Well, here we are again. Buist Academy is in the headlines with more bad publicity. I do have a few questions, though. Okay, so we now know that CCSD is willing to admit children attending Buist do NOT live in Charleston COUNTY. HUH???? Sounds like some parents owe Charleston County taxes to me. Remember how they do it in Philly, Dr. McGinley?
But what about the OTHER issue? You know, the one that was uncovered last summer? The 10 slots that are suppose to be for residents who live in downtown Charleston didn't go to downtown residents. At least 2 spots went to cheating families out on Folly Beach. 1 spot went to a lovely child whose parents own a nice college rental on Coming Street. Another spot went to a child whose parents had their house sold before school even began. Let's see...who else? Oh, yeah...we shouldn't forget the lovely Bee Street apartment owner who claims 4% at his gated Headquarters Island home. You get the picture. The kids who really live downtown are still waiting on the waiting list, Ms. Paylor. CCSD officials and all school board members are fully aware of this, yet they still sit quietly doing nothing.
Has Buist filled the vacancies they had at the 10 day count or is Principal Ballard still waiting on her Yacht club friends to make a decision?
We need an audit of the entire school. This is ridiculous. Will it never end?
C'mom, Justice Department...where are you?
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And the Post & Courier is fully cooperating by suggesting that Buist is getting "tough" on cheaters.
Diette is fully aware of the cheaters and who they are because she knocked on doors with District 20 board members last year. It was in the paper, remember? She also knows the games CCSD is playing with this new "policy."
There's no excuse for McGinley sitting on this. It's starting to look like a train wreck. The vacancies at Buist makes the over crowding at St. Andrews look totally unjustifiable. Now St. Andrews is running into problems with its neighbors because of the overcrowding. The oversized classes will eventually have an impact on school performance. All this just because the Buist principal has decided to reduce her class sizes. We need leadership to step in here, not more foot dragging and assurances that CCSD is going to get "tough"...eventually.
The policy says that when students leave a magnet school's attendance zone they have to withdraw at the end of a semester. That's what happens when a "zoned" student at St. Andrews, Jennie Moore or Ashley River moves to another part of Charleston County. The student has to leave or reapply as a out-of-district transfer. Only Buist allows a child to enter under a District 20 ("zoned") address and then move to Mt. Pleasant (or anywhere else) and not have to give up their District 20 seat. Here are 2 very simple questions for Nancy McGinley, Sallie Ballard, Nancy Cook and Alice Paylor: Can you show us the policy that says that a "zoned" seat at Buist is different from a similar seat at St. Andrews or Jennie Moore? Can you show us the written policy that says once a District 20 seat is awarded that a student is permanently entitled to possession of that seat even though they no longer live in District 20 (assuming they ever lived in District 20)?
Great questions. But remember, Gregg Meyers says Buist parents have a "constitutional right to travel."
According to the P&C article, nearly 50 St. Andrews' parents have not complied with the district's request. Do they only have to live in the County as Buist children apparently do? Or are they truly checking for zoned students? I don't remember the article making that clear.
You can easily look at the attendance lines for St. Andrews and realize the overcrowding is due to false addresses. Wake up, CCSD.
And kudos to St. Andrews. They are getting it right with their diversity and their excellent rating. They have true diversity without playing YCAT games with families who live near the school.
If the Superintendent doesn't honestly and forthrightly address this issue, it would be hard to trust her on everything else. Without this Buist cheating issue being resolved, including the removal of those involve, the integrity of every other magnet school in Charleston County is threatened. McGinley's district wide reform proposals are equally at risk. She would be wise to resolve this issue soon.
St. Andrews has a real attendance zone, similar to any other elementary school. The YCAT is only used for those K thru 2nd grade applicants who don't live in the attendance zone. And they use the test only as a guide to determine "readiness" with a 50% score required as a minimum. Buist uses the same test incorrectly as a screen for "gifted & talented" and an 80% minimum...a use for which the test was not designed. Upper level students already have PACT test scores & documented classroom grades to show their "readiness" for the magnet school's math & science program.
