tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post3863973922033241896..comments2023-10-23T15:59:33.310-04:00Comments on The Newsless Courier: Testing: Four, Five--TestingBabbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11152952119296267993noreply@blogger.comBlogger60125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-63756683206579588112007-04-30T08:16:00.000-04:002007-04-30T08:16:00.000-04:00The real problem with the "downtown" list is that ...The real problem with the "downtown" list is that Buist cannot determine to which board the school is accountable - the constituent downtown board - or the county board. If the school is a constituent district magnet, the downtown kids should have priority. On the other hand, if the school is actually a county-wide magnet, the downtown list should be termintated and all students regardless of address should be given the same chance to attend. Right now, Buist's admission policy is a hybrid, trying to accomodate both the constituent as well as the county boards and students. The decision must be made to whom Buist is accountable and for whom Buist exists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-31586001716696304772007-03-20T07:23:00.000-04:002007-03-20T07:23:00.000-04:00Babbie-I guess its not just a County- wide school....Babbie-<BR/>I guess its not just a County- wide school... its a COUNTRY-wide school. Better yet, maybe we should call it the Country Club wide school.<BR/>You've asked some great questions, but I doubt you'll get any answers. There is NO policy on most of the questions you've raised. <BR/>Honestly, I think Sallie looks at the list and decides who'll bring in the most money and takes it from there. That's probably why those vacancies were never filled in the upper grades this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-10657413453666626342007-03-20T06:58:00.000-04:002007-03-20T06:58:00.000-04:00My child used to go to Buist and I knew children t...My child used to go to Buist and I knew children that didn't even live in Charleston County that attended the school. Why are county tax payers footing the bill for parents outside of our huge school district? Of course there were nearly no downtown children there either. Minority children seemed to all come from North Charleston and the white children from Mt. Pleasant.<BR/><BR/>We left because of the sleaze involved in the seventh grade last year. We are now very happy at a non magnet school that we are zoned for. Sallie should have been fired for the way she handled that bullying situation. The only people punished were the victims and the teachers involved. That is because the ring leaders mother was a big wig at the school and Sallie Ballard's biggesgt defender. I won't say what the mother did because that would identify her child. <BR/><BR/>We were upset by the bathroom situation too but the approval of bullying was the final straw. There is no leadership at that school. I don't think Brandenburg understands who he has alligned himself with. The school as it is does not fit with the ideals of the Citadel.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-83211485552259898752007-03-19T23:29:00.000-04:002007-03-19T23:29:00.000-04:00Babbie-In response to your number 9 question (rega...Babbie-<BR/>In response to your number 9 question (regarding the child moving to Alaska, etc...)<BR/>At the Buist Task Force meeting, Gregg Meyers stated, "People have a constitutional right to travel." So I think that kid who moves to Alaska could still in fact GO to Buist, especially if he entered on the District 20 list.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-89289362329861375662007-03-19T23:24:00.000-04:002007-03-19T23:24:00.000-04:00To the person who posted the VIP list suggestion: ...To the person who posted the VIP list suggestion: <BR/>Thank You!! That's my kind of humor and I needed a good laugh today. Maybe we could bring it up under public comments at the next school board meeting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-38030932126075654162007-03-17T20:23:00.000-04:002007-03-17T20:23:00.000-04:00Where are your letters to the editor? I've written...Where are your letters to the editor? I've written mine. I'm waiting for yours.<BR/>When will you attach your names to these harsh comments?<BR/>What insanity one "public" school has created. Gregg Meyers is a good man??? Are you kidding me? We should all be ashamed of ourselves...including our "good man Gregg." Ask your good man where he lived at the time of the elections. Did he even live in the district he represents? ASK HIM.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-39234449755184769252007-03-16T16:57:00.000-04:002007-03-16T16:57:00.000-04:00I think they should get it out in the open and hav...I think they should get it out in the open and have a VIP list.