- CCSD brings lawsuits upon itself by its lack of transparency; Superintendent McGinley has not helped matters by her forgetful memory (twice!) regarding verifying addresses properly for Buist.
- The waiting list at Buist, complete with all the rumors swarming around it, is the stuff of legends; it is not public. Principal Ballard's foot-dragging in filling vacancies at Buist from the waiting list last year merely exacerbated distrust among District 20 families.
- Families in District 20 (and out) believe that CCSD has deliberately kept high-achieving students from entering on the waiting list so that the PACT scores wouldn't be too affected at D20's other schools.
- The article fails to explain the reason for "the appeal's also tak[ing] issue with the school district's denial of a 'fair, prompt and impartial hearing' for the appellants." This complaint comes from a hearing where the impartiality of legal counsel (Alice Paylor herself) and other members of the committee formed by the CCSD school board was questionable. It also derives from CCSD's slowness in response--the hearing's taking place more than a YEAR after the original constituent board ruling.
- CCSD (Alice Paylor again) wrongly claims that there aren't enough qualified District 20 students to fill slots at Buist. Many parents never tried to get on the waiting list because they knew the deck was stacked and they didn't have influence. Let's see if CCSD is correct! Demographics show that a hefty proportion of children living on the peninsula are NOT in CCSD schools at all. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why.
Now the chance that Buist would become all black like all of the other schools on the peninsula has dissipated (thanks to those demographics again). The reasoning behind its four lists went with it. The fact remains, students who live in District 20 are frozen out of magnet schools in the other constituent districts, while the students who live in other constituent districts are NOT frozen out of the one magnet school in District 20.
Those who live in other constituent districts should look carefully at how District 20 has been treated. It could happen to you.
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16 comments:
On the Post and Courier blog, a writer named "mbookworm" said this: "...sounds like your child didn't get in [to Buist], but by the quality of your writing it sounds like you are a well educated person and I bet you can afford to send your child to a private school.. I've seen a lot of kids in Buist with parents who are Drs., lawyers, etc and could well afford to send their child to a private school..."
Wow, that's rich! Who are these sensitive, civic-minded parents with "gifted" children at Buist?
This one appears to be none other than Mark Brandenburg. Yes, how rich!
Buist isn't a school for the gifted and talented. It's just CCSD's way of keeping certain kids out. It's all a sham and they should all be ashamed.
S-o-u-r
G-r-a-p-e-s
This blog just saves a lot of you people money from not having to pay a therapist. The bitching and whining on here goes on forever...
You may be right anonymous 8:35 PM, because all the high priced doctors at 75 Calhoun Street we are paying for certainly aren't doing any listening.
By the way, sour grapes would imply that something can't be had for one's self so it is scorned instead. Admission to Buist is not a goal for most of the people you appear to be addressing. Fixing the institutional inequities and ending the abuses that are seen as rampant within our public education system are their goals. Too bad some are too blinded by greed to see the value of the concerns raised by so many downtown.
Oh, someone please tell Elliot. There's that "B" word again.
Who is Elliot?
Smalley. He is CCSD's PR guy who worked up the case on Ravenel's vocabulary moment.
Yeah, I think I'll cry "hostile blog environment" -
alex... I am Not Mark... I'm not a lawyer or a Dr. or RICH... I'm a stay at home mom with a blue collar husband... I spent my time at home with my child teaching... and the results were that my child was accepted at Buist...
I'm sick of all the bs that's going on ON BOTH SIDES when it comes to Buist...
MY point is... there should be more schools LIKE Buist in Charleston County... but I am thankful for this ONE because if not for Buist my child might have gone to a poor performing school on Johns Island
alex... fyi, the Anonymous post at 9:15 is from mbookworm... why don't you try reading the rest of my posts on P&C... then maybe you can comment on me
Buist is a county wide school meant for county wide children... District 20 should be taken out of the picture once and for all... it's biased to have one List just for them... it's not a partial magnet school like St. Andrews... it has full magnet status for the COUNTY...
It's wrong to cheat and everyone should have their addresses checked at EVERY school... every child should be able to apply who live in the county...
Why do you all spend so much time and negative energy on bashing Buist when you should spend it on providing Buist-like schools in all districts????
Get over it and move on..
Dear mbookworm:
We have spent our energies trying to create quality schools downtown, but there's a problem with this...Buist supporters like Gregg Meyers, Toya Green, Sallie Ballard and the Superintendent have worked very hard to stop it. It's called charter schools.
