SC

Beth Bernstein Visits “Miracle Factory”

Recently this website profiled The Barclay School – an independent (a.k.a. private sector) learning environment that specializes in teaching children with various developmental disabilities. Our story – which you can read HERE – got quite a response, as it should have. “The Barclay School is one of dozens of private schools…

Recently this website profiled The Barclay School – an independent (a.k.a. private sector) learning environment that specializes in teaching children with various developmental disabilities.

Our story – which you can read HERE – got quite a response, as it should have.

“The Barclay School is one of dozens of private schools with specialized programs for disabled children ready to meet the needs of thousands of children who are being failed by the government-run status quo,” we wrote.

In fact state lawmakers – in a rare moment of coherent, well-intentioned thought – created a mechanism for parents of special needs children to seek out such environments (a small first step toward the broader goal of universal parental choice).

Anyway … earlier this month The Barclay School received a visit from S.C. Rep. Beth Bernstein (D-Columbia), who was recently elected to a moderate district in the Midlands region of the state.

BETH BERNSTEIN
BERNSTEIN, BARCLAY KIDS

“She was really moved,” a source close to the lawmaker tells FITS.

In fact Bernstein has reportedly undertaken an effort to help the school gather supplies and books for its children.

“Beth was great with the kids,” one of the school’s founders said of Bernstein’s visit. “She listened to them intently and really engaged each one.”

Good for Bernstein …

Far too many politicians in South Carolina (Democrats and Republicans) refuse to even explore what the education marketplace has to offer – choosing instead to reflexively dump more money into failed government-run schools.

Obviously we don’t expect one lawmaker’s visit to an aspiring free market alternative to change that underlying mindset, but Bernstein is to be commended for at least giving this school a chance.

Let’s hope more lawmakers follow her lead … and more importantly let’s hope more children are permitted to find academic environments like this one that are actually meeting their needs.

Banner Pic: Travis Bell Photography

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39 comments

TyroneButterballs October 15, 2013 at 1:45 pm

Nice to have you say something good about a Democrat. How rare !

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TontoBubbaGoldstein October 15, 2013 at 4:08 pm

FITS thinks she’s hawt.

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CorruptionInColumbia October 15, 2013 at 4:59 pm

She is! Much preferable to the whiney, big-gov, Tammy Faye Bakker, bag she replaced, in every way.

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ABC's October 15, 2013 at 1:46 pm

These people are saints. The deserve better than a visit from a politician.

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Boz Martin October 16, 2013 at 9:16 am

It was more than a visit. It was an endorsement. From a Democrat. That means a great deal. Unless you are so partisan you can’t see the forest for the trees.

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ABC's October 16, 2013 at 10:19 pm

Notice I used the word “politician”.

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tomstickler October 15, 2013 at 3:02 pm

Nothing about her footwear?

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Boz Martin October 16, 2013 at 9:16 am

Heh!

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GreenvilleLwyr October 15, 2013 at 4:20 pm

So those kids’ parents all gave their consent for the children to be in this photo (and the ones FITS posted previously) as political pawns, right?

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grasan October 16, 2013 at 6:27 am

So why are they being used as political pawns? Just because she is a Dem? Why is helping people a Party thing?

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CNSYD October 15, 2013 at 4:42 pm

Another government-run dollar.

Sic Willie still refuses to admit that SC already has school choice. Parents can enroll their children in private schools any time they wish.

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hammondheathwood October 15, 2013 at 11:27 pm

If you had grown up under better circumstances so bitter you would not be.

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CNSYD October 16, 2013 at 9:32 am

and under what “circumstances” did I grow up? Bitter? About what?

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grasan October 16, 2013 at 6:31 am

How many parents with special needs have the resources to enroll their children in private schools that specialize in that type of education?

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CNSYD October 16, 2013 at 9:34 am

You mean these private schools don’t provide this assistance out of the goodness of their hearts? What then is their motivation?

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cap'n crunch October 16, 2013 at 2:04 pm

No, dipshit, they don’t for the vast majority of kids there. They barely scrape by even with high tuitions, which are required to keep the student-teacher ratio low so they can deal with kids with learning differences. Barclay is $15k, Glenforest is $23k. Most of the parents of the kids that go there struggle mightily to make those payments, and even more can’t go at all. And there are no government dollars to support them. You really ought to have a clue what you’re talking about before you open your dumb fucking mouth.