<BR/>This would kill all the secrecy. Teachers, Rock Stars, Political Figures and relatives can all get their children in on that type of a list. I admire them for wanting to send their children to a public school, I loathe them for the means they chose and the child they displacedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-85538282170369203282007-03-16T16:53:00.000-04:002007-03-16T16:53:00.000-04:00Poor Ms. BallardIf she just did the right thing la...Poor Ms. Ballard<BR/>If she just did the right thing last year when everyone questioned things a bit, she would have had a much better year.<BR/>Stonewalling and fabrications irritate people and make things worse.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-57231294421378747412007-03-16T15:14:00.000-04:002007-03-16T15:14:00.000-04:00Babbie ... can you email me, I have a couple quest...Babbie ... can you email me, I have a couple questions I do not want to post ... john@johnstrubel.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-7782864095746991842007-03-16T11:18:00.000-04:002007-03-16T11:18:00.000-04:00So what if a teacher's child gets a helping hand w...So what if a teacher's child gets a helping hand with the lottery or testing. A teacher can't pretend that she never gave the test herself to other children. There aren't that many children at Buist that are the kids of teachers or school board members. Plus what are you expecting? It would be a lot of trouble to bring in all outside proctors when you have teachers right there that are qualified to use the YCAT.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-8916572067371268582007-03-16T09:24:00.000-04:002007-03-16T09:24:00.000-04:00Actually magnet schools are not suppossed to let a...Actually magnet schools are not suppossed to let a teacher's child in automatically or they risk losing a certain type of funding. I'm sure it's done covertly like everything else at BuistlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-43818315907229737982007-03-16T09:11:00.000-04:002007-03-16T09:11:00.000-04:00First of all Magnet schools are not Immune to No C...First of all Magnet schools are not Immune to No Child Left behind. Read all 642 pages of the act and you will see that. Thus irregardless of what the CCSD chooses to say Buist is not immune to it. <BR/>Second the YCAT does not measure intelligence it measures the chance that a child is at risk to have problems in school. According to multiple psychologists it should not be the measure of if the child will or will not fail. It identifies children that will need extra help.<BR/>Last the school is a public school and no one except a teacher who works there should automatically get their kid in. Giving of your self to perform a public service is an act of goodness and kindness. No one should expect to cheat the system.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-60422561523569967772007-03-16T07:49:00.000-04:002007-03-16T07:49:00.000-04:00This very short Letter to the Editor appears in to...This very short Letter to the Editor appears in today's P&C, 3-16-07:<BR/><BR/>The Answer <BR/>Clone Buist! <BR/>GLENN P. TUCKER <BR/>6-A Elliott St.<BR/><BR/>Couldn't have said it any better. That's all downtown has been asking. We'd fill a second Buist in a heartbeat. Ivy Ascue on the Dist. 20 board has even floated a proposal to do just that at Memminger. What about it? The CCSD board controls the money and ultimately decides if it will happen. Why not give Buist some healthy competition and fix this problem?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-72988783830502233732007-03-16T00:26:00.000-04:002007-03-16T00:26:00.000-04:00If that downtown mob gets their way it will destro...If that downtown mob gets their way it will destroy Buist Academy as we know it. I would put my daughter in Ashley Hall if it became more of a district school. Buist would no longer be getting the cream of the crop. Buist is the only public school I would put my daughter in.<BR/><BR/>So what if all the other magnet elementary schools give preference to people that live in their district? I'm sure people use fake addresses to get into those schools too. Nobody makes a big deal out of that. You never hear St. Andrews Math and Science or West Ashley Creative Arts parents making a big deal about things. <BR/><BR/>If the downtown people are so unhappy about the way Buist is then they should start another sort of magnet school. Leave Buist alone. It's for "advanced studies" so it's not for everyone. Also, there's only so much room in the school.<BR/><BR/>We have a fabulous IB coordinator Nicole Barrett than brought IB to Buist. She and Sallie Ballard are together shaping Buist into a dream school. Nicole was the Mom in the Post and Courier that was sobbing out of joy that her child got a great number in the county-wide lottery. This is because she knows first hand what a special place Buist is. <BR/><BR/>It is a testament to Buist that other teachers have or have had their children at the school. This makes it a much better place for a teacher to work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-31617238479242138982007-03-15T21:34:00.000-04:002007-03-15T21:34:00.000-04:00Sallie Ballard is a good woman. Her whole life is ...Sallie Ballard is a good woman. Her whole life is that school and she's under a lot of pressure from parents and administrators. Sallie does what it takes to keep the school going. She had a meeting just this week to address the downtown whiners. Many of us think that there shouldn't even be a downtown list. Watch out! You're right, we are well connected.