While work kept me away from Thursday's "hearing", news travels fast in this small town. Word has spread and evidently the Queen of Hearts has spoken. Our District 20 board representatives and community members sat through the "mock-trial" on Thursday and much to no one's surprise, the County board members ruled against District 20 residents receiving priority to Buist Academy. This should make for good news to the Office for Civil Rights' pending investigation. I thought the constituent boards were to blame for our segregated schools, not CCSD. Chop, chop on that transcript, please.
Did Mrs. Ballard keep her facts straight during her testimony? Please correct me if I'm wrong on this. I can only imagine what interesting reading the official transcript will be. Was she or was she NOT made aware of the District 20 board's new policy? Was it June when she first received a letter outlining their changes? Or was it in February? Evidently, Mr. Choice the Superintendent testified he had spoken to her on the phone within a day (or so) of the new policy being approved in January of 2006. Yet, she clearly ignored the new policy.
On another note, Ms. Alice Paylor is doing quite the juggling act. Has she advised the CCSD board on this matter? Is it a conflict of interest that she represents Mrs. Ballard in front of her clients, who are also serving as the judge in this joke of a case? She stated she had not advised them. Why, Ms. Paylor, how DID you file that Answer to the Complaint the District 20 Board filed in the Court of Common Pleas? Through telepathy? Oh, yes...we get it...you're employed by CCSD, not by the CCSD Board of Trustees. But isn't it the CCSD Board of Trustees who approves your employment? How DO you keep that straight face?
Keep up the fight, District 20 representatives and Mr. Kobrovsky. I did not have the pleasure of taking a "sick day" to hear the fiasco, but I look forward to the comments of anyone who did.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
Mrs. Paylor must get awesome botox injections.
Now, now, we're supposed to steer clear of personal jabs about personal appearances.
What I find interesting is that CCSD is finally paying for a transcript of the proceedings. Comparing the latest testimony with the aborted one from a year ago, should make Sallie Ballard out to be quite the teller of tall tails. BTW, if you check the Channel 4 website, they made a major story out of the Buist admissions change the very next day back in January 2006. I doubt Sallie was unaware of the District 20 Board's actions. She was well informed within hours of it having been approved. I guess she just thought it would "go away" until some District 20 parents made it clear they intended to use it to expose the cheaters. And they did with fury.
Sallie Ballard has been in damage control mode ever since. Do her neighbors in Radcliffeborough and at St. Luke & St. Paul's Cathedral really know that she is one of the reasons its too expensive for a typical family to live downtown? Who else would be in a position to open Buist up to them or to help raise other schools to become the peers of Buist? She chooses not to. Does she care what her neighbors think? Probably not. Hell, her husband Robert is probably just as clueless to the mess she's making of downtown schools by her manipulating the Buist admissions. Every downtown property owner is paying for it, too, in some manner or another.
If the system rewards cheaters, how much trust should the public place in our public schools and the people who run them?
I think one of Charleston's real shames is that ridiculous YCAT they use at Buist to keep Dist. 20 residents out of the school. From what I've heard, Alice Paylor seemed to pride herself on the fact there were NO Dist. 20 residents on the waiting list for the current kindergarten class. So out of 31 kids who applied, only 10 passed that stupid test and accepted their spot at the school? I truly think it's just another way for Sallie to decide who attends Buist and who doesn't. Who watches Sallie? And who REALLY checks those tests?
I wonder if the publishers of the YCAT test know that Buist and CCSD is misusing it contrary to the instructions printed on its cover. It is supposed to be one of several "yard sticks" used to identify young children who may be at risk of falling behind early in their education, not to find those who might be gifted and talented. It's break point is 50%, not 85% as is being used by Buist. The publisher is very specific that the test should not be used as a single standard of measurement...because its accuracy is highly unreliable if not used as one of several "tests" for predicting future performance of young children in the initial years of a formal school setting. Who ever came up with the bright idea that this would be a test for sorting out bright students didn't read the instructions. Not a very bright move. Are they telling us that it would be too time consuming to use multiple methods of screening for bright kids...sort of like checking addresses. Once they've made up their minds who they want to admit...why double check anything?
I heard Ms. Ballard did provide false testimony. What are the consequences? She was under oath, wasn't she?
Also, why does CCSD and their board members keep stating Charleston Progressive isn't a magnet school? They might want to check out their website because it's listed under magnet schools!
Consequences to someone who is the puppet of the CCSD come now this is not a court of law.
Post a Comment