School board voids Buist priority plan

The Charleston County School Board on Thursday overturned and voided the decision of the downtown constituent school board to give peninsula residents and their siblings priority admission into Buist Academy.

The county board's unanimous decision won't change the magnet school's admissions process, which has ignored the constituent board's decision for nearly two years and continued using a different process.

Members of the downtown board were disappointed but not surprised with the county board's decision. They plan to appeal the ruling in court, and they already have filed a suit against the district on the same issue: who has the authority to determine which students can attend Buist.

"What this means is that District 20 (downtown) students will continue to get less-than-adequate education due to the fact that they will not be able to receive priority to the only excellent school on the peninsula," said Marvin Stewart, chairman of the downtown board.

Buist Academy has been the subject of much scrutiny and debate for the past few years. The constituent board has said the school's address-verification procedures are inadequate to ensure that applicants don't use fake addresses, and qualified students who live downtown cannot get a spot in the school. Buist enrolls students from across the county.

The District 20 board decided in January 2006 to give those who lived downtown priority admission into the school and the remaining seats to their siblings. The rest of the seats would be open to other district students, and the change would not affect students attending the school.

Principal Sallie Ballard appealed the decision to the county board, which held a hearing in June 2006 but didn't finish it. The appeal had gone unresolved until Thursday.

The atmosphere at the hearing was tense at times, and attorney Larry Kobrovsky, who represented the downtown board, repeatedly questioned its fairness.

Kobrovsky represented the constituent board pro bono because it doesn't have district money to hire an attorney. Alice Paylor, the school district's attorney, was paid by the district to represent Ballard. Kobrovsky took issue with Paylor being Ballard's attorney because she also will defend the district in the pending court case. Paylor said that doesn't violate the law.

Kobrovsky also asked that county board Chairwoman Nancy Cook and member Toya Green recuse themselves because they had conflicts of interest. Green has a daughter enrolled in Buist, and Paylor represented Cook in a campaign issue involving the State Ethics Commission. Both members said that wouldn't affect their decision.

The constituent board contends that the Act of Consolidation, which created the school district, gives it the authority to set schools' attendance boundaries, and Buist is in its district.

County board members argue that all decisions of constituent school boards can be appealed to them, and constituent boards lack the authority to overturn county board decisions.

The county board, with the agreement of the constituent board, created Buist and set its admissions policies.

Constituent board member Pam Kusmider questioned why Ballard appealed the downtown board's decision and why Buist sends acceptance letters to students stating that the District 20 board is pleased to inform them of open positions.

County board members also said on Thursday that their decision not to change Buist's admissions policies reaffirms the results of a board-appointed task force this year: The group did not reach a consensus to change the school's admissions policy.

The county board took about 15 minutes to make a decision on Ballard's appeal. County board member Gregg Meyers said the board can't have each constituent board trying to advance its interests.

"We have to look at the big picture," he said.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@post andcourier.com.