<BR/><BR/>As for race, it's not Sallie's fault that the lower grades are mostly white. Black people just aren't applying to Buist enough. Sallie wishes she could change that but we don't have a minority list anymore.<BR/><BR/>Buist is a great school with four foreign language teachers, the International Baccularate program, and SAIL for all children. We have a great new assistent principal. We have full time PE and art and music teachers. We also have a full time IB teacher and three SAIl teachers. Our kids work hard and we have the highest PACT scores in this system. All of this is no accident.<BR/><BR/>Of course people like Gregg, Toya, Robert New and Darius Rucker would want to send their children to such a fine school.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-90220306398298850942007-03-15T21:20:00.000-04:002007-03-15T21:20:00.000-04:00Charleston Progessive is a MAGNET SCHOOL, too, so ...Charleston Progessive is a MAGNET SCHOOL, too, so why is it required to take NCLB transfers?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-86832176190635878262007-03-15T21:15:00.000-04:002007-03-15T21:15:00.000-04:00I wonder about the intellect of some of these Buis...I wonder about the intellect of some of these Buist supporters. Even if we ignore their lack of vocabulary skills and their obvious insecurity issues about who exactly lives downtown, their ignorance of the actual goals and laws relating to public education in general would be unbelievable and if I hadn't read their comments first. As for the phrase "It benefits our school [I'm assuming this is a Buist parent] (and all schools) to have people like Toya, Gregg, Janet Rose..." What would benefit our other downtown schools would have been for these people not to sit on there bums when there is clearly a need and a demand for an egalitarian approach to solving the problems of all of the other neighborhood schools located downtown. What these people [you named them] have done is advance an elitist agenda that benefits a small number of people, mostly their limited circle. Don't make asinine assumptions about downtown residents and their attitudes about public education or racial integration. Many of the new people who now live on the peninsula, and not all of them are particularly wealthy, went to excellent public schools elsewhere and don't understand why we have tolerated this situation in Charleston for so long. As for the few natives who remain on the peninsula, most of them attended public schools here. Some even remember when the downtown schools were good AND most public schools on the peninsula were racially integrated. How quickly we forget when we let the new “in crowd” rewrite our history for us. Read this week's “Charleston Chronicle” if you want to get a good take on how Charleston's Black community is following this and related stories about the state of downtown public schools. There is plenty of blame to go around and some Black citizens have been brave enough to look into a mirror. Are white parents from the suburbs who used false addresses to get their kids into Buist up to the task of doing the same? Certainly some of our CCSD county board members have not been.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-90896833891929496892007-03-15T20:36:00.000-04:002007-03-15T20:36:00.000-04:00I have a friend that used a fake downtown address ...I have a friend that used a fake downtown address last year but they really intended to buy something small if their child got into Buist. When the child passed the test they did buy the property and they do sleep their sometimes.<BR/><BR/>This "primary residence" business isn't written anywhere on Buist forms. Some of you have a hard time accepting that some people can afford to own more than one piece of property.<BR/><BR/>If you have renters in an investment property downtown then you still have to pay taxes on it don't you? In fact you pay more tax on a business because it's not a primary residence.<BR/><BR/>This Title 1 list idea for Buist is nonsense. Most of those people don't pay taxes at all.<BR/><BR/>By the way Gregg Meyers is a fine man. He has no control over downtown schools. It's great that he put his five kids in public schools when he could clearly afford not to.<BR/><BR/>We are lucky to have people like Gregg volunteer their time. Toya Hampton Green could put her child in a private school too. What do you people expect her to do, send her kid to a regular downtown school or get a NCLB transfer far away?j<BR/><BR/>It benefits our school (and all schools)to have people like Toya, Gregg, Janet Rose and Robert New send their kids here. There has to be a place for the smartest kids in the county to go and get challenged. We should move our school to Mt. Pleasant anyway so we all won't have to commute over the bridge.