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CNSYD October 16, 2013 at 4:25 pm

Your profanity exemplifies the weakness of your arguments. There are NO government dollars in the lives of these children?

cap'n crunch October 17, 2013 at 9:46 am

You think if a kid gets an autism or dyslexia diagnosis, government money materializes? Yeah, that’s how it happens. Your total and complete lack of facts combined with your pithy, shallow comments reveals your ignorance of this subject. As for profanity, just because I call you an unenlightened cunt doesn’t make you any smarter.

CNSYD October 18, 2013 at 4:04 pm

Your profanity is so mature! Ever heard of programs like Medicaid? No child with autism receives that?

grasan October 16, 2013 at 3:54 pm

I don’t know, but I doubt many of these schools were established with the idea of getting rich. I would think it was someone who had or knew someone with special needs that were’t being met in the public sector.

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grasan October 16, 2013 at 6:33 am

And we know the ship yard was a well run, efficient private enterprise……

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CNSYD October 16, 2013 at 9:30 am

Do you speak Russian? If that is not your primary language, then perhaps those that participated in the cold war had something to do with that. “Efficiency” was not the primary objective of the cold war.

Never once did a public shipyard go on strike. Can private enterprise make that claim? Did strategic assets get overhauled, have their reactors refueled and have nuclear missiles loaded on board? Were repairs completed and modifications accomplished to ensure that those assets were stealthy and had the ability to deep dive?

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grasan October 16, 2013 at 3:51 pm

I don’t dispute what was accomplished there nor do I dispute that there were a lot of good people doing it, but I do know there was a mountain of waste to go along with it. That’s not justifiable for any cause.

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CNSYD October 16, 2013 at 4:28 pm

What is the source of your direct knowledge? Where you there? If so, in what capacity? Your statement that waste is not justifiable for any cause is ludicrous. Was the Manhattan Project wasteful? Yes, but the project was essential.

That would be you October 17, 2013 at 10:31 am

“What is the source of your direct knowledge?”

“Efficiency” was not the primary objective of the cold war.

CNSYD October 18, 2013 at 4:07 pm

The point was to have “grasan” define the “mountain of waste” of which he claimed to have direct knowledge. His lack of response merely confirms that he has none.

Squishy123 October 15, 2013 at 5:35 pm

She’s one of those women who seriously believes she’s prettier than she actually is. Just the way she carries her self, the top picture is a good example.

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Joe October 15, 2013 at 5:47 pm

Please explain your comment a little better. In the picture above she isn’t posing for the camera. She likely has know idea her pic is being taken.

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Squishy123 October 15, 2013 at 7:20 pm

So she just stands around with that smug look all the time? What’s with that rats nest she calls hair?

How do you misspell “no”?

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Joe October 16, 2013 at 1:38 pm

It really is annoying and extremely petty when people get so anal and feel compelled to point out grammatical errors of others. It makes them look even more petty and anal when they make mistakes themselves. So when Squishy is asked a friendly question that began with “Please” why is there a need to become the grammar police? So, after saying all of that I’m not going to be petty and point out the 3 mistakes made in the first comment of this thread by Squishy. Well ok I’ll just point out one which is “her self” being written as two words when it should be “herself”. The other two mistakes are yours to figure out. See how petty this appears?

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Squishy123 October 16, 2013 at 2:34 pm

Wholy (spelled wrong in your honor) butt-hurt!!! I bet your whole day is shot to hell now.

9" October 16, 2013 at 3:55 pm

I like anal

You're not a stereotype October 17, 2013 at 10:33 am

Thank you Capt. Obvious

Soft Sigh from Hell October 15, 2013 at 7:34 pm

She looks like she just saw something at a distance that pleased her. God forbid, it might even have been wholesome, say a genuine smile in the statehouse.
.
She looks attractive in both pictures.

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Same ol' Same ol' October 15, 2013 at 8:06 pm

Yeah, she’s “work hot” at best. You know what I mean, working 3rd shift, there ain’t a whole lot of good looks available. I’m sure there’s a lot more hotness in the state house than in a manufacturing plant, but, as far as politicians are concerned, she’s hotter than most. Just don’t compare her to the outside world.
Don’t know anything about her politics.

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Boz Martin October 16, 2013 at 9:19 am

Bullshit. She’s not “carrying herself” in any particular way. She’s standing there. Smiling. And LOOKING GOOD. I’m sure she does not give a shit what you think of her looks.

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Squishy123 October 16, 2013 at 9:46 am

Sorry to have insulted your imaginary girlfriend.

And I don’t give a shit that she doesn’t give a shit.

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coot October 15, 2013 at 5:55 pm

Bernstein is a putz

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9" October 16, 2013 at 3:58 pm

What a huge classroom.Are they teaching how to throw the other kids into the river?

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