talented team of leaders. I pledge communication. I want to meet people where they are, and I want to move forward. I want to help the community heal. I want to acknowledge the problems which we’re plagued, and I want to be a part of a systemic change that makes a difference for children.”