<BR/><BR/>Really, if it's made up of children mostly from Mt. Pleasant then why is it downtown? Also, Buist doesn't take NCLB transfers because it is a MAGNET SCHOOL. It doesn't matter that there eleven are spots available. I heard that Sallie was so busy dealing with all the angry downtown types that she didn't have time to fill those spots over the summer. She had to go a while without an assistent principal!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-75505119683858237942007-03-15T20:22:00.000-04:002007-03-15T20:22:00.000-04:00Whoever commented a few above me:IT IS NOT OK TO U...Whoever commented a few above me:<BR/>IT IS NOT OK TO USE A GRANDPARENT'S ADDRESS TO GET ON THE BUIST DOWNTOWN LIST!<BR/><BR/>It's a list for children who really live downtown. If your grandchildren don't really live downtown then they no doubt have much better public school options than any downtown child!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-162547561668274972007-03-15T20:20:00.000-04:002007-03-15T20:20:00.000-04:00As a former Buist parent I know that people get a ...As a former Buist parent I know that people get a teacher to buy the YCAT on line and pass it around to each other. They then take turns testing the children of their friends. I've even known some Buist parents to hire teachers who have given the YCAT to prep their four and five year olds before the Buist test.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-2702101204563255022007-03-15T20:00:00.000-04:002007-03-15T20:00:00.000-04:00If the YCAT is the test being used (and all commen...If the YCAT is the test being used (and all commenters seem to indicate that it is), why is Buist using an ACHIEVEMENT test? Shouldn't the testing indicate ability instead? This test sets up the "winners" to be children whose parents can buy enrichment programs and/or tutors over those with more native ability. Therefore, it favors the rich. How ridiculous. And disingenuous. And elitist. Who chose THIS test?Babbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11152952119296267993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-15715221428813145702007-03-15T19:59:00.000-04:002007-03-15T19:59:00.000-04:00Don't blame Gregg Meyers for not working for deseg...Don't blame Gregg Meyers for not working for desegregation. Maybe none of those people downtown want it. The problems with downtown schools are too complicated even for Gregg Meyers to try to fix. I agree that it's only right that Gregg and Robert New should have had five kids each go through Buist. Maybe they owned rental property downtown or had in-laws that lived downtown. <BR/><BR/>As long as you are related to somebody or have a friend that will let you pay his SCE & G bill you can get into Buist on the downtown list. I know plenty of folks who have done it over the years. Quit picking on Gregg and Janet Rose and Robert New. I'm sure their kids got into Buist on the Countywide list.<BR/><BR/>Until a few years ago they have 7 spots every year to non minority children from a countywide list. They had excellent chances of getting in because fewer people used to apply to Buist before we got all of this national publicity on Nightline.<BR/><BR/>In my day these downtown people would have minded their own business and appreciated public servents like Gregg Meyers. <BR/><BR/>You know my grandchildren can't even afford to live downtown. I've been paying taxes to Charleston County for a long time. I couldn't send my kids to the public schools downtown so my grandchildren desearve to go to a fine school like Buist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-51563486857068112712007-03-15T17:40:00.000-04:002007-03-15T17:40:00.000-04:00How many children from Dist. 20 were allowed to tr...How many children from Dist. 20 were allowed to transfer to Sullivan's Island ES under NCLB? I hear that Sullivan's Island is now purging their student body of "illegal" transfers from Dist. 20 even if the original schools for those kids are low performing. Now is that legal?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-79446254585540044972007-03-15T17:36:00.000-04:002007-03-15T17:36:00.000-04:00What other school board members and public officia...What other school board members and public officials have ties to the fake address parents? If they've done something wrong you guys should name names.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29270672.post-65225680392848893762007-03-15T17:32:00.000-04:002007-03-15T17:32:00.000-04:00Again, Gregg Meyers has put in many years of servi...Again, Gregg Meyers has put in many years of service to Charleston County Schools. So what if he had five children at Buist? Maybe they got in on the Countywide or sibling list. He's really smart. I bet his children were too. He should be applauded for not puttting them in private school like all those stuck up downtown people do.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com