Are SC schools really that bad?? (Myrtle Beach, Walterboro: attorney, neighborhoods, school districts)

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by JMC4

Hi there,
So I've been researching the schools in the MB area; particularly Ocean Bay, Carolina Forest, Forestbrook, and St James districts. Now, all of the research I have done rates these schools very highly; even higher than my children's current district in NY. Now, I know they are rated by "state standards" and every state has their separate standards. I also know that school ratings do not tell the whole story. A lot of people on this forum say really bad things about the SC schools in general, and it worries me. I was wondering if anyone who has children in these districts can give me more information? Also, are there any transplants who have their children in these districts who came from NY, MA, CT, or other states with highly rated school systems? How do they compare? I guess it can vary from school to school as well. My only worry about relocating will be that my soon to be 4th grader will be relearning things she already learned in 2nd grade! I'm also looking for a district that has a large group of actively involved parents. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

For what it's worth I teach US History here in Greenville County, SC and in preparation for this years state mandated end of course us history exam i had my kids take the old NYS Board of Regents tests that they make the kids up there take to graduate and my kids passed those with flying colors and in many cases "aced" them (i just downloaded the NYS previous version from the last year or two, great resource actually). sadly though only about half then passed the SC version of the same test. you can make any conclusion you want from that but kids all said the NYS US History exam was easy while the SC version was beyond difficult.

[greenvillebuckeye]

Originally Posted by GJM

I do love the Carolina Forest area - we live in The Farm and it is right near the elementary school and middle school. We don't plan on moving, since my husbands job is here right now. If I could I would love to move back to NJ but that isn't going to happen.

When it comes to the school - there is really nothing I like about them at all.

I do love the weather down here, my home owner taxes are much cheaper then NJ and being close to the beach.

you're complaining about bad schools yet love the incredibly low property taxes. do you not see anything ironic about this? i sure hope so. always remember you get what you pay for or in this case aren't paying for.

[blueherons]

My kids, all of my friends kids, all of my friends went to Myrtle Beach schools and we ALL went on to get college educations. Have a talk with Gene Butler next time he fixes your heart or Bill Prescott the next time you ride his giant ferris wheel or Frank Smith when you are sitting in his optometrist chair or Nancy O'Dell when she's interviewing some celebrity.

Local schools are what YOU make of them and most of the amenities you love about Myrtle Beach are driven by local educatedpeople.

[blueherons]

Originally Posted by greenvillebuckeye

you're complaining about bad schools yet love the incredibly low property taxes. do you not see anything ironic about this? i sure hope so. always remember you get what you pay for or in this case aren't paying for.

Very true. Her property taxes are probably a fraction of what they were in NJ

[JMC4]

Thank you everyone for your input! Lots of conflicting input, but nonetheless, very helpful.

[GJM]

She asked about the schools and I gave my opinion. In SC it goes by county so I do believe that some of the schools in the same county offer more. The middle school & elementary school my DS friend goes to offers more and is run differently then my DS school - but they are in the same district. I am assuming it has to do the principal.

always remember you get what you pay for or in this case aren't paying for.

Even in NJ you can pay high taxes but the schools are horrible - depending on the town, since it doesn't go by the county.

[Scotty Dosent Know]

Originally Posted by blueherons

Local schools are what YOU make of them

Would have to agree with this. I dont even have children but know school does not stop when your child walks out the door of one. Even if the school is not the greatest the parents should have the ability to put the child at any level they need to be at. If your kid does not know multiplication tables.....teach them yourself. Yes it sucks that school systems are not the greatest everywhere but take some responsibility.

[JMC4]

Scotty, I completely agree!

[firefighterdad505]

Bridgewater Academy, centrally located in Horry County, offers a high-content rigorous academic program. The school’s commitment to excellence emphasizes personal responsibility for students and accountability by teachers. Governed by an elected board that consists of community members, parents, and educators, Bridgewater’s focus is on the education of each individual child based on his or her specific needs. It is our goal to nurture our students and instill in them the desire to learn and have lifelong success. An afternoon tutoring program is built into our school day for students needing assistance.

Mission: The mission of Bridgewater Academy is to enable all students to exceed academic standards through direct, personal one-on-one instruction by providing an innovative rigorous academic program. Also to provide a personalized, supportive learning community where teachers, parents, community members and students all partner together to promote a place where student achievement is celebrated. Instruction is provided with passion and commitment, and value is given to the development of self discipline, honesty, integrity and respect

[YOI]

SC especially Myrtle Beach and Walterboro and really any other small cities or towns here have terrible school systems, most people will hate me for saying this but the less intelligent the person is here the heavier the accent here and even ignoring the accent small words are considering challenging for the locals here and their definitions, which is important to know if your kid is going to school here, they also use intimidation instead of logic to deal with students and have deny any wrong doings, they cannot write a legal document here and often mark students writing as incorrect when the writing is correct and then try to correct the grammar with incorrect grammar, and then if you prove this to someone who is more educated or the boss they will not correct the mistake or you will become the next target for trying to fix an error in correcting, I’ve had 4 lawyers here that I hired and 2/4 could not produce a legal document without an infinity of error, typos and they all look at each others work like “wow that attorney did not know how to write” and then they add they’re own grammar mistakes and partially corrected the other, my court document had an incomplete sentence in it no periods, don’t even start on punctuation marks they are still learning to form basic sentences even after graduation. There’s always something wrong here they’re always trying to pull something with fraudulent behavior or corruption, it’s the “good old boy” net work here and there’s no order, complete chaos, driving too and from school. Every after school program is unorganized they do not keep track of communication and will almost always call you about something you have already called about, they constantly violate laws and write policies that directly violate the state laws, you will get calls from every place you kid goes to because the educators need you to hold their hand through everything, no one here know how to do the job they were hired for. Drunks with multiple DUIs teach kids and sometimes they also transfer students to after school spots, there’s nothing good here except the beach. DO NOT BRING YOUR KIDS HERE FOR EDUCATION!!!!