159 Smith St
Charleston, SC 29403

My oldest child started Memminger in CD-4 and will be graduating from this wonderful school this month. My youngest also started in pre-k, but moved to Buist for 3rd grade--which is not a move I would've opted for except we preferred Buist to our in-district middle school. All that to say, with Memminger becoming a Buist feeder school, the school demographics have shifted dramatically in this time--not necessarily for the better of the community and public, if you ask me, but I digress. What has been the same since we started, is the absolutely amazing, warm, inclusive culture at Memminger--thanks to truly amazing teachers, staff and administrators. This is a place where teachers seem happy and engaged, and everyone knows your child's name, whether they've had them in class or not. Dottie Brown was an amazing principle, and Cheryl Wash has been an exceptional vice and interim principal (who every bit deserved the full-time role, as I'm sure the vast majority of parents and educators would agree, but again, I digress). What you see on scorecards never gives a full picture. If I had used them to guide my decision about where to send my children, rather than my intuition, after visiting the school and getting to know the amazing educators and atmosphere (special shout out to Ms. Inabinet)I may not have sent my children to this wonderful gem of a school. My children both tested as gifted and have high 90th percentiles in iReady thanks in no small part to the excellent education provided by this school and the very dedicated educators. As a parent, I will miss this place tremendously--and I imagine the same is true of my kids.

I actually really like this school. I feel like ethnicity nor income should downgrade a school. This is my first year attending Burke High School. No, I am not 'Black'. Yes, there are some disrespectful children at this school but their are also intelligent children like myself with high GPA's. attending Burke High. If a family is low-income than that should be left confidential. However, if these children are lowering the average test scores then they should accept the help that is being offered and if they refuse to resulting in a lowered average score they should be transferred to a a school that best meets their needs. In my opinion this is a good school that could soon be great.