Who does magnet school transportation really benefit?

I've heard School board veteran Gregg Meyers was a civil rights attorney, back in the day. I guess he had a change of ways. While, Mr. Meyers has no problem stuffing Fraser children into the Archer building in August, he can't stomach the idea of saving nearly $3 million by eliminating transportation to Charleston County magnet schools.
I also heard Mr. Meyers used to have a bus stop in front of his house on Sullivan's Island when his child went to Buist Academy. Surely, this bus stop was not necessary. I guess he feels his Mt. Pleasant constituents deserve the same luxuries he awarded himself. Too bad he doesn't think the Fraser children deserve to wait until August 2010 until they have to move from their neighborhood school.

There should be no bus transporting a child from his excellent rated neighborhood school to Buist Academy, plain and simple. A Mt. Pleasant parent wrote a letter to the editor the other day pleading for magnet school transportation to continue (especially to Buist Academy) for the children from McClellanville. That seems like a pretty reasonable request if that child would not be granted a similar education at his neighborhood school. Yet according to my sources, that kid doesn't exist. Who are the children from McClellanville to whom he makes reference? There are a couple of kids from Awendaw. And there are half a dozen kids from Adams Run, Ravenel, and Hollywood who attend Buist Academy. Maybe he got his McClellanville kid confused with those kids. Or maybe he's just another Mt. Pleasant parent who likes that bus transportation for his own kid who, according to MapQuest, barely lives five miles from the school.

In this budget crisis, if magnet school transportation is provided at all it should be set up the same way transportation is mandated under No Child Left Behind federal legislation, plain and simple. Otherwise, Mr. Meyers, we're going to continue to question your motives.

CCSD is at it again. Will the District 20 board fight them...again?

While our community may continue to question the motives of a college student pursuing a seat on our constituent board, one thing is for sure. By his recent posting on this blog, it sounds like he has a mind of his own. Although I'm tired of the College of Charleston's pseudo partnerships with our schools, maybe Mr. Shalosky represents a different perspective. I say, "Welcome, Mr. Shalosky." You may be just the breath of fresh air our community needs, especially if you can think for yourself and quickly educate yourself on the history of our constituent district. Our District 20 board has been played by the big board as "never being happy" for years, simply because the District 20 board has refused to rubber stamp what the CCSD "experts" want.

I don't know all the facts, but evidently CCSD now wants a rush job on changing attendance lines in the districts where schools are scheduled to close next year. And guess what? CCSD officials have to do what they hate to do, turn to the constituent boards for approval. From what I understand, District 4 did what they do so well...they avoided their duties as elected officials. Yet according to Mr. Shalosky, it sounds like we can count on the District 20 board to do what we elected them to do.

Changing attendance lines should be taken slowly and seriously. This process should be put on hold until the community is properly informed and their voices are heard. What's the rush anyway? CCSD is rushing the closure of Fraser the same way they rushed our Courtney children to Rivers and then our Rivers' children to Rhett. And look at the mess Burke middle is still in. When does it end?

The District 20 board should create attendance lines for Buist Academy. They should also fight for Fraser children to remain at Fraser. To ask those children to move to Archer in August and then move to the new Sanders-Clyde in January is shameful. I assure you it would never be expected nor would it be tolerated in Mt. Pleasant. So why do we tolerate it downtown?

I urge District 20 residents to call your board members and let them know "we're still not happy." Our District 20 board needs your support.

In the meantime, I'll look forward to any information anyone has on where this process stands. And isn't it time to march?

Public tax dollars for a private school? Now I've heard it all

Mayor Riley is a complex man with a clear agenda. Over the past thirty years we have watched our public schools sink into a dismal state with our mayor's hands right in the mess of it. By the city council's approval of "spending $4.75 million to buy land that essentially would be given to a new private school" known as Meeting Street Academy, one thing is very clear. Mayor Riley wants successful PRIVATE schools on the peninsula. To heck with any chance of successful PUBLIC schools. Segregation will continue as planned. Thank God for councilman Tim Mallard. I don't know the man, but at least he attempts to provide some form of democracy in this monarchy we live in by refusing to be a "yes-man" for the king.
Don't get me wrong. I'd love to see Meeting Street Academy succeed. It would be great for them to prove what we've known for several decades. CCSD doesn't know how to educate our kids anymore.
Yet to use public tax dollars to purchase land for a private school serving as few as 200 students as the mayor puts claims on Fraser's building for a Police Academy AND Burke High School can't even claim Stoney Field as their own is just plain sick.