I'm sure some parents have moved out of the attendance zone, but St. Andrews has not seen the wholesale application fraud that Buist reportedly has. What has caused so much overcrowding at St. Andrews recently has been all the administrative directives (that's what they call them) that CCSD officials have used to transfer students into St. Andrews who don't live in the attendance zone and aren't required to play the lottery...only take the test.
I agree with the person who said an independent audit and investigation of how the admissions process at these schools have been unfairly manipulated by some. If wrong doing is found, then it makes sense to fire and prosecute those who are found to be responsible.
Who actually thinks that the CCSD will ever be honest with anyone?
If you do your are fooling yourself. They are going to wait until everyone in Charleston County forgets that they are paying for Berkeley County kids.
Interesting read. But let me give you my thoughts on this.
1. IF Buist filled the vacant spots tomorrow, it could have little to no impact on St. Andrews. There is no guarantee that the kids then selected into Buist would come from St. Andrews.
2. I've been told that there were approximately 75 students at St. Andrews that had residency verification issues.
3. Magnet students at St. Andrews do not have to live in district, only within Charleston County, or at least that's what I've been told. But given there are Magnet kids from Johns Island and James Island I don't see why it wouldn't be true.
4. The neighbors around St. Andrews were not having a problem about the overcrowding but about the trailers brought in to deal with them. One thing that CCSD has done a piss poor job over is the infrastructure. St. Andrews isn't scheduled to get a new school until 2012. Why did it take this long to realize they needed a new school. Interest rates are at near 30 year lows and tax income has been increasing, so why did they not start a larger infrastructure program a long time ago. And since this all started about Buist, why didn't they build a bigger Buist or why not build 3 more Buists all around the County?
Thanks for your insight...You also ask some great questions.
When Mark Cobb and Bill Lewis are maintaining the same buildings they are rebuilding, we have a serious problem. Why maintain anything when they can make more money rebuilding?
A few years back when I put my kid on the lottery list I was told that every spot at Buist was a lottery spot. So as long as you lived in Charleston County, you were open to going to Buist if you were selected in the lottery and passed the test. I don't understand how there could be slots for downtown (District 20?) residents. My belief was that District 20 kids were given 1 lottery "ticket", they were also given another lottery "ticket" for being in Charleston County, thus giving them a greater chance of being selected than say a kid on James Island.
It's the fox watching the hen house. The expect everyone to believe that all is well. After all they are the experts and the public isn't. This is how the seeds of corruption are planted and allowed to grow.
Follow the next post, because the Bill Lewis show is about to stage an new extravaganza...another Bond Referendum for another HALF BILLION DOLLARS for school repairs and replacement. What happened to the last one? What promises were broken? What false promises will Bill Lewis make this time? Will East Cooper get what was promised? What about West Ashley?
It seems that Bill Lewis is running more of this show (not just new building construction) than he'd like the public to know. He's an old Navy bureaucrat that never met an old building he couldn't find a reason to demolish or an unspent tax dollar that couldn't find a new building project to spend it on.
I'd love to see his W-2...wouldn't you?
To the poster above making reference to the Buist lottery. There are 4 separate "lotteries."
1) siblings, 2) District 20 kids, 3)County 4)low-performing schools.
The top 10 who pass the test in each lottery get in...making a total of 40 kids in the kindergarten class.
The Y-CAT test is only given to K thru 2nd grade applicants. PACT scores or other standardized test scores are used to determine qualifications at the 3rd grade or higher. The lottery establishes the waiting lists. I'm not sure how they handle names added to the waiting lists later. For example, a 5th grade child living in the Brentwood Middle School attendance zone this year could be added to the 6th grade Buist waiting lists for next year for "County-Wide" and "Failing School". How they handle it after that is a mystery to everyone. Many people don't know that the Y-CAT and PACT test scores are not the only tests that can be used to qualify for Buist. If a parent has an independent testing service give the latest version of almost any generally recognized IQ or academic aptitude test with results in the upper 80%, CCSD & Buist will accept those scores in lieu of Y-CAT or PACT.
If you don't ask, you don't get. Just another one of the secrets CCSD likes to keep from parents and the public.
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