And you suggest, "...Buist is a county wide school meant for county wide children... District 20 should be taken out of the picture once and for all... it's biased to have one List just for them... it's not a partial magnet school like St. Andrews... it has full magnet status for the COUNTY..." If that were to happen (and it just might) then I guess there would be no schools for District 20 residents to attend. If you hadn't noticed, all those other magnet schools have lists that favor their own students and keep District 20 applicants out. So, did you come from one of those areas that would have given you a choice? Try to remember that District 20 has not choice. Geez, for a Buist parent, you're not too bright. How many times do people have to remind you that Buist is our only choice for an academically oriented and challenging public education. District 20 is supposed to have 10 seats reserved for its qualified applicants. And that's if Sallie Ballard doesn't manage to give those seats to someone else first. There are over 400 District 20 kids that might qualify for one of those seats...assuming that all 10 would be available to them. That would mean that less than 3% of the children on the peninsula would be allowed access to a quality public education. They can't get it any other way. Not through NCLB transfers because CCSD doesn't let them transfer to certain schools...like excellent rated schools in other parts of the county. What is it that you don't understand about CHEATING OUR KIDS who happen to live downtown. You say "move on". I'd like to move on to where you are, but I can't you've already taken the space.
Please, would someone be so kind as to show me the policy, law or memorandum that created this thing called a "county-wide" school? Gregg Meyers, and people like him, made it up when District 20 started calling their hand on how the admissions process was being manipulated for some and against others. I bet it doesn't exist, because no one will show us where it came from. Show us the paper trail in real documents and actual votes by past boards. It never happened. That's the truth. If not, then show us the proof, mbookworm.
Downtown Parent.
Downtown parent... why can't your child apply to St. Andrews? It's open to those who live in the county... isn't district 20 in the county? or don't you want to drive to west ashley?
And those other magnet schools you are talking about are also neighborhood schools as well as magnet schools, Buist is not
I live on Johns Island and my choices are poor performing schools... as I mentioned, I applied at St. Andrews, Harborview and Buist... nowhere near where I live
If I weren't too bright I wouldn't know to try all the options available to me... if I weren't too bright I wouldn't have tought my child to read by 4 yrs old and have her pass the Buist test by 98%...so how bright do I have to be?
And fyi, the space that my child took at Buist came from the county list...I followed the rules and was lucky to get in...
And let me say this... there are plenty of downtown kids in my daughters class... seems they filled all the slots available to them... how much more do you want? all of it?
As one blogger mentioned on the P&C site, the downtown list just might follow the way of the minority list if this keeps remaining an issue...
As far as I can tell Buist is doing everything they can to verify addresses... if fact I just received a letter from Sallie Ballard because I hadn't turned in my signed affadavit and address verification documents yet...
Where is the PROOF, the FACTS that the lottery is a scam... have you been to the school during the lottery pick?
there are only 40 spaces and hundreds of applicants the odds are not great for any of us, but, and I keep mentioning this, downtown does have an advantage because you can be on the county list, poor performing school list and THE DISTRICT 20 list, so if you live downtown you have a better chance than most...
mbookworm
mbookworm:
You can't be too bright. Maybe it's by choice. How many times to people at Buist have to hear it. District 20 children do not have access to ANY of those alternative schools mentioned unless it is by extrordinary means. All of them have waiting lists. All of them place NCLB transfers at the end of the line, or at best, the same place in the line where they would be if they weren't NCLB transfers. All of them give neighborhood students priority. ONLY Buist is the exception. Why? County-wide school you say. There is no such thing. There is no policy establishing one. The argument has evolved only as the downtown residents began to ask questions. The rules have been made up as they went. As for the lottery, give us all a break. Everything about it is so secret, it exudes suspicion at every turn. Does someone have to be present to "see" how a computer generated list can be manipulated by an official who is personally connected to the school and its staff. There are no checks and balances. There are no objective third parties running it. There is no reason to believe it isn't rigged when entire classes at Buist have no downtown residents. There is no reason for vacancies in the upper grades going unfilled for years. You are in another universe from where District 20 is if you think anything about Buist is fair, equitable or an example that we might want to set for the next generation at our expense.
Get off your high horse of self congratulation for your luck and good fortune. Know this. If District 20 applicants were given the same priortity as the other schools give their qualified students (be it based on academics or special talents) then your child would very likely still be enrolled at Buist. The District 20 plan was only to rearrange the priorities. There has seldom been more than 25 qualified downtown children making application in a single year. If all were accepted, siblings would be next. Most of these would be non-District 20 residents. On average that would make Buist between 1/3 and 1/2 non-residents.
Get used to this fact. If certain people hadn't been so determined to keep District 20 residents out of Buist and if Buist officials hadn't been so greedy to allow so much cheating to go uncurbed, this wouldn't have become the issue that it is. Until you can see the facts as they are, you are part of the problem. You are not part of the solution.
Besides, would we even be calling these other schools "partial" magnets without Buist? Just how many rules do we have to rewrite or invent to protect Buist? I don't see the county board doing anything to give any of us a 2nd, 3rd or 4th edition of this school if it is really this good. As for the Superintendent, she's all hot air if this issue isn't fully resolved by the tenth day. She will also be on her way out.
-Downtown Parent
Downtown parent...
sticks and stones... sticks and stones... :)
mbookworm...you're still avoiding the questions.
Look, I'm just a stay-at-home mom... I don't have any "answers" just my opinions and nobody likes them on this blog...that being said, I'm not wasting anymore of my time... school starts today at Buist ya know...bye bye
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